news summary
2:30 pm: This is one of those “watermelon” events that is so juicy, no embellishment is needed and so there will be no “feature story.”
My visit with the girls was uneventful until I rounded them up and put them in the coop. When I closed the door, Lizbeth was clearly upset. She got as close to me as she could on the other side of the chicken wire and clucked very excitedly.
I was sure all the chickens were in the coop, but a did a second count. Only 8. That was not unusual. Lucy usually hides in the nesting box after grazing. I walked the length of the coop to the nesting area. Lizbeth walked right with me maintaining intense eye contact and making low clucking sounds. Lucy was not there. I walked around to the back of the coop. Lizbeth stayed with me. Some times the chickens hide out in the trench behind the coop. Lucy was not there.
When I completed the walk around the coop, I was standing facing the coop door. Lizbeth lept up to my eye level, grabbed the door with her claws, flapped her wings fiercely and let out an ear piercing screech. I had to find Lucy.
With my back to the coop, I scanned the yard. I saw no movement anywhere. Took a deep breath and pushed aside thoughts of a wild critter snatching Lucy. Then I noticed that there was a mound near the right side of the porch. It was high enough to hide Lucy.
Walked over and there she was. She knew her time was up. She was scratching and pecking so fast and hard, she made herself a hip deep hole in the mulch. When I got up to her, she made a run for it. Through the rhododendrons, across the nail pit, around the redwoods, then right up to the nesting box door. I opened the coop door and she trotted right in.
Lizbeth was content.
Got 5 eggs today.
~David