THE GREAT CHICKEN REBELLION OF 2020 PT. 4 

Because I sell eggs to an ever-growing customer base, I needed the chickens and the ducks to cooperate and lay. Needless to say, when I went out to collect and wound up with a whopping three chicken eggs and two duck eggs, I was not happy. This was not acceptable. I was used to gathering upward of a dozen and a half chicken eggs and at least half a dozen duck. How was I supposed to run a business with no product to sell? 

 

     The chickens, and the ducks, who seemed to be acting in a show of solidarity, didn’t care. 

     The egg production shrank to almost nonexistent and I was beside myself with a mixture of annoyance at the birds and outright disgust with myself. I had to redo the poultry house. I couldn’t leave things alone. I had to replace what was working with those stupid nests that I was beginning to take a disliking to. Yes, the old buildings had to come down, but those nests! I had to install those nests! Now, the chickens, and the ducks in a show of solidarity, were practically carrying little picket signs around the yard and chanting about unfair laying conditions.

     In an effort to appease the angry hordes, I came to the bargaining table and made what I thought was a reasonable offer. I put the larger of the two old doghouses back into the poultry house. Maybe, if the chickens had something they could get into again, a bit of a return to the unorthodox, they would be happy, which would make the ducks happy, and we’d all be happy. Maybe they might even give those ridiculous nests I built another chance.

 

     There was a bit of interest shown in this concession and it looked as though the ducks might cross the picket line in the farm dust. Then, just as quickly as a few eggs were laid, the laying stopped again. I was frantic. How was I supposed to fill the orders that were coming in for my free-range farm fresh eggs? I knew those birds had to be laying somewhere around the farm- yard and yet, I had no idea where! I felt more than a tad foolish when customers would call, and I would have to take an order while explaining sheepishly what had happened. Getting enough eggs to fill even one order became painstakingly slow. Mercifully, I have customers who are so pleased with my eggs they are willing to wait. That didn’t make this dispute any easier to tolerate, however......