It's the sound no chicken owner wants to hear at 4:30 AM: noise in the coop.
After getting home slightly intoxicated Friday night from Florence + the Machine, and watching the rain fall again (luckily it stopped during her show) I thought the girls would be fine till 6 AM and decided to go to bed. My window was open and I blissfully drifted off to sleep with Cosmic Love lyrics on replay in my mind.
I awoke suddenly, panicked, and with dread when I heard the noise. I had a flashback to two years ago when a raccoon got into the coop and did a lot of damage. Quickly I threw on something, grabbed a flashlight and rushed outside expecting to see chicken caucuses strewn about. Dim flashlight clicked on.....
Caper: silent, 20 feet from the coop, alive (I think, I don't have my glasses on)
Kiwi: causing all kinds of ruckus, 5 feet from the coop, alive.
Cinnamon: quiet, 5 feet from the coop, alive.
Bergamot + Clove: quiet, still perched in the coop, alive.
Everyone is alive (I think) and I begin to wonder what caused Kiwi to be in such a panic. I start to wonder about zombies or mass murders lurking about East Nashville at 4:30 in the morning and all I have is a stick in hand. Jay isn't home and soon will no longer live here. It's just me. I have to figure this out. I am grateful there are no chicken bodies to dispose of.
I pick up Kiwi, still squawking, and put her in the coop. She's not happy. I'm about to put Cinnamon in when I see it: OPOSSUM in the nesting box where Caper and Cinnamon sleep and black, Caper feathers everywhere!!!! The opossum teenager I've seen around the shed. The opossum that can't be longer than 8 inches. The opossum staring right at me, terrified.
I consider my options:
1. Bring all the hens into the house till dawn- terrible idea.
2. Sleep outside till dawn to make sure the opossum doesn't eat anyone- another terrible idea.
3. Get the opossum out- the only solution.
I shine my flashlight and poke a stick towards it to get it to come out of the coop. It's clearly terrified and NOT coming towards a light and a stick.
Our conversation goes something like this:
Me: I'm scared that a mass murderer will kill me out here, come out so I can go in before my untimely death.
OP: I'm scared too. I just wanted to see if the door was opened to get an egg. I promise I didn't know there was a chicken in the box.
Me: It's cool, I understand. Even if I had a gun, I wouldn't shoot you, mostly because you are kind of cute and I don't want to clean your blood from the coop. I don't do well with blood so I'd probably pass out and there's no one else living here but me. Why don't you come out and everyone will be happier?
OP: Stop shining that damn light towards me and I will.
Me: Deal.
The opossum hops out of the coop and I promise it I'll leave some scraps out for it in the future.
I search for the girls again. I put Kiwi and Cinnamon in and finally find Caper by the fence and plop her back in the coop. A quick scan reveals no clear wounds and she seems fine.
At 5 AM I find my way back to bed, just in time to feed the cat herd.
