My idea of chicken confinement

Each Friday I travel into Halifax to make my farm deliveries. Lately I've been taking the boys in with me for some family time with their aunt and uncle. They have 2 dogs which Anthony and Navarre are completely in love with. We stay overnight in the city and come home the next morning.

This is great but it has put another spin on the day as I need to have all the animals fed and put away before we leave by 4 o'clock in the afternoon.

We all make mistakes and we all learn. Our chickens are completely free range, they go on daily expeditions far and wide. So being cooped up in the barn is the last thing they are interested in. When I go to let them out in the morning, I open the doors and stand back! So, I've decided the best thing is to just let them have free access to the main area of the barn on Fridays and not open the doors. This is harder then it sounds. I came to this decision when we tried to get them in early the first time. Frankly my hens absolutely no interest in going inside the coop until sunset.

Teamwork saves the day! Anthony and I flushed them out of the grass and bushes while Navarre had guard duty. He had to keep the ones already in the barn in and then hide when I called that a chicken was coming. I'm sure you can guess this was a little chaotic. We felt like we were at a rodeo! I had my broom and both kids had their hockey sticks. It took us about 45 minutes of running, skidding, yelling, stalking and staring to get them inside the barn. Worst part was when we were all in the car happy to be off, we saw a chicken!

I'd forgotten to latch the back door to the barn! OMG! What an idiot! 5 of them made a run for it before I could get up there to shut it! It locks on the inside so the boys held it closed as I slipped inside to latch it. Once again we had to act as sheep dogs. So the idea of getting a dog is now looking a little more like a possibility. We will see.

The relief of finally leaving for Halifax was immense. Then Anthony asked if I was hungry. Feeling horrible I said yes but didn't have anything for them. He said, "Don't worry Mom I brought us some chewy bars and Navarre brought water." BEST KIDS EVER!!!