Snapshot Saturday - a chicken update

Ever had one of those days? 
Ever had one of those days that lasted a week?

That was my week.  It began when a 400+ pound elk decided to meet my son while he was driving my daughter's truck to work. We were told he was lucky it was a baby.  Son is fine. Truck will be fine. . . eventually. Elk - not so much.  

There so many things to keep up with and projects at Our Haven, I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed at the moment. 

On top of that, I'm working on curriculum for when school starts and I have to teach my "little humans" -- because changing grade levels isn't a quick process.  Needless to say, I didn't do much blogging last week. Not sure how consistent I will be in the coming days - but I will breathe (in, out, repeat, let go) as has become my mantra.  

I am finding more often that when I feel stressed or overwhelmed I go spend time watching the Goddesses and Dingle Twits. It works.  So, today I thought I'd share some of what they've been up to. 

These are the Dingle Twits - not enough individuality to have separate names yet. They received this name after the fourth night of me having to round them up since they don't have enough intelligence to come in at night like the Goddesses do. It's not too bad, I don't have to chase them down or anything. Usually they're together, and I just walk behind them herding them in the right direction.

The funny thing is that the Goddesses gather outside the run - preen and whatever and then file in to the run and coop and tuck themselves in. 


The first few nights, Hera and a Ariadne came back out a couple times and squawked at these guys like they were telling them it was time.  ^.^  The Dingle Twits just sat there (they're a month younger and I'm working on integrating the flocks). 

After the second night of trying to convince them, the goddess just stopped expecting them to follow and did their own thing. Last week, as I was heading out to lock up, I asked my daughter whether she thought the Dingle Twits would be in or not. The name stuck and they've been the Dingle Twits ever since.   

I thought we had a eureka after that because I found everyone inside three nights in a row.  Just when I was beginning to think they might get it, the Dingle Twits ride again.  The other night THIS is what we found. The glowing dots are the Dingle Twits about 15 feet in the air.  

They had used the bench to get to the lower branches and the lower branches to get to the umbrella. Then used the umbrella to get to the higher branches. 
I put the umbrella there, by the way, to provide some shade as the trees are still young and it was a warm day. I thought I was being a good chicken mama! Lol. 

They seemed very happy to stay there for the night. Getting them down took some patience - - and a broom.   


Then there are the goddesses. This clip is from treat time. I've been working my way through a treat list I found on Backyard Chickens to see what the girls like.  By far their favorite thing right now is yogurt.  They come running when they think I have yogurt. 

That's my chicken update on Snapshot Saturday.