Broiler Pen Fail!

Hello there!  I thought I would share with you a little bit of excitement we had this afternoon.  I decided to grab my camera and try to get some good animal shots while I went out to check for eggs.  Well, as soon as I walked out the door, I knew something wasn’t right.  There was a ruckus coming from the broiler pen, complete with banging, squawking, and the sounds of general mayhem.  I looked and could see that the back door to the coop was slightly ajar, so I called the kids to provide backup, threw on my boots and took off.

Honestly, I thought one of the baby goats was in there, but when I got to the pen, I discovered all of the broiler chickens huddled together, while both adult guineas and all 12 guinea keets were in the broiler pen terrorizing them and hogging the feeder.  I managed to get the male guinea (Mike) out easily, and Lucas ducked in to try to run the others out, but mama guinea (Louise) puffed herself up to about twice her normal size, so I told him to come on out.

Erica brought me a hoe, which was the first long-handled tool she could find, and I ducked into the coop (wearing a long white skirt, oh the horror!) and ran the guineas out the back door, while the children held it open and kept goats from rushing in.  The birds were quite shaken, but aside from missing a few feathers, they were, thankfully, unharmed.

Of course, I wish I could say this was an unusual occurrence, but really, crazy things like this happen all. the. time. around here.  Just another day in paradise!  I wouldn’t trade it for anything, but I have to agree with Mr. Incredible when he says, “Can’t the world just stay saved for a little while?”

So what about you?  Did you have to put out any proverbial fires today?  Let’s hear it!