Oh...just when we were getting a bit comfortable with the chickens and ducks, they rip that comfort right out from under us. Dave let them wander about the yard a few weeks ago for a little bit. We all hovered and watched to see what happened. To our surprise, nothing happened. They stayed right near the coop and scratched the dirt and dug for bugs. Then he put them back before it got dark. So he began letting them out to wander for a little longer each time. Each time, they just would hang out right around the coop.
Meanwhile, he has just about one more days worth of work before the fenced in yard just outside the coop is complete.
This week, he asked Sydney to start letting them out of the coop just after we get home from work/school. This has been working great. Wednesday night, when he went out to make sure they all get put away safely from predators, all had wandered back into the coop except one duck. That duck has always been the rowdiest of the bunch, hardest to catch, loudest, pushiest, etc.
Last night was not the same situation. It started out normal with letting them out to wander. My mom even got to see them and remarked that it was really neat how they just knew to stay around the coop and go back in. But last night, two of them got the idea to start wandering out towards the front yard. We thought it was pretty funny to see chickens in our front yard. They got tired of the front yard and wandered into the back and onto our deck. So all is well......
The sun is starting to go down and Dave had to go to the store. My house was very clean for a Thursday (this never happens) and I was so happy thinking that after putting the girls to bed, I was going to R-E-L-A-X. I was upstairs reading with Tatum, when Tucker and Regan started barking like crazy downstairs. I first thought it was probably just someone riding their bike or walking by and then I realized they were barking like someone was at the front door. Were the chickens back out front? Nope, it was my neighbor knocking.
I go to the door and see her smirking and she asks if I know that our chickens are out of the coop roaming about? I said I knew they were roaming near the coop and she starts laughing and tells me that they are roaming in her yard and points over to her house and front porch. There are 4 chickens all standing in the glow of her front porch light facing her glass door! They are just walking back and forth looking expectantly up at the door like someone should let them in. One is flying up and down and keeps banging into the glass. I was sooo embarrassed. I didn't even know what to do at this point. Where is DAVE??? So I lean out of the door even farther to see them. This is when Tucker and Regan shoot out the door under my leg. Now starts the mad chaos.
She's laughing even harder now telling me that there is one just hanging out on her car and my car. Sure enough, I look over at the car, and there is one just hanging out there. Then I see another one on my jeep. Oh my goodness. I know we only have 7 chickens but at this moment it looks like there are hundreds of them just flapping and wandering about.
Tucker is chasing one in a circle while the poor chicken is running in a circle flapping her wings all about. You can just hear her little chicken voice telling that darn dog to get away from her. It's one of those moments where you think: Am I really watching my dog chase a chicken in my front yard in grass that is way too long because the lawn mower broke again? Is this really my life?? Oh and it is. I reassure my neighbor that Dave should be home any minute and that's when he pulls into the driveway.
Dave, still in his dress clothes from work, starts rounding them up. It is now getting much darker. After my neighbor leaves I yell down to him to see if he has them all and he says that he is missing the big white chicken and one of the ducks. No doubt that wandering duck led our chicken astray. I went into the house, put on my old sneakers, grabbed a coat and a flashlight. We split up and start walking around the yard. Right then, our whole neighborhood goes really dark. The power has just gone out. It was rather eerie being out there on the edges of the yard holding a flashlight and have the power go out. I say "Dave?" really quietly. No answer. Then I say it a little louder and then a little louder. Finally he answers back from waaaaay across the yard. Phew. I start quickly walking over to where he is and the power goes back on. Very weird. The power thing doesn't have a whole lot to do with this story, but it really was really, really creepy right at that moment.
We wander about the yard and finally call it quits and go into the house. Hopefully they will show up in the morning. Well, so far those two teenagers have yet to come home and we are very disappointed in them. OK, so we are kind of worried and wondering as to where they could be? Are they near a pond, in a tree, bothering a neighbor, knocking at someone else's front door, dinner for a much larger animal? I just really hope the authorities don't come a knockin this evening because they found my teenage chicken and duck up to no good. I prefer not to be known as that neighbor in my town :-)
New lesson learned: Dave says this morning, "So I guess they don't just come back on their own."
I guess not.
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