We pick up the roosters.

To continue the story from the last blog....

We drive the two and a half blocks to our friend's house to get the chickens. She had tried the method that had worked the other two times, i.e., fed the chickens in the coop at night, then shut them in. They sleep in the coop, and in the morning we go get whatever is locked up in there. BUT... this time, there were only some hens and little babies in the coop. The roosters had gotten wise to her tricks. We humans pride ourselves on being smarter than the chickens (or we'd never eat eggs or chicken), and innovation won out. The next day, our friend went out in the morning, and yep, only a few hens and some babies in the coop. She let them out and threw some scratch into the coop. (For non-chicken people, 'scratch' is a mix of grains, mostly corn, that chickens love to eat off the ground, and 'scratch' around for.) The roosters went running in for it and.... BAM! the door was shut and they could eat to their hearts' content until we get there to pick them up! (I wonder if it will work the second time?)

We arrived with our pickup and cage and there were 7 roosters, 2 hens, and 2 babies. The babies were probably a month old or so. The three of us, Pat, Eden, and myself, started trying to catch them. Someone should really video it. We are usually too concentrated on actually catching them and getting them in the cage to think about the video we all have on our phones to do it. I always think of Rocky having to catch the chicken before he is ready to fight. We are not ready to fight. We have to chase the chickens into a corner, and wear them down. But even once we catch them, that's not the hardest part. We have to hold on to them. While opening the coop door. And while opening the cage door. They will definitely try to get away. And once you have some in the cage, they think a good way to escape is to rush the door when you open it. They are actually correct. Several have escaped that way. And one has done not-serious-but-scarily-visible (for two days) harm to my face and neck trying to. But didn't! I won! Concentration and preparedness is the key. The chicken will act all tame and calm, then suddenly fly out of your arms, or at the door. This time, and partly because after three trips we have become experts, and partly because we were three people, we managed to arrive home with all eleven birds!

First stop, the portable cage to drop off the 'keepers.' That would be the 2 hens and the 2 babies. The natural instinct of the flock is to protect the mothers and children, so when we looked in the cage, all we saw were the roosters. They had the moms and babies hidden in the back!  While guarding the cage door, one of us, she with the longest arms, reached back and tried to grab the ones we wanted. Eventually we got them all, but it wasn't easy. Then we took the roos back to ..... the butchering station.

That adventure is for the next installment...