It doesn’t happen often but every now and then the farm has you running! We have a lot of water issues on the farm when it rains. I would say that’s our number 1 issue of us running. I have had my fair share of running out in a pouring rain to make sure everyone is hunkered down and safe. The little stream we have is notorious for flooding so thats another great concern. But this time it wasn’t the rain, so I would say this is probably our second issue around the farm. Typically we are outside with the animals when this happens but not this time.
It all happened last week in the middle of the day. Jeremy had decided to work from home in the morning and then take the afternoon to work at his job. Before he left our daughter and Jeremy decided to make their rounds on the animals. We prefer to do a morning feed, mid morning feed/check and an evening feed. This time they were checking for eggs. While some may feel to wait till about the afternoon to just pick up all the eggs, we like to do multiple trips. I mean why not be excited multiple times a day?
They did the checks on everyone and proceeded to come back into the house. Jeremy ended up heading out to work at this time. The kids and myself (Mandy) were at home and I just started not to feel well. (I have a autoimmune disorder thats crazy to explain) So I told the kids that they needed to take some naps and mom was going to lay down too. (They don’t normally nap but that morning we woke them up super early) About 10 minutes into just laying down my dogs start barking. This is not uncommon with our dogs. They love barking at anything they see. Even I will make them bark if I am outside and they are not. Any who, feeling not so well, I decided to not check if they had a valuable reason. But then thats when I get the phone call…
My neighbor had walked out to her chicken coop and noticed a chicken was randomly roaming. She got closer and noticed it was coming from our yard. Next thing she sees is our coop door is open and all the chickens are loose. Now here’s the panic moment for me. We also have 2 peacocks in that coop. Yep even the peacocks got out. The neighbor sent her daughters to my door, hence the dogs barking. When I didnt answer she called and then sent a text. I went running! I get out to see our neighbors are running around catching our chickens. Immediately I jump in to help. They said that they were able to get the peacocks in right away with no issues. The chickens were the only ones that were a little more difficult. Not too bad but they run a little.
Here what had happened was, someone in my family checked for eggs in that coop before Jeremy had left for work. They thought they clasped the door shut but we found out that its very very easy for it to spring back open. Hence the door was wide open and the girls went exploring! For the time being we have placed a stick in the latch so it can not open so easily. Can you just imagine 2 grown adults, 1 teenager and 1 elementary aged child all running around trying to catch chickens before we loose them all. Let me also add I am so surprised and thankful that none of the chickens decided to go into the woods that are not far from the coops at all!
We are truly thankful for our neighbors help with this all. But this was one of those funny moments on the Homestead that just had to be shared. It continues to replay in my head since then!