We have a routine at our house. \u00a0It changes time with the changing of the seasons but it always starts out the same. \u00a0I put on my rubber boots, \u00a0put some freeze dried meal worms into an old Folgers can, traipse into the yard and call out, “Bedtime for Birdies!”<\/p>\n
The chickens know exactly what this means. \u00a0They actually look forward to it every day. \u00a0When they hear “Bedtime for Birdies,” they know that the day is almost done. \u00a0Time to go roost. \u00a0The end of another successful day of being a chicken.<\/p>\n
What goes on at “Bedtime for Birdies,” is that I enter the fenced in area of the chicken yard and empty the Folgers can of those worms onto the ground on the inside of the chicken tractor. \u00a0The chickens literally push and shove their way into the tractor so they can get first dibs on those worms. \u00a0Mmmmm, tasty!<\/p>\n
When we first introduced the baby chickens to this ritual over the Spring, the babies had a difficult time understanding just what they were supposed to do. \u00a0It probably took an entire week for them to catch on but catch on they did! \u00a0They love “Bedtime for Birdies!”<\/p>\n
Peter, the Rooster, sets a very fine example of leading the way into the tractor. \u00a0See, Peter will not obey for anybody except me. \u00a0He attacks both #1 son and MFH (My Favorite Husband). \u00a0I personally think that is because both of these guys have teased Peter. \u00a0I do not take any guff off of Peter. \u00a0I have chucked those Folgers cans and him and yelled at him. \u00a0Peter knows better than to try any monkey business with me.<\/p>\n
When I enter the chicken area, Peter looks at me, turns his head so he can look at me with one beady little chicken eye and I look him right back. \u00a0I say, “Peter, it is ‘Bedtime for Birdies'” and he immediately turns around and walks into the tractor. \u00a0The hens follow him meekly into the tractor. \u00a0I then shut the door and wish them a good night.<\/p>\n
Chicken are so funny! \u00a0They crack me up!!!<\/p>\n
Last night, Greta, my Barred Rock hen (she is very pretty but rather stuck up) decided that she did not want to go to bed. \u00a0I was walking her around the tractor (it is a game she plays every now and then) when Peter popped out of the tractor. \u00a0He decided to help me. \u00a0He is the man of the chicken tractor after all.<\/p>\n
Peter can be a little aggressive with Greta. \u00a0He has gotten himself in trouble for this in the past. \u00a0Greta is afraid of him. \u00a0Greta started squawking when she saw Peter and I knew I would have trouble getting her into the tractor with Peter’s help. \u00a0I looked at Peter again and said to him, “Peter, I said it was ‘Bedtime for Birdies.'” \u00a0I was rather firm with him. \u00a0He gave a chicken sigh, turned around and went obediently back into the tractor. \u00a0I finished the loop with Greta and she, too went peacefully into the tractor. \u00a0I shut the door. \u00a0Wished them good night and came into the house. \u00a0Laughing. \u00a0Those silly, silly chickens!!!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
We have a routine at our house. \u00a0It changes time with the changing of the seasons but it always starts out the same. \u00a0I put on my rubber boots, \u00a0put some freeze dried meal worms into an old Folgers can, traipse into the yard and call out, “Bedtime for Birdies!” The chickens know exactly what […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15,6,8],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2467"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2467"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2467\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2468,"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2467\/revisions\/2468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}