Been hearing this a lot lately this season. It's a small property on a third of an acre and a corner lot. So, when I let them out into the yard foraging they will sometimes forage close to the road.
By and large, they stay ON the property except for occasionally drifting to the neighbor's bush ... even though upper management has told them repeatedly that this is NOT allowed, and middle management (Coq Au) only half heartedly enforces this rule, if at all.
It happens like this ... I'll be inside puttering around the kitchen or what have you, they will be outside near the road scratching and foraging, and I'll spy a car slow down and park by curb side. As a person emerges, I'll hail them from the open window and they'll say 'Do you know your chickens are out?'
Out of concern for their personal welfare, I'll immediately reply as they approach 'Stay away from that rooster!'
Occasionally, I'll feel a little frustrated that these people who are raised in suburbia and not used to seeing backyard chickens keep pestering me, but truth be told I am SO GRATEFUL that even strangers are looking out for the welfare of our flock! I thank them graciously and always offer a few fresh eggs. I am also pleasantly surprised tat some of them are genuinely interested in chickens and ask questions about keeping their own flock.
Well ... they don't wander into the road ... except ...
I spied them all waiting by the mail box. I can only figure they've ordered some mealworms from Amazon. I've cut the cable to the coop because they were staying up too late watching old movies, and now I am thinking of cutting their internet connection as well.
But what concerned me most was that girl in the road as you see in the picture! By the time I got to her she had fulfilled the age old prophesy of the chicken crossing the road ... right into the not-so-nice neighbor's yard! I reached her before the neighbor was even aware, chided the whole flock, reminded Coq Au that he's not doing his job, and decided that forage time was OVER for the day ... in the run the went.
To think that one of MY girls was walking the streets like a shameless hussy!
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