Resourceful Chickens

So I always have felt that dogs make the best pets. I still think I am right, but our chickens are running out to be the most interesting. John was up late last night working in the sun room. As he retold me the events from last night over breakfast this morning I nearly spewed my coffee all over the place.

Apparently, as he was working, he kept feeling like he was being watched. He looked around only to see two frantic chickens pecking at the door and clucking away. John is pretty perplexed at this point, he is pretty sure he locked them in the coop. He scratches his head, talks out loud to them, and tells him it will be a minute. It is like they heard hi, because their pecking and clucking became even more persistent, as if saying "listen hear you human, we are in this together, and we don't ask a lot of you, but right now we need you cluck cluck!!"

John gets it, puts what he is working on down and goes to put them back in the coop. He gets close, and they stopped following. He tried cajoling them.  They clucked and cooked their heads as if to say "no way buddy!". John then looks in the coop, only to find one ticked off feisty possum.

If you have been reading a while you will know, that John is good at talking about killing things, but when it comes down to it he can't quite bring himself to following through with the threat. So logically he goes to get a bucket. He goes bucket baiting for an angry possum in a small coop for 20 min. before he realizes, that this is not a good plan.

  So, now the smack talking begins, he goes, get his gun and loads it. Yes, ladies and gentleman, possums and pack rats bring out the redneck in my husband where he becomes inclined to shoot things inside. He goes into the coop with the shotgun. No joke the possum looks at John with the shotgun, looks at the bucket, looks back at the gun, and jumped right into the bucket.  John and the possum narrowly avoid a messy situation for both of them, thanks to this choice.

  Then, like a good chicken owner exhausted at 1am, John tries once again to get the chickens back in the coop. NO deal! He must carry both of them in there to show them around before they will go to bed. All in all, I am pretty sure these are the two smartest chickens around. At least they are resourceful.

This morning after John tells me this story, he relocated the possum and then explained that he met a farmer when a barn with lots of old manure.  He says this with glee and excitement.  Yes, this is our exciting life, but hey, it is cheep fun.