An Unlikely Guard Over the Chicken Coop

I was really glad to get back to my chickens, after 11 days away from them. I'm sure Romie was glad for me to get back too, since he didn't want them in the first place and had to take care of them while I was gone. (I know he likes them though, because he tells me stories about the cute things they do, like when they do 'chest bumps'.)

Though I couldn't tell much difference in their size, there was a distinct difference in the sounds they make. They are doing some mighty fine clucking now!

Last night, as I closed up the coop, I did what I've been doing for a few weeks now - placing them up on the roosting bar, because they don't seem to want to get up there on their own. Oh no...they all want to huddle and cuddle in one of the nesting boxes. All eight of them, even in this hot weather, pile in and it's one mass of panting, fluffy feathers. That's no good.

Check out the brown grass in the yard. That's from all the heat and no rain.
It's gone dormant and once we get regular rain again, it will turn green.

We had to close off the nesting boxes so they wouldn't go in there. Those are for when they lay eggs and they won't be doing that for a couple of months yet. So I place them on the roosting bar, pet them to calm them down after much squawking and flapping of wings, and there they stay - at least until I close the big back doors. How long they stay up there, I don't know.

This morning, I went out to open the little square hatch door and put up the ramp so they could come out for the day, except I got a big surprise when the first one to emerge from the coop wasn't a chicken at all. It was Max - one of our cats!

Max scurried out in a hurry and I stuck my head inside to see if there was any carnage. I did it before the thought entered my mind that I might not like what I would see, but all was well. The chickens paraded out, one by one, strutting as if to say, "We ain't afraid of no cat."

If any of our outside cats had to get accidentally shut up with the chickens, Max would be the one I'd choose. He's just a cream puff. He minds his own business, is a lovable ball of fur, and is elderly enough to be quite deaf and losing some teeth. I'm pretty sure the chickens AND Max all had a pretty good night's sleep.