I peered across the front pasture as I always do in the mornings, shouting a hearty “Good morning, ladies and Thunder!” to the horses. Toward the fence dividing the upper from the lower pasture I saw big birds pecking along the ground. Crows? I wondered since the morning was kind of foggy and all I saw were silhouettes. With their heads down, the tails of the hens appeared like big crows, and let me tell you we have some BIG crows around here. Then the rooster poked his head up and there was that unmistakable silhouette. My neighbor’s chickens had come to visit.
I smiled. They free ranged. I’d seen them shuffling through the woods between our property lines (and startling my horses, much to my amusement), so it was really no surprise that they’d crossed our driveway and were pecking in the pasture. Not only were they probably getting lots of bugs, but also horses tend to drop the occasional grain in their manure, and that, I’m sure to the chickens, made for a tasty snack.
They quickly returned to the neighbors and I glanced the next morning. Sure enough, they were back. If they’re penned up at night, I don’t know, but they like to visit our yard in the early mornings. They stayed every morning this week, even coming closer to our chicken coop. It may get interesting when I put our chickens out to free range, and I am hoping that my roosters don’t join their flock. Though they were free chickens. Still… it’d suck if they didn’t stick around.
But right now, I have early morning visitors and it’s amusing.
