Had weird thing happen the other day. I got here Thursday, late morning, unloaded my stuff, started a fire in the stove, let the chickens out, etc. Decided to go and visit with neighbor Will to let him know that we'd be here all weekend. I was gone for about 1 1/2 hours, and when i got back, there were no chickens.
When I looked closer, I found my roo and 4 hens were actually in the coop, under the nest boxes in a corner all huddled up and totally quiet. They would not come out of there. Went looking for the other 5 hens and finally found 1, she was under the ramp that Rick had made so that he could roll the rototiller and other things up into his new shed. She was crammed back into the thing as far as she could go and I had to really poke her with a stick to get her to move, and she wouldn't make a sound. Put her in the coop and she ran into the corner with the others. Now I still had 4 missing. Looked and looked, called them using the special call that I use when I have treats for them, nothing. I thought maybe dogs or something had gotten them, but decided to leave the coop open just in case they came out of hiding.
Just before dark I went out so that I could close the coop and called them again. Nothing. So i shut the door, and before going in, i hollered "C'mon girls, time to go in the house!" Sometimes I say that when they don't want to go in at night and I have to kind of 'round them up' and shoo them in. All of a sudden I heard scrabbling in the leaves and here came a hen, running full out. As soon as she got up to me, I heard another one coming. It was hard to see them as it was dark and they were coming from the heavy woods, but I realised that they were coming from a brush pile where there were some tree tops that had all tangled together and were very thick. One after another all 4 came out of that pile. And they all ran into the corner with the others. Closed things up and went in to watch Bones. Yesterday when I opened the coop, no one would come out. They refused to come out all day long. Usually they run out in a rush when i open the door. They were really afraid of something. Well, in the afternoon i was outside just enjoying the day, happened to look down the hill where Rick has planted some Rye grass, and lo and behold, there are about 20 huge turkeys rambling around. And my chickens were in the corner, totally quiet again. The chooks must have thought that these turks were huge hawks, and no way were they gonna come out.
Today they are still very leery of coming far from the coop.
When I looked closer, I found my roo and 4 hens were actually in the coop, under the nest boxes in a corner all huddled up and totally quiet. They would not come out of there. Went looking for the other 5 hens and finally found 1, she was under the ramp that Rick had made so that he could roll the rototiller and other things up into his new shed. She was crammed back into the thing as far as she could go and I had to really poke her with a stick to get her to move, and she wouldn't make a sound. Put her in the coop and she ran into the corner with the others. Now I still had 4 missing. Looked and looked, called them using the special call that I use when I have treats for them, nothing. I thought maybe dogs or something had gotten them, but decided to leave the coop open just in case they came out of hiding.
Just before dark I went out so that I could close the coop and called them again. Nothing. So i shut the door, and before going in, i hollered "C'mon girls, time to go in the house!" Sometimes I say that when they don't want to go in at night and I have to kind of 'round them up' and shoo them in. All of a sudden I heard scrabbling in the leaves and here came a hen, running full out. As soon as she got up to me, I heard another one coming. It was hard to see them as it was dark and they were coming from the heavy woods, but I realised that they were coming from a brush pile where there were some tree tops that had all tangled together and were very thick. One after another all 4 came out of that pile. And they all ran into the corner with the others. Closed things up and went in to watch Bones. Yesterday when I opened the coop, no one would come out. They refused to come out all day long. Usually they run out in a rush when i open the door. They were really afraid of something. Well, in the afternoon i was outside just enjoying the day, happened to look down the hill where Rick has planted some Rye grass, and lo and behold, there are about 20 huge turkeys rambling around. And my chickens were in the corner, totally quiet again. The chooks must have thought that these turks were huge hawks, and no way were they gonna come out.
Today they are still very leery of coming far from the coop.
