chicken magic

As a follow-up to the last post, concerning chickens in the tree post of a few days ago...

I went out one night to make sure all of our clucky friends were safe and sound in the coop and not in the apple tree, and as usual a few were still in the tree.

I think there were 3 or 4 and I was able to get all but one out. This one was being a very stubborn little pullet hen, and I eventually made Trystan go and pluck her out since she had positioned herself in a way that she was sort of blocked in by small branches and inaccessible to me, and I did not have the height (or the nerve) to maneuver her out. She was in no way stuck, I was just afraid that if I were to pick her up she would fall TOO far and get hurt...but mostly I was just being overly cautious. I think I shall start calling this particular chicken "Stubborn Bessie". Yes yes, that suits her well :)

So the next day I was discussing the issue with our neighbor, Art, and he gave me a GREAT tip for getting them out of the tree. The trick is to push very gently on their chest with one hand, just enough to get them off balance and then they will jump onto your hand. That night I tried it and it works amazingly well. I did it after it started getting dark, and the chickens were all kind of in a trance. I don't think they see very well in the dark. When I tried setting them down in the coop, they seemed very scared and confused about letting go of my arm, and it took them a while to make their way up the ramp into the sleeping area of the coop. Eventually they found their way up, I think they just listened to their little friends softly clucking and followed their sounds. Lately they have gotten more and more friendly and affectionate. Have I mentioned I love my chickens?