Why now?

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Pertelotte

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Why now?
« on: December 07, 2010, 00:19 »
During the spring, the summer and the autumn my girls were happy enough to potter about the garden mowing down anything which came within range of their beaks.

(NB When Alys Fowler advises you to not stake your raspberries so the leaves can protect the berries from bird attack she was only referring to the birds passing overhead, not the sharp eyed gluttons on the ground.)

Now, my girls think they're in Colditz and have formed an escape committee trying every trick except Steve McQueen's  escapade with the  motorbike - tis but a matter of time. At least YumYum and Edith do. Poor little Nibbles (who is a little bit larger) can't quite scale the fence and will rush to the back door to knock and cluck about her abandonment.

Then, to add insult to injury, when I call them home (with a juicy mealworm) they line up happily outside the gate over which they originally sailed insisting that I open it for them. Then they toddle in, demand their bribery and corruption only to hop back over the minute my back is turned.

I erect temporary barricades which are a) scaled, b) wrecked by cat or c) mysteriously fell apart after OH came back from pub forgetting that a chicken wire screen was over the back gate, but I point no finger. (Same OH who forgot to secure the lid on his tub of fishing bait before leaving it in the hen house and wondered why the tub was lying empty on the floor the following morning.)

Is it because they are now fully mature hens in the fulness of their hen-ness, or simply because the good bugs like the greener grass is on the other side? Or are they simply nostalgic for next door's vegetable plot which they got to clear in the autumn? The same neighbour who has seedlings he doesn't want cleared quite yet.

Or simply because they can? (I have cats - who knows why they do stuff.)

In other words: what, apart from getting a dog with a gun and a set of balls and chains, can I convince my girls to wait until the ground is soft before they spread their wings?


PS for Jinty: the Amber pictured is Nibbles this spring. She's fully grown and a lot muddier now.
« Last Edit: December 07, 2010, 00:23 by Pertelotte »

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Jeanette

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Re: Why now?
« Reply #1 on: December 07, 2010, 11:43 »
Our girls will always keep us guessing as to what they will do next thats why i love them. :)

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jinty1911

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Re: Why now?
« Reply #2 on: December 08, 2010, 18:35 »
Ha ha.  That post is so funny.  Ours have never tried to escape yet, but I have seen Cilla standing on top of the hen house eyeing up the top of the 6ft fence.  OH nailed a bit of 2ft trellis to it and she hasnt bothered since. We have a rottie/x next door who is such a softie he lets our wee pom bully him (she's the escape artist here) but dont know what he would make of a chicken.
Jinty   


 

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