Just call me the chicken whisperer

As I stepped on to my deck Sunday morning to feed the felines, I was met by a hungry Americauna chicken "ca-bock-bocking" her way to my feet. This was odd because no one had yet opened the door to the chicken coop. The pretty bird spent the night partying atop her chicken house where she apparently roosted, because she'd left a number of "presents" behind that I discovered when I went to see what was up.

The gatekeeper obviously didn't count heads the night before. In his haste, he stood at the door to the coop anxious to lock the door, even when I knocked on the window and informed him there was still one chicken eating like it was the last meal she'd have, under the bird feeder.

Such antics of being left outside the coop, wouldn't typically pose a problem except that the girls needed to be left locked up all day as we would be away from home at the time they'd want to return to roost (approx. 4:35 p.m. these days.) We couldn't open the door to let Clucker in, because the seven other chickens would make a mad dash for the door, desiring freedom for the day.

While I was inside the house otherwise occupied, the Obviously Not A Farmer male of the household chased the loose chicken with his pond net.  Of course this only disturbed Clucker all the more and by this time, she could hardly be lured to the coop, with food. 

That's when I hatched a plan. A favorite food of our girls, is ramen noodles. (No, I DON'T add the seasoning packet.) So I prepared a package .... lured Clucker to the door of the coop dropping a noodle or two along the way ... and then posted Not a Farmer husband at a short distance from the door. Meanwhile, I ran to the end of the chicken run and dropped noodles to the ground through their roof, enticing the other seven away from the door. Not A Farmer slid open the door and after a quick look or two, Clucker didn't have to be told twice, she jumped back into the coop to join her pals.