Roundup

The day before yesterday mother hen decided to fly out of the hutch where she was living with her baby in order to raid the windfall plums that have fallen on the lawn. Poor chick had no idea how to follow her so spent most of the day running up and down the cage terrible upset. However in the evening when I looked out mother had hopped back in with her offspring.

So yesterday I decided that since I was going to put them both in the hen house soon I would let them out for the afternoon. Worked a treat until the evening when I noticed that although the mother had hopped back in the baby was just running round and round the cage. Chickens could never be considered one of the brightest lights on the Christmas tree and this one seemed determined to live up to their reputation. However it made up for it's stupidity by being very very fast. Well that's what I found when I tried to catch the silly bird.

In the end I tipped the hutch on its side hoping that the bird would walk in and join its mother. Instead the mother flew out in a panic and I spent the next half hour chasing the pair of them round the front lawn. At a couple of points I nearly had them herded into the hutch but just as they were about to go in they would panic and run away into the garden. I am not a great sheepdog and became increasingly frustrated as they became increasingly obtuse. However in the end the chick tired and I was able to corner it and put it back in the cage. I tipped the hutch back over and then left them alone so that the hen would join her baby on her own. This accomplished I waited until it was nearly dark and then picked the pair up from their sleeping quarters and took them into the hen house.

But my night wasn't finished. It had been a hot day of 29oC and the two youngest cats decided playtime in the paddocks was called for. I managed to get Peach in at 9pm but Gypsy was harder to encourage into the cottage. I went into the paddock and nearly had my hand on her when she scooted further away in the dry grass. Every time I approached she would frisk away thinking it was all a big game.

Leaving her to cool down I came back inside and returned with a torch fifteen minutes later. By this time the landlord had let his sheepdogs out for their last run of the day and they chased Gypsy up a tree in my backyard. Trying to find my way amongst fallen branches and soft earth in the dark was not easy and when I managed to get to the tree Gypsy was perched on she scooted higher up into the branches before heading off back into the paddock. I shone the torch onto her as she went further and further out before giving up and coming back inside at 9.30pm. Gypsy finally came in with a despairing wail at 2am. It was not a restful night........

As I write this she is curled up asleep on my knee with not a care whereas I'm the one on painkillers trying to recover from the last roundup. Usually I don't have many problems getting the cats inside and was racking my brains trying to work it all out when I looked out the window and saw a large full moon. That explains everything about Gypsy's wild witchy mood. So note to self- in future shut certain small black cats in early on full moon evenings.