The Writing Is On The Wall

It is in rooster language and must be faint or in a corner of the coop somewhere.  The last three roosters, including the one that just came, spent a few to many nights in the coop, but then decided to sleep outside.  They must have seen, etched somewhere in the walls or ceiling of the coop, "If you are a rooster, don't sleep here or a raccoon will come in the night and take you away".  Unfortunately the roosters who have come, have come from farms where they were sleeping in chicken coops, and don't know about safe places to sleep outside.  The one who is here now, has slept the last two nights in a tree.

The night before last, I could not find the rooster when I went to close the coop.  I didn't know if he was still around.  I looked everywhere.  But yesterday morning we heard him crowing so we knew he was still with us.  I went down to see if I could see where he had spent the night but saw no sign of him until I let the hens out of the coop and he dropped down, from the tree by the coop, to chase them around.

Last night, I should have gone down a bit earlier than I did, to coax him into the coop.  We had a visitor for the night and we were talking at dinner, so when I did get there, the rooster was in the same tree AND he had invited one of the hens to join him.  I asked John how he had done that and he just said, "sometimes you get lucky."  They were too high to get safely from a ladder so I had to try other means to get them down.  I tried moving the branch with a rake and tried pushing them with the rake but they just tightened their grip on the branch.  I even took the water bucket and flung the water at them but most of it didn't make it high enough.  The whole time Cirrus, Sal, and Eloise were watching me wondering what I was doing but finding it amusing.  I gave up and let them sleep in the tree.

This morning, the rooster kept crowing and crowing early, so I went down to let the others out before he convinced them all to join him tonight.  Now, I will have to get them in the run early somehow, and then close the doors so they have to go to the coop to roost.  If I can accomplish this, I will have to take the third rooster back to my friend.  Sad thing is, I like all three roosters.

I guess no more roosters for awhile cause the writing is on the wall.