Auto door randomly closing during the day

[jimnpaula]

This was posted by one of my Facebook friends, Alexandra in MA, and has kindly given permission for it to be posted here. Enjoy

 

I continue to be surprised by just how *smart* the humble chicken really is. Today my sister brought over her dog, (one of 'em) Virginia Wolf. Virginia's mom was a show Chow. Unfortunately, she had a taste for Golden Retrievers. The puppies..., Virginia and a sister wound up in a shelter. Virginia is a good natured, heavy-set golden-furred dog with a purple tongue that she got from her mom, (the slut!) the Chow. Apparently Chows just have purple tongues. One of life's mysteries. Virginia had never been to my house before, and had never seen a chicken before. Well, I have a dozen hens and a rooster. Virginia saw them browsing around in the back yard, and blew right out my screen door after them. It's hard to pick out *one* member of a flock to chase, there are too many choices all at once and they are all moving in different directions. But there was *one* of them with a plan!

 

Three Bucks, my awesome rooster has had a hard year. He lost almost all of his wives to a pair of mated foxes over the summer. He mourned, he mourned hard. He really did. You could tell. He stopped crowing at dawn for a week. His magnificent tail drooped. About a month ago I had an opportunity to adopt an entire flock of hens from an elderly gentleman who didn't want to look after chickens anymore. Three Bucks is *very* protective of them. He doesn't let them browse in the forest, he tries not to let them out of his sight. He does not let them wander down my street, as his former wives did. My neighbors miss feeding them, but they understand. Three Bucks is doing his job.

 

Well, Three Bucks saw this strange DAMN BIG FOX LIKE CREATURE show up running at his wives in the back yard. *He* ran up to the dog, jumped up and down in place like pogo-poultry and screamed his head off. It was "Chase me! Chase me you furry idiot!" Then he turned, and ran. Virginia obligingly chased him. Through the back yard, down the driveway, into the front yard, and into the street. There, Three Bucks turned around and went back the way he had come at high speed, making an unbelievably loud and irritating noise the whole time.

 

While he had the dog engaged, all of Three Bucks *wives* ran away and hid in the back yard. The rooster and the dog went back and forth, back and forth, back and forth until we could catch Virginia, who was having a wonderful time! She didn't know about the rooster's razor sharp two inch spurs. He was holding them in reserve for when he started to tire out from all the running. In other words, Three Bucks lead the menace away from his precious wives, and at mortal risk to his own drumsticks kept it occupied while the ladies hid. That is one DAMN good rooster! My sister caught her dog and discussed the inadvisability of chicken chasing with her. They have since gone home. The hens have come out the forest, and are browsing peacefully, once again. Three Bucks is right with them, not browsing but watchful. I'm going to go give him some chopped up bits of apple, one of his favourite things. He has certainly earned it! He takes treats from my hand carefully with that oh, so sharp beak.

Virginia Wolf has *no* idea how lucky she is that she didn't make its acquaintance!

Edited October 28, 2010 by Guest