Harry has a home

One day this week I remembered my fifth grade self.   When Dad was stationed at Grissom Air Force Base in Indiana I had a friend, Darla, whose family lived in a home surrounded by corn fields.  Her dad worked on the farm, I think, and they had a big barn beside their house.  While  Darla and I were together one day we decided that her cat needed a house of its own.  And what better house for a cat than a room in the barn!  We took the junk out of  an old storage room, swept it clean, and then added the cat furniture:  a towel-lined box and an old chest of drawers.  This project of ours took all morning one Saturday and I can still feel how excited we were to be on a great mission.

It was several years before I thought about the fact that the cat probably never stayed in that room for more than a few seconds.  It was such an adventure for my friend and me, though!

This week I did some more home-building in a barn.  It seemed like the perfect time to segregate the chickens.  Separate the boys from the girls, you know.

We have had three divided, yet connected, pens for the chickens.  I closed off the third section from the other two and began cleaning it out to make a home for Harry, the rooster.  The outside doors were wide open so everyone could enjoy a day of freedom.  Chickens are curious birds, though, and several of them stayed right with me in the pen.  Their little feet were busy finding any bugs I had turned up by cleaning out the old straw.

After I added new straw and set up a temporary roost, the new room was inspected by Miss Delaware.

"Perfection, Mom!"  She knows I need a little positive reinforcement.

I wondered how I would get Harry into his new home.  After all, he isn't the kind of rooster who wants to be told where to go.  But, when I walked away from the pen for a few minutes and came back, Harry was there!  Curiosity even got to him!

And this time he brought some friends!  The last time we had this guy penned up he was by himself and he escaped.  Several times.  (Thus, the name Harry Houdini.) 

So far, all three of them seem happy and content.  Now, I wonder if these hens will sit on a nest and raise some chicks.  We'll see!

This is something to crow about!