Last night, due to miscommunication and failure to follow proper poultry protocol, one of the nest box doors to the coop got left open. Today when I got home from work I noticed Rosie, as well as one of the Jersey Giants (Jim Burt or L.T.--I can't tell them apart) and one of the Silver Wyandottes (Polka Dot or Mayflower, same problem) casually pecking the grass in the back yard.
I knew that if I opened the door to the coop to let them wander back in, all the other chickens would come out. It was too early in the day for that; they'd be out for hours and hours before going back in to roost, and I'd have to keep an eye on them and not go to Starbucks for a Frappuccino like I planned.
So Charlie and I got some cracked corn, which is the secret special mojo of chicken-keeping, and sprinkled some in one corner of the coop. All the chickens in the coop went to that corner. Then we opened the door and sprinkled some more just inside. Rosie and Polka Dot/Mayflower hopped right in. We had to use a rake to flush Jim Burt/L.T. out from under the coop, where she was enjoying a cooling dirt bath, but she, too, quickly jumped in.
Then, with hours to go before dinner, Charlie said "Let's do woses and fohns." This is when we go around the dinner table and say one good thing--a rose--and one bad thing--a thorn--that happened that day. "My wose," Charlie said, "was getting the chickens back in. And... I don't really have a fohn."
And that is our official definition of a good day. When you can't even come up with a fohn.
That might be the cutest story ever.
Posted by: Julia | July 17, 2009 at 07:03 AM
Hehehe - cracked corn is the secret special mojo of Kerry keeping too.
Posted by: AMW | July 17, 2009 at 09:26 AM
we are definitely introducing roses and thorns to our dinnertime. tried it tonight and sawyer thought it was great. he kept asking to hear the "torns" again all evening. At bedtime, he finally thought to ask "what is a thorn?
Posted by: Joy | July 24, 2009 at 09:20 PM