Jump. I Dare You.

Our laying hens (minus one, which we think might be an un-laying hen (also known as a rooster)) are now 4 weeks old and getting a little it seems, restless? I guess I can't blame them: there's nothing like sharing a 5'x5' living space with 23 of your closest friends which includes the kitchen table (two long feeders), the faucet (two self-filling waterers) and one bathroom (the floor) and being totally unable to turn off the lights!! Come to think of it, I would really hate being a baby chicken. The grow light (which keeps them warm until they develop feathers) has to stay on all day and night in order to keep the brooder at the proper temperature.

Now that they're a little older, they're starting to develop grown-up chicken feathers and have recently started the game of "Ooohh...let's perch on top of the water tower so that when she opens the lid she'll be startled. And then, when she reaches for the feeders let's lunge at her hands like we're going to bite!! Hehehehe." Really. I swear they've plotted this plan and ran through it over and over. (What else do you do all night long when you can't get a wink of sleep because no one will turn off the light?)

Anyway, since they've started doing that whole perching on the water tower thing I've just been waiting for one to jump out. And, I'm so NOT in a hurry at 6:00 in the morning that I have time to chase a wayward chicken around the shop for fun, right? Wrong. Well, the other day when I went in there, I moved the lid to access the food and waterers and left it ascew while I filled the waterers. Big mistake. I came back and there was a Buff Orpington perched on the open end of the brooder! I didn't want to make any sudden moves because I just knew she'd jump off and run wildly around the shop. So, there we were: locked in a stare down for nearly a minute while she contemplated the consequences of her actions. I could sense (by the feverishness of their peeping) that the other hens were trying to coax her back down, and my stare said nothing more than, "Jump. I dare you." And I think, after serious deliberation and weighing her consequences, she decided to jump back into the brooder. Or, maybe it was my stare down. Either way I'm staging a fishing net next to the brooder because I think they're on to me.