I did not manage to catch David the cat and the big fat hen together so I captured these shots of our birds at bedtime. Some will roost on the poles and others in the rafters. It is dangerous to go inside and count them every evening for fear of droppings from the ones in the rafters. That is where the guinea fowl love to roost so it doesn't conflict with the chickens. However you can probably guess that Jack Bauer requires the highest level so he's found an ideal spot were he can keep and eye on everyone.
Good night, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite .....or the droppings light.
Call me a city chick but I never thought of a chicken flying so this is enlightening for me:)
ReplyDeleteVery neat pictures. Our neighbors chickens used to roost in a tree in our front yard and we used to joke you were a redneck if you had a chicken tree in the front yard, lol. I don't know what happened to them, but they don't roost there any more.
ReplyDeleteMy only experience with chickens is when I was very young; I used to rake dried corn cobs along the wire fence to feed the chickens on my great-grandparents farm. I had no idea they would go up into the rafters like that!
ReplyDeleteChanges -- You can see the ones on the roosting poles are mostly fatties. Some have had their wings clipped. The ones in the rafters are young or very fit. Also the guinea fowl fly very well. None can fly long distances but they can get a good boost to flee a predator.
ReplyDeleteBonnie -- There is not doubt I am a redneck. Yesterday a neighbor stopped just to watch our guinea fowl walking on the barn roof. He wanted to know what they were doing. "Showing off" was all I could think of.
Kenju -- your great-grandparents chickens probably all had their wings clipped. We don't worry about it as much since our chickens are free range and not penned up inside a fence during the day.
ReplyDeleteInteresting. I have to tell you, until I read this I never thought about chickens sleeping.
ReplyDeleteRalph
this actually brings back memories when I lived on a small farm and my job was to collect eggs. The hens intimidated me at first, but I finally learned self-confidence.
ReplyDeleteDangerous indeed ;)
ReplyDeleteRalph -- Until I raised chickens, I did not know (nor did I care) that they slept. Now I know are care too much. Who would have thought it.
ReplyDeleteTabor -- The first time I faced an attack by our old rooster, Boss Hog, I was afraid of even the hens. Then I was able to win a fight with him (kicked him several feet in the air with one swipe) and fowl intimidation ended.
Riot Kitty -- Dangerous is right and you certainly want to make sure your mouth is shut if you have to look up.
Chickens are kind of amazing. My grandparents had a rooster who like to chase us grandkids even though we never bothered him. We had strict orders not to interfere with any of the animals on the farm.
ReplyDeleteKay -- All a child has to do to irritate a rooster is be short. If you have a mean rooster, he is even more irritated by short people who he figures as competition. That was the main reason we had to get rid of our old rooster.
ReplyDeleteWow, yeah you wouldn't get me standing under that lot, the idea of bird poo on my caps is unthinkable. lol.
ReplyDeleteJoe -- Oh yes, the birds could do a lot of damage to your cool caps.
ReplyDeleteI was raised on a ranch in Montana. It was too far to town to buy eggs so taking good care of our chickens was important. My grandmother used to check every night to make sure all the chickens were on the roost.
ReplyDeleteI assume that those on top, doing their business all over everyone else, are of a certain political party.
ReplyDeleteI would try to join them up there until they found out I was an imposter.
Stella -- In this cold weather it is nice to know we will at least have eggs if we run out of other food. We don't sell our eggs but we certainly get more than we need and our family and friends love farm fresh, genuine, organic chicken eggs. I could never go back to store bought eggs.
ReplyDeleteCliff -- My rooster, Jack Bauer, just might be an impostor infiltrating them. Perhaps he will reform them. LOL
This looked like a trick camera shot..so cute.
ReplyDeleteDorothy from grammology
grammology.com
Whatever happened to roosting boxes? Do you gather eggs off the floor already scrambled? (And seasoned, YUK!)
ReplyDeleteDorothy -- Now that you mention it, those two photos together do look a bit weird.
ReplyDeleteQuill -- You are thinking of "nesting boxes" and the hens spend time there during the day delivering our delicious eggs. But your image of them dropping egg bombs from the rafters is a pretty funny
Annie,
ReplyDeleteLove the photo of the chickens. Jack is on the watch. This brings back memories, for sure.
Not giving up on you. Send the photos you like and I will see what I can do with them. I have the same predicament with Meeko. I may be able to work them up in PS or some other photo program.
Blessings,
Mary
When I used to visit my best friend in junior high I loved her chickens. Her dad was the agriculture agent for our county and they had tons and tons of chicks and big birds. That developed my love of chickens and she wouldn't have a chicken today if her life depended on it. It is funny how persons who grew up with them don't find raising them appealing at all.
ReplyDeleteLOL.....
ReplyDelete