Chicken Wars and a Momentous Day

Our chickens were making a nuisance of themselves. Something had to change. We wanted that ideal cage-free chicken - free to run around and eat bugs and grass... but it just wasn't working. They were becoming increasingly confident about jumping the chain link fence and running around the neighborhood. Our neighbors were really good about it, but you never know when they might reach their limit. The nuisance combined with the expense was making us think about getting rid of them.

We tried catching them, re-clipping their wings and shutting them up in their coop. But one of them was just too good at evading us and we couldn't seem to catch her. And on top of that the captured, re-clipped ones were still managing to jump out of the coop.

When Josh was here, he and Stephen joined forces and took on the chickens. They managed to round up the three that were still on the loose and get them back in the coop. Then they took some extra wire and added it to the top of the coop. Since then - no escapes. The chickens aren't too happy about the end of their freedom... but it sort of their doing. :-) And besides, our friends told us that if they run around, when they begin laying eggs they'll lay them everywhere.



And here's Clara doing some work too! She is busily using some wire on her trike.



Well, yesterday something momentous happened! Our friends were over for Bible study and Stephen had taken some of the guys out to see the chickens. One of our friends suddenly noticed an egg lying on the ground! So, they went looking and what should they find but 7 eggs total! Happy day! We were pretty excited!!! Guess we might not be getting rid of them quite yet! :-)

And here is Clara, showing our first 7 eggs!



And this post is significant for another reason... it is our 500th post!