Naughty Cats, Apple Pie, and Chickens

The Naughties have been living up to their reputation lately. The other night they mauled the bread and bagel bags that have been living on the counter for months. Josiah was not happy to find his brand new loaf of bread sporting holes and chew marks. He tossed it in the garbage and I, of course, rescued it for the chickens. They like bread.

Thankfully, chickens also like apple pie. Someone Naughty uncovered the pie on my island table and took a few tastes of the top crust during the middle of the night. It had been hidden under a clean dish towel which apparently did not render it safe from hungry cats. At another time in life I might have been furious and tossed it into the trash can, but yesterday I took both the pie and my camera down to the chicken coop.


The girls were
all excited even before I unlatched and opened the door. I found, much to my satisfaction, that chickens do indeed like apple pie, and so the apple pie became a "chicken pie" and they gobbled it up. (ha ha!)

I gathered eggs while the birds had pie for breakfast. The egg in the lower part of the coop went into my pocket, and the ones from the upper nesting boxes, I gathered into my hands. When I got back to the house I marked one egg with the date and arranged them in an egg carton. Twenty minutes later I found I'd been walking around with an egg in my pocket and didn't even know it.

Getting the chicken coop locked up in a timely manner each evening has become a challenge. With darkness setting in early, and now the time change, we find them all tucked in and fast asleep well before we are here to close them up. I am somewhat concerned about coyotes and foxes and will need to find a way to ensure my entire flock does not disappear when no one is here to close and lock the door soon after darkness settles in. Do I sound like a mother hen?