I went out to feed the chickens this morning and decided to let them out of their run since I finally got some bird netting around my small garden.

The three hens who were not busy laying quickly headed for the compost heap on the other side of the yard. I put some feed out for them in their run and made sure they had water, but I had forgotten to bring out the kitchen scraps. I brought those out and emptied them in the big tray in their run and then went to stand on the back deck admiring the wisteria.

Soon, however, Scaredy hopped up an the deck with me. I shooed her off. Then Pepper hopped up. I shooed her off. Then either Sugar or Salt (don’t know which is which) joined the crowd, and I think Scaredy jumped back up as well.

What are these chickens doing? They hardly ever come up on the deck, and here they were, all very insistent to join me up there. Over and over, no matter how many times I chased them off.

And then I realized something.

Just to test my theory, I walked over to the compost. My three groupies followed me. I walked across the yard and they quickly made their way over.

What did I realize?

That’s right, I realized I was still holding the scrap bucket!

The empty scrap bucket.

But they didn’t know it was empty. They kept waiting for me to empty out it’s bountiful goodness.

So, I walked to the chicken run where I had already dumped the contents and in no time at all, the girls were happily munching on radish and carrot tops from the garden.

As I walked away with the bucket in hand, no one followed me. They had gotten what they wanted. My groupies no longer cared about me.

And that is as it should be.

PS, I posted this on Facebook this morning. Four eggs yesterday! First time having 100% lay rate since the young ones started laying. Hopefully that will become the norm. 🙂

And look how dark those brown ones are. Absolutely beautiful!

Maridy

“I lift up my eyes to the hills, where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.” Psalm 121