Counting to six

The chickens have been outside 24/7 for the past three nights. Once we finally started having warm days I covered a 20-foot run and let them play outdoors all day and plugged in the heat lamp outside to warm them at night.

I think all is well. They seem calm during the cooler hours although they do huddle close to the lamp. But no one is squawking or obviously distressed.

Every time I check on the chicks -- about a thousand times a day and sometimes during the night -- I count them. One, two, three, four, five, six -- they're all here! It's too bad I don't have a preschooler on board because (s)he would get lots of practice counting to six if (s)he lived near me.

Twice today I got to five and panicked because someone wasn't there. Once a chick had jumped over the first fence but was stranded in between that one and the second fence. Today was a chemotherapy day for me and I was twenty miles away so don't know how long she was stuck there -- the entire three hours or only five minutes? Youngest Daughter was at her day program and Steve was in San Francisco. My biggest worry was that the neighbor's cat would find his way in, but we seem to have made that impossible.

The second time was similar, but twenty feet away at the far end of the run. A chick had flown over one fence but still enclosed in a little "jail" that she couldn't get out of. But she was only there for moments because I saw it happen. Both escapees were rescued and the holes were plugged. What's obvious to me is that the chickens are just about ready to move into their permanent coop and I need to construct a very large, very durable, and very safe run for them. It will be their home, their all day, all night home, and it needs to be right.

Today was primary election day in California and I'm more than curious about a few of the votes. I'll probably sit up until a trend develops. My fingers are crossed, my fingers are crossed....