The Chicken Whisperer

Those of you who have spent time “out West” may have encountered prairie dogs.   You may be aware that when one “dog” detects danger, it will start to make a barking noise, which soon spreads to all the nearby prairie dogs, just before they all duck underground.  Shortly after moving the chickens outside to their permanent coop and run, they began to be stalked by pesky cats.  Our pesky cats, to be specific.  You know what?  A chicken being stalked by a cat sounds just like a prairie dog barking out its danger warning. 

Now barking chickens are something, but our chickens, not to be content with mimicking prairie dogs, also know Morse Code.  Their run is built alongside and behind our garage, and therefore, encompasses a gutter downspout.  The downspout ends at the perfect height for chickens to peck at it.  If you are inside our garage while they are pecking at it, the sound is magnified by the big, uninsulated shell of the building.

Of course, all good animal whisperers talk to their animals by name.  At least three of the birds have names.  I just don’t know which three.  They all look alike to me. 

If you’ll excuse me, I have a chicken telegram to go decode.

Web Mistress