THE GREAT CHICKEN REBELLION OF 2020 PT. 2

 

     When nobody seemed interested at first, I didn’t worry. They just needed to get used to the idea of having individual nests to lay their eggs in. It would take time and I needed to be patient. I could do

that. After all, what other choice did I have? I couldn’t exactly force them to use the new nests.

     Eventually, one of the chickens did give the new setup a try and I was elated. If one was willing to see the wisdom in laying their egg in such a nice, new fashion surely others would follow. If you build it, they will come, etc. So, I gave them more time to discover what a wonderful thing a new nest can be. Apparently, my chickens are not familiar with “Field of Dreams.”

     Two more hens did start to use the nests, but that was all. Other hens continued to lay amongst the bales of hay and straw and one hen, a Sicilian Buttercup named Forte, Italian for strength, laid her egg, as always, in the feed shed while Black Eyed Sue, a Silver Laced Wyandotte, laid hers in the remains of a potted fern by the front door. Mostly, the nests went unused, save for collecting poop during the night while the hens (and two roosters) perched on the limbs we had erected at the top of the poultry house and slept.

 

     I had no idea where the hens who had turned their beaks up at the new arrangement might have been laying. I saw no additions to the eggs that were laid in the hay and the straw. I tried to observe but could not see anyone sneakily setting somewhere she shouldn’t. Had I found them, I would have done my best to educate them in the errors of their ways, and tried to get them to see that the new nests were so much better than, say, the bottom of an unused garbage can.

     Unfortunately, things only got worse. The entire flock soon rose up in a revolt so ugly, it made the Boston Tea Party look like a baby shower!  This is because, we did the unthinkable, my sister and me. It wasn’t enough to get rid of those disgusting dog houses I could no longer stand. My sister and I got rid of the structures that were housing the bales of hay and straw, the very structures where the hens liked to also lay.