A Walk in the Rose Bushes with Mr. Beak

Yes, it happened almost exactly as the title says! The other day it was beautiful outside, so, I decided to open up the windows and let some fresh air into the coop. Oops! I forgot to make sure the chickens were not directly under the window. But of course they were! And that would be when Mr. Beak decided to freak out and fly up and over their fence! Good ol' Mr. Beak, our master escape artist!

Let me just tell you about Mr. Beak. When we have the door open for the chickens to come out and find fresh greens and grub, Beak stays inside freaking out the whole time the girls are out. But, accidentally freak the chickens out and he is always on the other side of the fence!

This particular morning, the dogs were out with me. I had just finished a good work out, I was sweaty and tired and was only trying to be nice and open the window so the girls had nice fresh air.  Our trusty flight hazard, of course, would find this day to be the perfect day to search for freedom.

Just a little bit about our coop and run.... It is surrounded on three sides by weeds, wild rose bushes and raspberry bushes, burs and whatever else grows wild in these parts and would love to attach itself to you and journey out of the woods! The run is also 20 feet across the front and goes 40 feet back into the woods. In other woods there is about 100 feet of woods and prickly things to get attacked by in one circle around the coop and run. Getting the picture yet?

So up and over the fence goes Beak and I panic, slam the coop door close and go running around the fence. I manage to corner him on the far side between the coop and a tree and reach down to grab him....and he panics and I drop him. Ugh. Now Joy Bells is in on this game as we go circling back towards the open yard. Max is making his way up to check on us and Coco is standing at the door at the base of the hill.

Let's break this down, we got one freaked out chicken, one panicking me and three interested dogs! Not a good mix!! So, I turn around and dart back around the fence and coop and into the open yard to cut off Mr. Beak before he ends up in front of the dogs. Successfully he darts back in the direction he came and deviates from the path and into the woods....... and I followed with two dogs on my heels. We went about 15 feet down into the woods until we both get stopped dead in our tracks by the rose bushes that have 1/2 inch dagger thorns. I'm now yelling "MR. BEAK GET BACK HERE NOW!" Wonder what my neighbors thought of this........ on second thought I'd rather not know!

Mr. Beak trying to avoid me and the camera.
You can kind of see how thick it is in the background.

Now I am mad, I'm cut up, covered in burs and very tired/worn out. I climb back out of the woods and decided it's best to get the dogs inside. Now, I'm gonna get this chicken! As he makes his way back out of the rose bushes, we end up running over towards out neighbors house before I can cut him off and get him back in the direction of the coop. Once again I corner him and try to grab him and he swoops under my hands. This chicken!

Then finally I have a bright idea! Open the coop door and maybe I can get him to run right in on his own! I send out a prayer that the girls wont go crazy and stampeded out thinking it's free time in the yard and run the loop back around the coop and fence to get this bird back in. And like a magic trick, Mr. Beak waltzes into the run and joins the other chickens as if nothing happened. Me on the other hand, after my work out, 20 minutes of chasing Beak, bleeding and covered in burs, I  stumbled down to the front porch on wobbly legs and drop in to the swing. I got about a 2 minute break until my charming little Z came to the window to remind me he was ready to home school.  I love my life!

This blog is linked to:
Homestead Barn Hop 84
Backyard Farming Connection Hop 5