fear of ladders

My neighbors got some new chickens recently. Two of them belong to their friend Eduardo, but he hasn’t got around to setting up his own henhouse yet. They are already arguing about who the eggs belong to. « These clearly are from my chicken! » I suggested they install a chicken cam to avoid further disputes, which they are considering.

Since the unfortunate incident when they asked me to look after the previous ones when they went away, which ended like a Boschian tragedy, they had bought a fancy new henhouse. When the sun starts to go down, a light flashes, and the hens learn to go inside so that when the gate automatically closes at dark, they are cozy inside and protected from the beasts of the night.

The young hens took awhile to get used to the setup. They were suspicious of the ramp, and had to be carried up the first time. The next morning when the gate opened, they wanted to go out into the yard but couldn’t work out if it was safe. They milled around for about an hour, none of them brave enough to walk down the ladder. Finally, one was standing on one foot, hesitating, and the one behind pushed her down the ramp. She fell, squawking but unhurt, and the rest soon followed.

Aren’t we all a bit chicken sometimes?