You've heard of Robinhood? Now I'll tell you about Chickenhood and his band of merry hens!
We recently spent a LOT of $$money on fencing to keep chickens and turkeys confined to the yard, and a very generous portion we gave them indeed! You've heard the saying from Erma Bombeck, "The grass grows greener over the septic tank" ? Well, that's true and so we fenced in that area since we can't plant anything with any depth or have the weight of a tractor upon it.
At night, after roosting had been well established, I went about the barn & different roosting spots (on trailers,doorways,cages,straw bales, storage bins, woodpile, etc., and slipped my hands beneath their soft belly feathers , grabbed them about the ankles and flipped them upside down~best way to catch a chicken ! Nightime is a must! After the initial squawking and wild flapping of wings had subsided, I carried them to the fenced in 10 x 14' poultry shed and set them free to roost on one of 6 posts. Only the highest post would work for them .They crowd together and leave the other 4 posts bare.
Every night for a week now, this same little group of chickens, with their master rooster"Chickenhood" ,slip out of there & return to their original sleeping quarters.They are a stubborn lot and refuse address change ! Their idea of 'fun' is to stand in the middle of the street and stop traffic,cross the street to the woods and scratch for bugs and lay eggs next to the possum hole.HELLO !! Dumb idea!
The remainder of the chicken & turkey population spend the entire daylight hours frantically running up & down the perimeter of the new fence reciting the ADVERB JINGLE~ "Over,under,around,below,up,down,through...".. etc.They have not yet succeeded in finding an escape route.
I always wondered what the heck was the farmers' preoccupation with fences! Now I know.Livestock have 24/7 to dwell on and plan escape routes.
We recently spent a LOT of $$money on fencing to keep chickens and turkeys confined to the yard, and a very generous portion we gave them indeed! You've heard the saying from Erma Bombeck, "The grass grows greener over the septic tank" ? Well, that's true and so we fenced in that area since we can't plant anything with any depth or have the weight of a tractor upon it.
At night, after roosting had been well established, I went about the barn & different roosting spots (on trailers,doorways,cages,straw bales, storage bins, woodpile, etc., and slipped my hands beneath their soft belly feathers , grabbed them about the ankles and flipped them upside down~best way to catch a chicken ! Nightime is a must! After the initial squawking and wild flapping of wings had subsided, I carried them to the fenced in 10 x 14' poultry shed and set them free to roost on one of 6 posts. Only the highest post would work for them .They crowd together and leave the other 4 posts bare.
Every night for a week now, this same little group of chickens, with their master rooster"Chickenhood" ,slip out of there & return to their original sleeping quarters.They are a stubborn lot and refuse address change ! Their idea of 'fun' is to stand in the middle of the street and stop traffic,cross the street to the woods and scratch for bugs and lay eggs next to the possum hole.HELLO !! Dumb idea!
The remainder of the chicken & turkey population spend the entire daylight hours frantically running up & down the perimeter of the new fence reciting the ADVERB JINGLE~ "Over,under,around,below,up,down,through...".. etc.They have not yet succeeded in finding an escape route.
I always wondered what the heck was the farmers' preoccupation with fences! Now I know.Livestock have 24/7 to dwell on and plan escape routes.
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