Last night there was an opossum in the chicken house again.
I was asleep on the sofa when the man of the house heard the racket and woke me up. Somebody (I think that would be me) had forgotten to close the little hatch door (much like a dogie door) and something had gotten in there and was bothering the sleeping chickens. Together we went out to inspect, I in my robe, armed with a hay fork and ready to defend my laying hens if necessary. It wasn't.
The gold hen that was attacked lost some feathers and was hiding outside the henhouse, the opossum was wondering around out in the hen yard, probably still looking for the hen that got away or maybe a lost egg lying around, and all the rest of the hens and one lone rooster were still on their perch. The marauding villian ran off when he saw us coming, I gathered the little hen in my arms and consoled her, putting her back inside the henhouse. Then, remembering to latch the hatch door and relieved that no one was hurt, the husband and I went back to the house and finally to bed for the night, grateful to be in our warm, cozy bed on this cold winter night.
LAST NIGHT I DREAMED OF CHICKENS
there were chickens everywhere, they were standing on my stomach,... they were nesting in my hair, they were pecking at my pillow, they were hopping on my head, they were ruffling up their feathers as they raced about my bed.
They were on the chairs and tables, they were on the chandeliers, they were roosting in the corners, they were clucking in my ears, there were chickens, chickens, chickens for as far as I could see... when I woke today, I noticed there were eggs on top of me.
by Jack Prelutsky
Art Anna Pugh
The hens are beginning to lay now and we're excited not to have to buy store-bought eggs for awhile. Despite the bitter cold this winter, they are all happy, healthy and cozy in their new little hen house, which the man of the house remodled last fall with a new main door and a hatch door! Now, if I can just remember to close it after they are all roosting after dark....
~ Gwen of IRISH ACRES