Letting the Chickens Out

Yesterday after working in a friend’s yard during what was arguably the hottest day of the year (so far) I decided to let the chickens out for a while. Okay, so I got home, started dinner, took a shower, watered the flowers in the front yard then went out back to let the girls out.

They seemed ecstatic about frolicking in the grass and scrounging up bugs and worms and of course any leftover seeds from the black oil sunflower seed feeder a multitude of birds and some tenacious squirrels all seem to be passionate about. Even Kendra, who is still broody decided to hop off the empty nest box to eat, drink and be merry in the sunshine. I don’t know if it is the fact that she is on verge of ending her broodiness or if she was just super hungry, thirsty and needed to poop. Either way, I’m glad she got out to play, even if the other girls all picked on her for acting weird.

While the chickens were scavenging the yard, I decided to water the vegetable garden which seems to have grown dramatically since the day before, especially the peas. Upon closer inspection of the peas I saw that one indeed had a flower with another forming. I thought I saw yet another but it turned out to be a spider. Oh well, once one blooms the rest will probably follow suit in a matter of days and then the wait for delicious peas to form begins.

Our dog Lucy was also out and running about and decided to start chasing the chickens off the patio and deck. She’s trained well like that and it keeps it poop free which is a total bonus. However, when she started chasing Dawn, the hen who thinks she’s a cock, her feminine instincts kicked in and she immediately took the mating position, wings spread and tail to the side. They do this for both my partner and I when we walk up to them to let us know they’d like some petting, but I’ve never seen any of the girls do this for the dog. Apparently Lucy is now a dominatrix, and a couple of the other hens also did this when she approached them. Our dog, clueless as to what to do, simply sniffed Dawn’s back then walked away. Apparently she wanted to play but the hens were too busy searching for grubs.