Chickens

If pigs are the comedians of the barnyard then surely the chickens are the spoiled entitled children. 

If you place anything down for a moment they automatically think that you've brought it out for them. 

They will travel anywhere into the barn even if it's not their area. 

They do not move out of the way of the tractor backhoe or other vehicles until the very last moment! I have seen my husband backing up the tractor and a chicken moving out of the way just in time for the very large back wheels to brush its tail as it leisurely steps out of the way. 

This causes some serious problems when doing construction work around our new barn. 

It has been a very bad week for the chickens on our farm. 

We have two hens with chicks at the moment one clutch of four and one clutch of three.

(a group of baby chickens born at the same time are called a clutch or brood, the baby chickens themselves are called chicks.)

 Since we have been preparing to, and pouring the cement floor in our barn the chickens, babies included, have needed to be kept closed in their homes. 

This is not only frustrating for the chickens but it is also frustrating for us, because it means they need to be fed more because they are no longer free-ranging. It also means that their pens get dirty a lot faster, which is not healthy for them and difficult for us, because they need to be cleaned out much more often. 
For the safety of all chickens involved and for the well-being of our new cement floor, it was better they stayed in for a few days.

Here's what happened, we spent two days grading the Barnyard and preparing for the cement, setting up forms and all that entails. 

The first day we had the chickens out but as they were running around underneath the tractor and backhoe, I decided to leave them in the next day. 

Chickens seem to think that any new ground you dig up with the bucket or backhoe is purely for their benefit to find new bugs, so they run underneath the bucket with only a few inches to spare, sometimes even less. 

With this in mind, I was thinking about when we pour the cement they would be running over to see what this new grey stuff is, and was there any insect in it for them to eat? 
They would be crushed by the weight of the cement as it comes off the cement trucks spout.

After it had been poured I knew they would be walking on it, which would leave chicken footprints in my entire Barn floor, as well as the cement potentially burning the skin on their feet.

My other concern was for the babies, much more innocent than the adult chickens and substantially smaller. 

If you think it's difficult to see a little Golden Chicken under your wheels when driving the tractor, attempt to do this with a little baby that is about the size of an apple. 

We have one chick that is gray and very much looks like the ground, in fact in a photo, we couldn't find her. 

As fun and amusing as chickens can be there also slightly on the annoying side, as I have already stated they think everything in the world is for them!

Every coffee cup you set down, every Pig pot, everything that they could possibly reach, get to, eat, scratch or nest in they will. 

This is led us to the chicken's wars, that my husband had to put up with last summer. 
The chickens were eating everything in the garden. 

My husband actually had to put an electric fence around the garden to keep them out. 

Or my Hayloft, they nest in, poop on and scratch lose my hay. 

Not healthy for the cows eating it, also annoying for me. 

First, we put a baby gate at the top of the stairs, this worked for a while. 

The chicken poop on my steps was getting deep. 

They then learned to jump over it. 

(Yes, chicken are birds, they can fly but domestic chicken tend to keep flying to a minimum)

Next, my super farmer husband put a chain-link gate at the bottom of the stairs. 

This help until the chickens learn to jump/flutter onto the steps from the back.

So this leads to my uncle putting kicker boards on the once open stairs, And a board along the railing because we knew that was the next mode of entry. 

This has seemed to fix the problem. 
However, we did not know that there was a chicken already nesting up there. This is the hen with the 4 babies.

We brought her down and popped her into a chicken condo and she hatched out a healthy brood. 

I could go on about the chicken wars, but I think you get the idea.

As good, egg layers and bug eaters chickens are they are not the Einsteins of the barnyard. 

They are equal part joy and frustrating.