Stuck Chickens…

Most of us know that chickens aren’t the most intelligent animals on the farm, but I have a story that will cause you to question whether they are even dumber than we thought. 

I went out to gather the eggs and close the doors on the chicken houses one evening last week and I didn’t even count the older hens, they are always in and I don’t really worry about them, but then I heard a chicken distress call. I looked around and listened and determined it was coming from the area of the back corner of the house. A fence fastens to the house and goes around the back yard and garden. There is a gate there for easy access to the chicken house. 

The hen squawked again and I was able to focus in on the location. I walked over, opened the gate and sure enough there was a chicken there trying to get out through a pallet that we used for a short section of fence between the house and the gate. I had tightened it up with some fence wire last spring trying to keep the hens out of the squash and melons. I made a grab for her and she eluded me and ran through the now open gate and straight for the chicken house. My thought at that time was at least I know which house she belongs in. 

I was ready to head back out to shut the door, when I heard more chicken noises. Upon closer examination I found two more hens in the pallet. I mean inside of the pallet. And stuck there. Pallets are only four inches between the top and bottom, but somehow these two hens had gotten wedged into the middle of that pallet. 

The first one I grabbed was actually on her back, wings stuck through cracks in the pallet and also the fence panel on the outside. I managed to get her feet and wings all back in and while holding them I was able to pull her free. I put her outside the gate and she also headed straight to the chicken house. 

The second one was a mess. She was upright, like straight upright. Her tail was about six inches above the bottom board of that pallet fence, I had no idea where her feet or wings were, but she was firmly wedged between the boards. It took some pulling, pushing, twisting but eventually I was able to get her free of her prison. I started to put her down, then realized she had no strength in her legs. I carried her to the chicken house and put her down, even then she was reluctant to walk to the roosts. 

The next morning everyone was fine and I was left scratching my head as to why they would have gotten stuck. I don’t think anything had been bothering them; I had been home all day and never heard a big fuss. I finally came to the conclusion that the gate had gotten left closed; they came into the yard on the front side of the house and somehow got separated from the rest of the flock. When it was time to go to bed, they couldn’t reason that the only way out of the yard was to back around the house. So they tried to get through the pallet and got really stuck. I am glad I found them. They would likely have been raccoon supper had I not found them and gotten them out. 

All is well now, back to the tomatoes. 

Apple-Cranberry Crisp

2 cups cranberries

3 cups red apple slices

¾ cup sugar

½ cup butter

1 cup quick-cooking oats

½ cup flour

½ cup brown sugar

½ cup chopped nuts

Combine cranberries, apple slices and sugar in bottom of a 2-quart casserole

Melt butter; stir in remaining ingredients. Spread over cranberry and apple mixture. Bake in 350º oven for 1 hour.