The Other Chickens

Our neighbors behind us have chickens, this is nothing new. However, a couple of their hens have made a habit of breaking out of the coop.

The first incident was about a month ago, and there have been many since. It always seems to be the same two chickens that dig their way out of the coop and then freak out, sometimes for hours, trying to get back in. Of course, this also usually happens when the neighbors aren’t home.

Last night one of their hens decided to find a nice place to roost… on the roof of her coop, but not after what sounded like a particularly violent chicken torture session. I’m not sure what all the ruckus was about, but it was enough for us to actually go investigate this time. I mean, if they were being attacked by raccoons or possums we’d want to know why their dogs weren’t fending them off. More than likely it was one of their dogs trying to herd her back into the coop, something she had no intention of doing. After a while, she calmed down and we went back into the house to watch Up! for the first time, which, by the way, was much more emotional than I was anticipating.

So this morning I hear more ruckus, but was unable to figure out if it was just a chicken laying an egg and singing the egg song that chickens sing ever so loudly during the egg laying process, or if the chicken torturer had returned. More than likely it was just two hens gossiping louder than usual. Anyway, the neighbor was out feeding them breakfast, probably whatever was leftover from last night’s meal, and looked like he was trying to get her back into the coop. Did he succeed? I have no idea, I was busy making coffee. Priorities. I guess I’ll find out when I go water the vegetable gardens.