Great news! We’ve had our first success with chickens. Since all the neighborhood chickens are free-range, we had to take steps against our new chickens deciding to join a diffferent flock. Following our neighbors’ advice, during the day we tied our chickens to a stake near their coop with a 20′ string around their leg. At night, we locked them in the coop with some food and water. The idea is that after a week, the chickens forget that they ever lived anywhere else. Today was the big test: in the morning, I opend the coop door and watched them streak out of there and disappear into the horizon. I felt kindof like I’d been tricked. This evening, Emily and I waited patiently for their return. OK, that’s a lie. I harrassed Emily to go find them, and Lina told her that it was pointless and we just had to wait.

We then were invited to dinner, and didn’t notice the passing of day into night. When we got back home, Emily sent me down to the coop with a flashlight, and Lo and Behold! there were the chickens, looking kindof nervous that a predator such as myself might be eyeing them so closely. I closed their little door, and returned to our house. We now officially have Free Range Chickens. Yay! Now we just have to wait for some eggs to appear.