Went to the Barn yesterday, and the chickies were very glad to see me, and could hardly wait for me to open up the coop and let them out. They do have a small covered run that they can get into but it's not the same thing as having free run of the whole place. So, about 1 hour of freedom and all of a sudden we had a crisis. Hawks have been hanging around a lot lately, we've been very lucky that none has been capable of grabbing any of our birds. So, the chickens are all pecking around the front yard (so to speak) of the Barn, and Lil Spanky our 100 lb lab is laying contentedly in the middle of the group. I went into the Barn to pour a cup of coffee and all of a sudden 3 hens, our rooster Buff and Spanky came bursting thru the door all at once, chickens squawking and Spanky barking. Later I realized there was a comic element there, they were all trying to fit thru the door at the same time, like in the old cartoons. I tried to run outside to see what was going on and had a bit of trouble getting out the door, because Buff and Spanky had decided to go back out to do their job as protectors. So then it was the three of us trying to fit thru at the same time. When I got out there, I couldn't find any hens, and then I saw them under my car. Buff called them out and escorted them, running and flying back to the coop and everyone ran inside but Buff. Spanky ran around growling but neither she or I could find anything. I'm assuming there was a hawk attack. Buff stood under a tree next to the coop making all the loud rooster sounds he could think of, refusing to go into the coop, or even come out from under the tree. In the meantime it started pouring down rain, and so I was soaked. Even tho after searching around to make sure everything was safe, I went in and threw some more wood in the stove, I couldn't seem to warm up. With arthritis and fibromyalgia, getting cold is a real disaster. I had to wait for Buff to decide that he didn't want to stand around in the rain anymore, he wouldn't go into the coop no matter how many times I chased him around it in circles. Weh he finally gave up and I hit the road, I was just in terrible pain, and had a couple hr drive ahead of me. By the time I got home I was really miserable, and went straight to bed. I do feel somewhat better today, still achey, going to take things easy today. BTW, I did bring home 35 new eggs.
An observation that I made....when Buff wants to scratch his head, he doesn't move his foot to sctratch with, he holds his foot up and rubs his head around on his foot. I never noticed that before.
An observation that I made....when Buff wants to scratch his head, he doesn't move his foot to sctratch with, he holds his foot up and rubs his head around on his foot. I never noticed that before.
