Pole dancing in the chicken run

A better term might be “pole dodging.” 

It all happened one evening when I decided I didn’t want to wait until full dark to shut the chickens up. Generally they go in pretty well when bribed by bugs (freeze dried black soldier fly larva) and that night most of them went in pretty well, except for a couple of hens and my Rhode Island red rooster.  I don’t know if he was intimidated by the other rooster, if he just wanted to go grab another bite or two of food or water before going in or if he just wanted to exasperate me. 

 I scattered the bugs in the coop, called my girls and then counted. I knew the rooster wasn’t in, but after a count I also knew I was missing at least two hens. So I went around to the run gate and went in that way. Sure enough there was the missing roo and his two loyal girls. A bit of “shush, shushing” and the girls went in and happily started munching on bugs, but the rooster had different ideas. 

I could easily have just left them for another 10-15 minutes and they would all have gone in and settled for the night, but that night I didn’t want to have to come back and do it all over again so I persisted. That rooster dodged right, then left, then tried to get past me to get to the gate. So I backed off and shut the run gate behind me so I knew he was at least corralled there. 

Now as a little explanation, the run I am using now is expanded from what was originally a much smaller chicken run, it has run the gamut of chicken house, goat house, bum lamb house, cow barn and horse barn. It has more than doubled in size, but the original structure is still there with the posts that support the roof. There are two of them in the middle of the space now, so to try to herd a chicken one must dodge back and forth between and around them. There is also still a board at ground level that was the bottom of a wall. 

So there I am, trying to get that recalcitrant rooster into the coop. He went north, he went south and around me. I backed up and started around one of the posts and that is when it happened. I tripped on the board, grabbed the pole closest so as to slow me down some and then careened into the second post where I caught myself with both hands. Fortunately I didn’t get slivers from the old posts, nor cuts from the remnants of old chicken wire that is still left stapled to the post. And most of all I didn’t fall down and bugger my knees again like I usually do. 

It was about that time I told that rooster that he could either go in or I was going to leave him out and let a fox eat him. At which point, he calmly walked up to the door and went inside. It was a rather anticlimactic end to the whole procedure, or clown show, depending on one’s point of view. 

Quick Dairy Free Frozen Dessert

¼ cup coconut cream

1 tablespoon maple syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla

Blend frozen strawberries until completely chopped. Add coconut cream, maple syrup and vanilla to blender and blend until smooth. It is like a soft serve ice cream. I am sure most any fruit would work. Makes 1 serving.