House Chicken
In all the years we have had chickens only one of them has ever walked inside my house. We have brought them in to clean them up and treat them but they don't get to come in on their own. Boundaries and all. The one time the rule was broken our hens were being chased.
It was September 2015 and my wife had some friends over and they were drinking white wine in the backyard. The ladies were out free ranging because there was someone there to watch over them. One of her friends had brought their small dog with them. I was not permitted at the ladies gathering so I was inside watching TV.
My wife asked the dog owner if the dog would chase the chickens, of course she said her baby would never! So my wife said you can let her off the lease then as she can't run away, the yard is fenced in. So off the leash the dog went. Guess what happened next.....
I was in the living room when the ruckus started. Hearing all the squawking I went to the back door. I opened the backdoor to see what was going on and Elphie ran right between my legs and into the living room before she stopped. When she hit the living room my 3 killer cats scattered as well running to the bedroom and basement from the frightening hen. Here is Elphie standing in the living room.
At the time Daisy was only a pullet and she did not run into the house; she went under the deck. Unfortunately the dog was small enough to follow her under. My deck is over 12 feet in depth. I cannot reach the dog. I leave Elphie in the house and lock cats in the rooms they ran into and start to address the issue under my deck. All I can think of is to use the hose. I spray the dog with water until it comes out and its owner can re-leash the dog. Daisy turned out to be OK.
I bring this up because yesterday a second and third hen made it into the big coop. Ever since Patsy had shown her the backdoor, Maleficent has chased me into the house. I said to my wife, someday she is coming in. In fact I have to watch that the door doesn't hit her sometimes she is so fast.
Yesterday we had an extended thunderstorm catch the flock on the deck. Everyone managed to find someplace to hide to at least limit the rain falling on them except Maleficent. Here she is standing in the rain. You see she tries to fit under the chair with Aurora to no avail.
At the end you can see that she walks to the backdoor. I could not leave her stuck out there so I opened the door......
Eventually Aurora saw her inside and so.....
We now have to be extremely careful no one gets caught when we close the door. The house is now an extension of their world. Oh well. My hens are spoiled, who would have guessed!
Most of my girls are brown layers of various shades. We got so excited when the Campines started laying because they lay white eggs!
And white eggs are what you usually get commercially.
