Back to School

Today was the first day of school for my daughters, and it was quiet in the house. And in the coop.

We brought the chicks home in April, during spring break, and by they time they were ready to go live in the coop, the girls were home from school for the summer.

What has been unexpected is how much time the girls spent outside with the chickens this year. They'd go out and check their food and water, look for eggs (the Bantam hens were already laying when we brought them home), and then sit on the glider and rock them.

Yep. They'd rock them. I'd look out and see my younger daughter sitting there, with Clover or Marigold or Violet on her lap, and she'd be singing and rocking her, back and forth, on the black glider in the back yard. Or just carrying the hens around, watching their antics, and laughing at them, occasionally putting them in a baby-doll stroller that they'd pulled out of storage in the garage, and wheeling them around the patio. The ladies didn't seem to mind, and it reminded me of something my sister-in-law said she'd heard: If you have a broody hen (one who wants to sit on her eggs and quits laying) some hens will feel better (and less broody) if they are carried around for awhile. Maybe they like the girls' company as much as the girls like theirs.

Who knew chickens could be so entertaining? Better than the TV, computer or iPhone. It was a side benefit of chicken ownership that we never expected.

But today, the chickens had a quiet day while the girls were in school. Until they got home, that is. Then M&L checked in with the ladies, and sat down for a quiet spell in the backyard, catching up on their chicken time before looking for a snack and getting back into the swing of homework.