Screamer Hen

Alright, I'm doing this under duress. The post that is. Usually I'm not all that inclined to keep up on my blog, because ... okay, I'm lazy and would much rather be watching Bleach at the moment. No, I'm not going to explain. Mom wants me to write up this story. Sooo....

Last night at around 10:30 p.m. I took Morgan out for her nightly rounds of evacuating unwanted materials. Its been hot here, and sort humid, which makes for mild nights, and unpleasant stickiness. As we got out to Morgan's favorite spot for going potty, I heard an odd noise coming from the area of the chicken coop. Those of you who have chickens know that they make a lot of unfathomable noises just for the heck of it. Noises that you wouldn't think a chicken could make. I frowned into the darkness towards the coop, wondering if maybe something got into the coop, then consulted my dog's ears. Dog was... "concentrating" and giving things around her very little attention. Hmm. I moved upwind of the concentrating dog, and wondered if the coop door was even closed and locked. 

Once Morgan was done, we headed back across the driveway, towards the house when the weird sound started up again. "EEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeee!" I paused and looked towards the coop again. There was a large black hole were the door should be. Nope, no one had locked up the coop. And,"EEEEEEEEeeeeeEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!" filtered down to me again. Alrighty then. Morgan and I got a flashlight and trudged out to the coop, I being more interested in the coop, than Morgan who actually yawned twice before we got there. Once we reached the doorway, I flipped on the flashlight and the beam hits an indignant light brahma trying to be down for the night on top of the nest boxes. There's always one idiot who thinks its a good idea. She lets loose with a much more familiar shriek of egg-theft-rage, then emits the "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!" again. Ah. Its "Screamer Hen". This is the hen who reaches astounding decibels while you're innocently reaching for the eggs underneath her. If you are unfortunate enough to have gathered an egg from this hen once, you are probably somewhat deaf for about a day. Seriously, her scream makes your ribs vibrate, and it rivals the air horns on the trains that pass my place of work everyday. 

Apparently she didn't appreciate the fact that something was lurking out there in the dark while she was trying to sleep. I wasn't using a flashlight because it was fairly moonlit that night. No need for the artificial torch. Chickens have poor eyesight in the dark, and when she spied two things wandering around out there in the dark and her door was wide open, she objected... quietly, to avoid undue attention. Well, it half worked. Anyway, that's her at the top. Goofball bird.  Not sure when you'll hear from me again. 

Signing off.