Wow, quite cozy together! Is that Hattie in the background...in the nest box again? Midnight snacking is getting earlier & earlier, no?
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Figuring out what they're trying to tell you is always challenging. The noise is......someone's in my nest box and won't share (Cheetah stays out of those...mostly), where is everyone?, I don't like the wind, it torqued my feathers, there's a cat here (it's Castor, he lives here), there's a strange cat here (only one of the aforementioned things I need to deal with).
The haha goes for the pic image....again.Hope you feel more like the single guy soon, despite being married!
For feeling better
It's a good thing I didn't have a beverage when I read your post...it would have come spurting out my mouth and nose, I started laughing so hard! Chickens can be sooooo dramatic!So in all of today's work, I didn't think about the fact that we've never used wood shavings in the coop. I did find evidence of wood in the clean out, but it was there and buried before .... like the carpet (). Fast forward to shavings spread in the coop. A few braved the new flooring, but were highly skittish before bedtime. Round bedtime I go out to watch. it looked like a game of tag with the floor being the hot lava. (They dont even want to roost above the shavings: circular hopping/chasing of MY roost across the roosts...and along the top of the nest boxes). I turned on the light to see if that would help: it did. They started to step in, then reversed course....repeatedly. They came in and walked along the railroad tie foundation rather than across the floor. They came I and took a couple of steps in to get to the food and water: namely the cinder block step between. They hopped up on top of the food bin, then jumped for the roost. They jumped from the foundation, making a half turn mid-air to land the roost. They (attempted) to jump from the doorway. Note: when attempting to launch with wings, launching from a restricted area with some overhead, flight / jump is seriously abortive. They jumped and missed, short by at least a foot....twice... At one point, there were 4 birds on top of the nest boxes (they usually refuse more than 3). Cheetah came in, ignored the floor, jumped, landed easy-peasy. Then, he jumped for the top of the boxes. again, no problem (bird count:5). Turns, stands tall, looks me in the eye, and clucks authoritatively (i think he was over the girls shenanigans by then: Alrighty then, all y'all get up here NOW!). Nellie immediately follows, landing BETWEEN his feet, squeezes on through and stands up....taking him off his feet and dislodging him to the floor. (I'm laughing so hard I'm crying while writing this LATER). He storms out of the coop and I can hear him outside venting his spleen: no crows, LOTS of BOK ...Storm, last girl out skitters in and semi settles. More shuffling, no one wants to be over the shavings. Silver and Pear keep shuffling on the boxes too. I disconnect the hook holding the door open and keep waiting for Cheetah, still outside cussing. 10-15 min later, he finally comes back in and hops up. Quick shut the hatch. Jess had come back down (been pushed) so was grabbing a bite. By this point, I've been out there for almost an hour and a half and it's mostly dark. (Sun was in contact with the horizon when I went out). Turned out the light, quiet ensues, except for unhappy crooning from Jess who now can't see well enough to roost. I picked her up, put her in an open place, said goodnight and left. The lowest ranked birds got the most experience with the wood and seem least concerned. I know they'll settle down, but wow! And Jess came in while I was working with the shovel and laid her egg. (The rest gave it wide birth).
Thank Alex. I'll be fine. Just a sinus infection.
I got a series of strange looks from the row of 5 on the nest boxes, before they turned and kicked 2 off. The ones on the roosts looked and me too. I was laughing so hard in the coop too. That may have added to the snit.... he was so pleased to be able to go: I can settle them down easy, you can't....then to be dumped in front of all of them....It's a good thing I didn't have a beverage when I read your post...it would have come spurting out my mouth and nose, I started laughing so hard! Chickens can be sooooo dramatic!
That is Hattie. About once a week she just sleeps in a nest box. It's like she knows she is going to be hungry early.Wow, quite cozy together! Is that Hattie in the background...in the nest box again? Midnight snacking is getting earlier & earlier, no?
We need a hilarious “spitting” emoji, don’t we?It's a good thing I didn't have a beverage when I read your post...it would have come spurting out my mouth and nose, I started laughing so hard! Chickens can be sooooo dramatic!
