Mutiny

Monday, we moved the coop into the north pasture, on the way in along the driveway. The theory behind it was that, since the chickens are starting to lay eggs, they need to learn to lay in the laying boxes in the coop. The north pasture is big and has lots of green grass and bugs for them to forage on, has a tall fence around it to protect them, but it does not have good hiding places to lay eggs, so therefore (the theory goes) they would go back to the coop to lay in their splendidly cozy and private laying boxes. Well, it was a good theory, and worth a try... but in the morning there was mass mutiny. Kind of like teenagers sneaking out to go the the mall, we had chickens flying over the 5 foot fence when I wasn't looking, to get to their usual hang out places under the trees, in the barn, in Anton's shop.... I finally just gave up and opened the door for them.
That night, while they usually put themselves away (and all I have to do, is close the door to protected from predators while they are sleeping) their pea size chicken brain brought them back to where the coop had been the day before, not where it now was, about 60 feet away. It took me a whole hour to lure them back into their coop with cracked corn. And I had to physically catch three hens who wouldn't have a thing to do with the new location. Today we will move the coop back to where it was.... all right, Chickens 2, Federica 0.