Spring Chickens

The girls recently had their first taste of freedom, after being incarcerated in the garage all winter. I opened the door, and it took me a minute to talk them into going out. Fearless Tilda took the first tenuous steps toward the door. Always looking out for numero uno, Amelia hung back and waited to see if it was some kind of trap. Honey played it cool and pretended not to notice the door.

Tilda enjoys shaking the winter out of her feathers.

Honey makes a mad dash across the yard.

As soon as Tilda set foot on the threshold, Amelia went tearing past her. It took me another couple of minutes to convince Honey that it wasn’t too cold out. They immediately set to destroying what little grass is left in the yard.

Scratching in the yard

They went right to their usual hangouts under the honeysuckle and by the dormant hosta. When they weren’t deforesting the yard, they were basking in the sun or racing around like lunatics. After they had enjoyed a full day out in the yard, the sun went down, and I figured I should bring them back in. I thought they would be anxious to get back to the coop, but oh, no.

Honey basks in the sun.

Amelia’s beard is quite impressive.

I slowly herded them back toward the garage door, and when they got to the threshold, they looked up at me as if I were crazy. I scooped Honey up and put her inside. Tilda didn’t get the hint, so I scooped her up, too. Once she was in, Amelia hopped right in as though she had known all along. We thought about putting them out for the season, but thankfully, we didn’t, since we got a couple of inches of snow this week. They took a little egg-laying siesta for a while, but they’re back on a roll.

The girls are still earning their keep.

Spring is upon us!

— Mars Vilaubi, Photo Editor