Post by Deleted on Oct 21, 2006 18:00:19 GMT -5
This morning, there were several inches of snow on the ground when I went out to open the coop. There was a little snow yesterday, but not enough to cover the ground and the chickens and guineas just ignored it. Today, however, it was a different matter altogether.
The chickens have decided they need snow-booties. They are not getting them. I told them they have feathers on their feet and that will have to be good enough. The guineas don't have feathers on their feet, but by God, they can fly, so if they don't want to walk on the snow, they can just fly where they want to go. Doesn't that sound reasonable?
OK, so the guineas flew. They flew from the little ramp over to the step in front of the big people-door. Then from there to their outside roost. So far, so good. The chickens said they ain't comin' out no way no how! During the FIVE minutes I was in the barn, one of the guinea girls managed to make it up on top of the run. She was up there walking back and forth on the wire top and quacking (well, you know...). So I left her there figuring she'd come down when she got cold. But, NOOOO, she was out there still on the roof 3 hours later. The rest of the guineas had retired to the coop, where they were busy competing in a poop-pile-size contest with the chickens, who still hadn't come outside. The inside of the coop is definitely starting to smell like a coop now.
So, being the brilliant strategist that I am, I figure I'll just grab a rake or something and wave it at Ms. Roof Guinea and scare her off. So I did, but instead of flying off, she flew across to the top of the barn roof. I told her she could sit there till her toes froze off if she was going to be difficult and went back in the house to have more coffee.
Of course, after I'd warmed up a little bit, I started feeling sorry for Ms. Roof Guinea, so I went back out to see if I could coax her down. She was back on the roof of the run by then, so I went inside the run and yelled and waved my arms and rushed toward where she was standing, hoping she'd fly off and land on the ground in the corral. But NOOOOOOO, she flew back over my head and back onto the barn roof. I know, I know, most normal people would have just left her to her own devices - I'm sure she would have come down sometime. But not me, because apparently I'm not normal.
My next brilliant tactic was lobbing snowballs at her to knock her off the roof. There should have been a video tape of this! I mean, here's a person who can hit a golf ball into a bushel basket at 100 yards with a pitching wedge, and I can't get a snowball close enough to this stupid guinea to even make her LOOK at me! LOL! I was only 20 feet from her! I finally got tired of throwing snowballs (and my hands were freezing - I left my gloves in the house, naturally), so I went back in for more coffee and some breakfast.
After another hour or so, I look out the back door and that stupid guinea is STILL up on the barn roof, quacking to wake the dead. The other nine were inside the coop, answering her. So I went out to practice snowball throwing again. I was so proud of myself! On my 10th or 11th try, I managed to get one far enough up the side of the roof and on the proper trajectory to actually roll up and bump her on the side! HOOORAAAAAAAY! She flew off the barn roof and all the way over to the other side of the garden. So I hoofed it around the barn, across the corral, and over to where she was, to herd her back toward the coop. We kind of made an S-trail in the snow, but she finally spied the coop door and made a beeline inside. I went in after her, picked up a couple of eggs and counted heads. OK, ten guineas.... but only eleven chickens!
All morning, since Ms. Roof Guinea had gone up on the roof, I'd left the door to the run open so she could go back in if she wanted, and I'd not seen hide nor feather of any of the chickens up till then, so I couldn't figure out what happened. So I counted again, making note of who was there and who wasn't. It was Persephone that was missing. She likes to go hide in the tall grass or in the lilac hedge bordering the garden. So I went searching all over for her, but I didn't see any chicken tracks anywhere. Hmmm... maybe they'd been filled in with new snow, but all the other tracks (cats, bunnies, deer, me) were still clear. I didn't see her out in the tall grass patch, so I went looking in the lilac hedge and still didn't see her. Next I went inside the garden and was busy looking under all the shrubbery around the outside edge when I heard a THUMP right behind me. Good thing it wasn't a snake. It was Persephone. She must have been perched on a branch. Anyway, she came out of her hiding place to see what I was looking at, so I picked her up and took her back into the coop. This time after I counted heads, I shut the door to the run.
All this was before noon, mind you.
The chickens finally decided it was safe to walk on the snow at 2:00 when I went out (again) to check for eggs. They came out and rushed at the run door wanting out in the yard, so I opened it and let them out. I guess the snow is warmer now than it was this morning. Or something.
I had to retrieve Persephone from the garden again a little while ago, but the rest of them are sticking pretty close to the corral (I cheated and threw out a bunch of sunflower seeds to keep them close!).
So this was my day today. I just dearly love my chickens, but I'd like to go sit in front of the fire now!
~Lannie
The chickens have decided they need snow-booties. They are not getting them. I told them they have feathers on their feet and that will have to be good enough. The guineas don't have feathers on their feet, but by God, they can fly, so if they don't want to walk on the snow, they can just fly where they want to go. Doesn't that sound reasonable?
OK, so the guineas flew. They flew from the little ramp over to the step in front of the big people-door. Then from there to their outside roost. So far, so good. The chickens said they ain't comin' out no way no how! During the FIVE minutes I was in the barn, one of the guinea girls managed to make it up on top of the run. She was up there walking back and forth on the wire top and quacking (well, you know...). So I left her there figuring she'd come down when she got cold. But, NOOOO, she was out there still on the roof 3 hours later. The rest of the guineas had retired to the coop, where they were busy competing in a poop-pile-size contest with the chickens, who still hadn't come outside. The inside of the coop is definitely starting to smell like a coop now.
So, being the brilliant strategist that I am, I figure I'll just grab a rake or something and wave it at Ms. Roof Guinea and scare her off. So I did, but instead of flying off, she flew across to the top of the barn roof. I told her she could sit there till her toes froze off if she was going to be difficult and went back in the house to have more coffee.
Of course, after I'd warmed up a little bit, I started feeling sorry for Ms. Roof Guinea, so I went back out to see if I could coax her down. She was back on the roof of the run by then, so I went inside the run and yelled and waved my arms and rushed toward where she was standing, hoping she'd fly off and land on the ground in the corral. But NOOOOOOO, she flew back over my head and back onto the barn roof. I know, I know, most normal people would have just left her to her own devices - I'm sure she would have come down sometime. But not me, because apparently I'm not normal.
My next brilliant tactic was lobbing snowballs at her to knock her off the roof. There should have been a video tape of this! I mean, here's a person who can hit a golf ball into a bushel basket at 100 yards with a pitching wedge, and I can't get a snowball close enough to this stupid guinea to even make her LOOK at me! LOL! I was only 20 feet from her! I finally got tired of throwing snowballs (and my hands were freezing - I left my gloves in the house, naturally), so I went back in for more coffee and some breakfast.
After another hour or so, I look out the back door and that stupid guinea is STILL up on the barn roof, quacking to wake the dead. The other nine were inside the coop, answering her. So I went out to practice snowball throwing again. I was so proud of myself! On my 10th or 11th try, I managed to get one far enough up the side of the roof and on the proper trajectory to actually roll up and bump her on the side! HOOORAAAAAAAY! She flew off the barn roof and all the way over to the other side of the garden. So I hoofed it around the barn, across the corral, and over to where she was, to herd her back toward the coop. We kind of made an S-trail in the snow, but she finally spied the coop door and made a beeline inside. I went in after her, picked up a couple of eggs and counted heads. OK, ten guineas.... but only eleven chickens!
All morning, since Ms. Roof Guinea had gone up on the roof, I'd left the door to the run open so she could go back in if she wanted, and I'd not seen hide nor feather of any of the chickens up till then, so I couldn't figure out what happened. So I counted again, making note of who was there and who wasn't. It was Persephone that was missing. She likes to go hide in the tall grass or in the lilac hedge bordering the garden. So I went searching all over for her, but I didn't see any chicken tracks anywhere. Hmmm... maybe they'd been filled in with new snow, but all the other tracks (cats, bunnies, deer, me) were still clear. I didn't see her out in the tall grass patch, so I went looking in the lilac hedge and still didn't see her. Next I went inside the garden and was busy looking under all the shrubbery around the outside edge when I heard a THUMP right behind me. Good thing it wasn't a snake. It was Persephone. She must have been perched on a branch. Anyway, she came out of her hiding place to see what I was looking at, so I picked her up and took her back into the coop. This time after I counted heads, I shut the door to the run.
All this was before noon, mind you.
The chickens finally decided it was safe to walk on the snow at 2:00 when I went out (again) to check for eggs. They came out and rushed at the run door wanting out in the yard, so I opened it and let them out. I guess the snow is warmer now than it was this morning. Or something.
I had to retrieve Persephone from the garden again a little while ago, but the rest of them are sticking pretty close to the corral (I cheated and threw out a bunch of sunflower seeds to keep them close!).
So this was my day today. I just dearly love my chickens, but I'd like to go sit in front of the fire now!
~Lannie
