One day my husband and I had re-sized the coop run to make it larger. In the process, we also ended up having to move the entry gate into the coop run about 8 feet to the other side of the coop. The girls were out foraging while we completed the task during the day, but they had frequently checked our work to make sure it was up to snuff. After finishing and leaving the new gate open for the hens to re-enter the coop come dusk, we went into the house for dinner.
While we sat around the kitchen nook eating, my husband wondered aloud if the hens would get the idea where the new gate was. Just as he had finished those words a little tap, tap, tapping came rapping on the back sliding door. We looked out, and one of the hens was tapping on the door in the twilight. We figured she had seen the light and wanted a food treat as I keep the treat bucket by the back door. We opened it to tell her it was time for bed not treats.
When we looked down at the hen on the back steps, we saw she was at the head of a long line of birds that stretched between our back door and the coop, literally in single file, watching her as she "petitioned" the cause. As we came down the back steps, they turned in unison and created a queue to the coop where the old gate spot had been. Since it was nearly nightfall, to make matters easy, my husband picked up the first bird and lifted it over the wire fence so it could enter the coop run hoping the others would begin to get the idea that it was time to go to bed since they could see the new open gate to the coop from that "lifting" spot. But, they had a different idea. Each and every hen shuffled in step to advance to the "lifting" spot and waited to be picked up and placed over the fence to the coop.
Oh man, what service we gave all 15 that night. Since then, the family has referred to any petitioning hen at the back steps as the "union representative" demanding either better food or working conditions or top star service.
Our silly birds.
LofMc