Thursday, November 21, 2013

Why Did the Chicken Climb the Tree?

In the kitchen, getting dinner ready, I saw a flash of white fly by the window, followed closely by a blur of black running.

'CHICKEN!!!!!!"

I ran outside, four kids hot on my heels, expecting to pry Roy the Wonder Dog off of a chicken.

Instead, I found this:


 20 feet in the air.

Sweet mother of all craziness, how were we to get that chicken down?

The sun was setting, and we couldn't leave her to roost up there.  It was supposed to rain soon.  Plus, we couldn't keep Roy tied up until she decided it was time.

So, Phoenix, being the tallest at our house, was told to take care of it.


After evaluating the situation, he decided shaking the branch with another stick would be the best plan.



He was wrong.

See her up there above the second story window?
So, he tried throwing walnuts up there to scare her down.



That didn't work either.

Basically, she just sat and stared at him.  When she was good and ready, she simply flew off.


We chased her back towards the coop, only to find mass pandemonium.



Two chickens on the roof, and more in the western holding pen.

When we chased the white one to the back of the coop, the two came off the roof


and Phoenix was able to catch the tree climber.




And then we were off to grab the ones in the holding pen.


Once all were back where they belonged, Phoenix went to feed them. 

So, why did the chicken climb the tree and why did the two get on the roof and why did the others go to the holding pen?

Because the child who normally feeds the chickens (not Phoenix) failed to mention we were running low on chicken feed.  As in there was no chicken feed left.

The chickens were hungry.

So, I made them some oatmeal like my new chicken farmer friend wrote about, and made a trip to Tractor Supply for some food for them this morning.

God as my witness, my chickens will never go hungry again!  (Scarlett O'Hara fans out there?)

And if they do, I'm not chasing them down.

Mostly because I'm 42 and getting way to old for this crap.

Have a lovely day!

32 comments:

  1. You have more fun corralling your critters. Very exciting.

    Have a fabulous day. ☺

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    1. It is kinda fun corralling chickens. I wouldn't mind if I didn't have to, though. :)

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  2. I don't even know what to say about this, except this...you really know how to party! ;)

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  3. Life in the city would likely be way too boring for your family...unless you still raised chickens which in some towns is permitted :)!

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    1. There are some neighborhoods which allow 4 chickens. Four just wouldn't be worth it. No one would allow pigs. So in the country we remain.

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  4. Thank you for sharing your funny stories, Christine.. At least you're never bored!! In my next life, I'll have a farm as well (does that mean getting up early every morning??).

    Have a great day!!

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    1. It does not mean getting up early! Well, I guess I should ask what you consider early. But generally, no. Sleep in until 9 if you want. :)

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  5. Oh my! Did you know owning chickens was going to be such an adventure?? I think I would have eaten them by now...

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    1. We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. Something new every week it seems. We have eaten some. It's too much work. :)

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  6. Clip. The frikkin. WINGS!

    zomg!

    *rolls eyes*

    It's one thing to be a hobby farmer, but it seems like you're making it an awful lot harder on yourself...and if it wasn't awesome blog fodder, well, climbing trees for chickens - ain't nobody got time for that!

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    1. You say that like it's an easy thing to do! First, I don't want to clip them, because they roost nine feet up at night. I don't want them to be unable to roost or get into the nests. Plus, we have had soccer tournaments 6 weekends in a row. COW and I haven't been home on the weekends at the same time for a while. PLUS, we can't do it when he comes home, as it's already dark.
      However, new netting has been ordered, so the fence will be sealed up much better real soon. I can do that on my own.

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    2. Ah well. Long as you have a way around it. But my goodness - I thought the idea was that we all come over and say "Wow! Christine makes chicken-and-pig-keeping look so EASY! How does she do it? Isn't she wonderful"...instead we get you halfway up a tree, or being bowled over by pigs or chased by cows....

      All of which makes most excellent reading, by the way, but I do wonder what you're doing for the Hobby Farmers' of America's reputation ;)

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  7. You. Are. Climbing.On.A.Fence
    (…to climb a tree, I presume.)

    (Wayne and Garth voiceover: 'We are not worthy! We are not worthy').

    lol

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    1. I am climbing OVER a fence. To collect the chickens in the holding area. There was no way to climb the gigantic tree the other chicken had flown into.

      I thank you for bringing Wayne and Garth into this thread, though! :)

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  8. OK, I'm kinda with Lizzi here...wouldn't wing clipping help? But then again...there wouldn't be nearly as many chicken stories. And I do love a good chicken story.

    Just the word chicken is awesomely funny. In fact, just as I was thinking to write that, my Fab Hub said so. He also added that "chicken" is just as great a word as "weasel." These are words that suit any occasion. For example...

    Not funny: This is a neck tie.
    Funny: This is a neck weasel.

    See?

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    1. It would help, but we don't want to do it. We are getting more netting to enclose the buggers.

      Hahahahaha!! That is much funnier. :)

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  9. You are very agile for a 4 followed by a 2 year old person. ;)

    PS Happy Birthday!!! Hope you had a fantastic day!

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    1. I have to admit, it is getting harder and harder to get over that fence. :)

      Thank you! It was pretty good.

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  10. The title alone just makes you want to read the story. Thanks for bringing a smile to my face on a difficult Friday morning :)

    And no way is 42 too old to for 'that crap' as you put it! Age is just a number, you've lots more chicken-chasing years in you yet! :)

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    1. Good! That's what I was going for. :)
      I do have plenty of chicken-chasing years left. Fence-climbing years? Not so much.

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  11. I have a secret. I have three dumb chickens that refuse to come in the roost at night, no matter how hard we try. We have decided to just let them sit up there in the trees in all of their impertinence. If an owl gets them, hey, we tried. We did!! Stinkin' chickens lol.

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    1. Ha! That's so funny! Here I thought you were the chicken whisperer. We had one flock who never, ever went inside to roost. All 20 of them slept in a tree outside every night one summer.

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    2. I can only whisper to the ones who have brain enough to listen. Heehee!!

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    3. Hahaha!! Me, too! I have lots of birds without brains, apparently.

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  12. Why did the chickens fly the coop? To get to the food! Hahaha! Looks like owning them is a REAL adventure!

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  13. LOL! When you said "Why did the chicken climb the tree?" I was waiting for "to get to the other side" :D

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    1. Unfortunately, it was already on the other side. :)

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  14. Isn't it funny how chickens seem so easy to take care of, only sometimes, they're NOT? I had one peck my toe, I had a rooster try to kill me.....good times.

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    1. I had one peck my finger just a couple of weeks ago. We've had a couple roosters attack the kids. One even ripped up one leg of the jeans Buttercup was wearing and bruised her other leg. Fortunately, we don't have any roosters this time around.

      They really should be easier than this.

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  15. My great aunt had a pet chicken. Makes you wonder why.

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