The Return of the Nocturnal Mr. O-The Face in the …Chicken Coop

“The face in the window!” is one of my husband’s favorite quotes from Sherlock Holmes, especially shouted with trepidation in a bad English accent and last night (early this morning in the wee hours, actually) we had one of those moments. The face actually appeared in the chicken coop after the squawking rose to a wake the teen-aged grandson level. Basically after 1:30 am I am figuring in order to wake up Ethan that would be loud enough to wake the dead (and in the dead of night, no less). Chickens sleep at night (and I like to also, but alas, last night that wasn't happening) because my entire household convened in my bedroom to wake me up so I could deal with the situation. Let’s face it, I do love my girls (and an omelet for breakfast) so I got up, went to the back door, and turned on the back porch light. Sure enough I saw Extra Crispy and Peaches (two Orpingtons) nervously heading for the high bushes and I heard the loud squawking coming from the coop. Nobody lays an egg at this time of night so this wasn't a “proud of my accomplishment” kind of squawk either. Then I saw the face… in the chicken coop! I slipped my feet into my chicken flops (an old pair of flips kept at the back door and only worn outside to preclude the accidental tracking in of chicken poop), armed myself with my broom (no, not to fly away on either), and called my trusty four legged companion, Fred to ‘Go get him!” and out we went. The white faced Mr. O’Possum took off for the fence behind the coop with Fred snapping at his heels and poor Gimpy (my oldest hen with a limp-another story for another day) was left terrorized on top of the nest box in the corner of the coop protesting at the top of her lungs. I picked her up and got her calmed down. From the other side of the yard Original Recipe appeared heading back to the coop with the others, all my girls alive and clucking. If I could I’d cue some old timey radio show mystery theater music here and add, “Who knows what evil lurks (or may be lurking around my chicken coop) tonight!” I figure a nap is in order for me today!