Monday, August 15, 2011

The Man is Keeping the Chicken Down

The inevitable has finally happened.  The 'man' stopped by yesterday.  Red has got to go.  Can't say I blame them.  The past week or so, he's been pretty noisy.  Usually, it's just in the morning and at random intervals throughout the day.  But lately, he was crowing pretty much non-stop.  With the weather a bit cooler this past week, I'm guessing the neighbors had windows open and finally had enough. 

After the man left, I had to chase Red around the yard (he knew something was up because I usually just ignore him, even when he tries challenging me for dominance.)  I chased him around the big oak a couple of times, then down into the pines, then finally got him corralled into the coop/run.  Once he was cornered in the coop, he kind of gave up and let me pick him up.  He had to move into chicken jail in the basement.  He is not very happy down there.  He was crowing very early this morning - well before the sun came up.

I'm hoping Red doesn't go to freezer camp, so I posted an ad out on Craigslist.  If you know anyone who wants a rooster, send them my way.

Not only did the man not like the crowing, but apparently, he doesn't like free ranging chickens, either.  Again, it's not as though I blame him.  As the chickens have become more
Free-ranging in the front yard.
comfortable in their environment, they have been expanding their territory.  They are crossing the street and hanging out in Inver Grove Heights in the morning.  Later in the day, they cross the private drive and hang out under the trees in the neighbor's yard. 

Even before the man stopped by, I noticed a four-pack of chickens wander across the street.  They didn't stop at the trees like they normally do, but rather were running through their yard near the kid's play set.  I can see that being very irritating to non-chicken owners because the chickens will poop wherever they feel like.  They won't care if kids are barefoot in the area.
Mmmmmm....chicken.

So the man is going to make me stick to my permit by not allowing the chickens to free range any more unless someone is home to keep them contained the yard.  That's going to be tough, but I'm going to try to keep them in the back yard somehow.  There are plenty of trees and stuff for them to keep entertained with.  During the day, though, they are going to have to be contained to the run.  The run is plenty big enough, but I think they'll get bored easily.  I need to expand the run so I'll be in the market for dog kennel fencing this week. 


Hanging out under the oak.


1 comment:

  1. I was excited to see this evening that you'd posted more! ...that Google Reader just doesn't fail me with those RSS feeds. Maybe you can train one of your dogs to keep the chickens contained within the yard.

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