Martin and James have been working hard and "behaving" themselves. This gives me the opportunity to share with you a cute chicken story from a number of years ago.
Before our shop was a full-line grocery store, it was simply a place to pay for Harvest Haven strawberries, eggs and fresh garden produce. It was sparsely furnished with a large desk, an old till that just held the money, and an office chair. Hard to imagine, right?
As I was working at the desk one sunny afternoon, I heard a hen plaintively croaking outside the door and then saw her fly up on a window box, peering in the window at me.
"This is curious."
After a few minutes of her persistence, I opened the door to see what she would do.
To my utter surprise, she tentatively walked right into the store, looking around carefully. I backed away from her as she seemed to be intent on going somewhere.
In amazement, I watched her go to the back door of the store, which was open and proceed through it. The back area had not been finished off and was used for storing garden tools and equipment. The overhead door was often left open during the day for easy access to what was needed for work in the gardens. Today, it was closed.
This little hen carefully picked her way through equipment, while making sure no one was watching her, so I had to be careful not to be observed. Finally, she flew up onto one of the shelves and settled into a nest.
After she left, we found about a dozen eggs there.
Now, think about it. How did she know to come through the store and work her way to the back of the shop? Isn't that amazing!
As Yosemite Sam used to say, "Ah luv chickens! Chickens is so smart!"