Earlier this week I gave the chickens some strawberry tops one afternoon. This is their absolute favorite treat.

Just after I set the strawberries down, a low rumble of thunder sounded off in the distance. The second that happened they abandoned the strawberries and went running for the chicken coop. I took the bowl and put it in the coop so they could continue to enjoy their strawberries. But the crazy part? Within five minutes a huge thunderstorm rolled in with torrential rain. It was actually the day our yard flooded. The chickens knew the storm was coming and took cover! And people say they’re dumb birds.

We turn them out in the chicken run area every day and at dusk they go back in the coop themselves for bedtime. When you talk about chickens and roosters most people picture the rooster crowing as the sun comes up while the chickens peck the ground. Well I guess in the absence of a rooster my chickens have decided to be lazy. They go to bed at dusk and usually don’t grace us with their presence until 9 or 10 AM. Inside the coop they sleep up on their roosting poles.

Except that that piece of wood they’re all on is meant to hold a second pole that they knocked off. Often, I will find all 6 of them up on that piece of wood. They like to get up there because it is the highest, and therefore safest, spot. By the way, the way they are all looking at me is the look you get when you take pictures of your chickens at 5:45 AM.

They love to run back and forth in the chicken run area, especially since Barry cut down a bunch of the brush in there last week.

Pretty good stride, huh? They also will fly a few feet off of the ground when they are trying to get somewhere fast. I tried to catch a few of them in action, but I’m not much of a “wildlife” photographer.

Chickens are not great fliers, but ours are able to get a few feet off of the ground since we chose not to clip their wings. Hence the top cover on the chicken run. Lastly, this lovely lady wanted to share her close up with you:

This is either Beatrice, Ophelia, or Lady. I do not know for sure, since she is one of the three that I cannot tell apart.

P.S. I put the word verification back on the comments. Sorry for the hassle, but I got tired of the spam. Since the word verification is back I got rid of the comment modification, so at least I won’t be accidentally deleting any more comments!