Not Smooth Sailing

Raising the chickens has not been completely smooth sailing.

Let me tell you a little story.

A couple of weeks ago I was watching my niece and two little girls. As a friend pulled up with her four kids I hurried to let out the dogs in the backyard so they could go to the bathroom before our guests arrived at the door. While I was watching both sides of the house I looked back to see our new puppy Crash with a CHICKEN IN HIS MOUTH. And Rocco, our 125 lb guard dog, had white feathers hanging from his mouth.

The construction trucks behind our house had come right up to our back fence, which sent four of the six chickens FLYING OUT of the house, out of the kennel and running in all different directions.

I thought the chickens would be dead. And don’t laugh…I like those chickens quite a bit. I got the one away from Crash and it was alive and scared to death. It sat still for a long while until it got up to move.  Then I quickly grabbed chicken #2 which wasn’t far away and got her back into the kennel run.

Two more to go.  I really thought Rocco had swallowed one whole.

I saw one on the other side of the fence.  So I threw my pregnant self over that fence and got that chicken with all the construction men watching me. They helped me go back over with a ladder.

Next…one last chicken, which may or may not have been eaten by Rocco.

While running to my neighbor’s backyards in search of the chicken, I yelled at my friend to just come in the house and watch the kiddos for me. I was bound and determined to find that chicken.

While in my neighbor’s backyard, the little four year old living there came outside asking if I knew where her mama was. Oh no, really? Right now? Somehow she was home…alone…at four. She told me she had decided to go on a ride around the neighborhood and promptly got on her bike. Umm no. Took me a while to talk her into just coming into my house until we could find her mother. Four year olds don’t ride around neighborhoods by themselves when left home alone.

I mean really, come on.  Back me up here. Seriously, I know we live in a nice neighborhood in Utah. But no one is really that naive…correct? That’s another story for another day.

Back to the chicken.  It wasn’t in either of my neighbor’s backyards. Then the construction workers starting yelling at me. They saw it! Oh yes! It was not eaten by a dog!

They caught it for me… I guess they didn’t want to see a pregnant lady scale the fence and hop over again…and threw it over.

Phew!

All chickens alive, 8 young kids now running rampant in my house with (thankfully) my friend there to watch them all while I chased chickens.

Stupid Chickens.

Thankfully, a simple kennel cover has solved the problem.

Tags: raising chickens

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