So TonTon was barking like mad at the barn door. This is rare behaviour so something was amiss and I have learnt not to ignore him. I went outside the kitchen door and he ran to me his hackles up.
Usually this means there is a sheep in the wrong place or Daisy has picked another lock! I said show me and much to my surprise (this is not a command I have taught him) he ran back to the barn door and woofed at it. Then he ran back to me and escorted me in, and across to the cows pen and in there was a tiny tiny peeping chick hopping about in the hay, and then TonTon gently moved his nose sideways and showed me another one. Can I have it? Can I? Can I? (pant, pant) Finders keepers?
No TonTon. I know you would love to have a chicken of your own but No. 
I looked up and sure enough there was a hole in ceiling – which is the barn loft floor. We store all the hay up there. So taking these two wee peeping chicks I climbed the ladder and went in search of their mother.
Directly above the cows pen, in the hay, I find Houdini. So named because she will NOT be shut in with the Common Flock over in the chook house. She would rather live in the barn with that other escape artist- Daisy the Naughtiest Pregnant Cow in the World. She looks like she is hiding something, so I poked her (as you would) with a long stick because this chook will take your arm off and not apologise. And more little chicks came tumbling out from under her. They refused to stand still in this low light.
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Well they could not stay up here, even as I watched them two quite silently disappeared through the tiny hole in the floor and set up the screaming peeping from below. Causing TonTon to jump the gate and go in search of them, presumably to hold off the cats who were definitely lurking.
So I risked life and limb, put on some really huge gloves and glasses to protect my eyes and caught The Fury who was Houdini. I popped her over the side before she ripped my face off, then very quickly bundled all of the other chicks into a pillow case and down the ladder we went. They are now relocated in the straw, along with their lost sisters,at least I hope they are sisters.. more roosters I do not need! Now they can fall no further. TonTon guarded them until the mother chicken found them, chased him off and gathered her little brood back together.
And guess what! Altogether there are 16 of them.. YES.. 16!.. Hmm!
c
The Kitchen's Garden 
92 responses to “Jeepers Creepers, where d’ya get those Peepers? Look what TonTon found in the barn!”
TonTon, the new Lassie !
ha ha ha true.. c
TonTon is so clever! Our dog Whiskey used to collect our hen’s eggs from the woods and bring them to us..of course she had the last egg as a thankyou! Don’t blame you for not wanting anymore roosters they are insanely noisy!!
they are noisy and our three roosters (each has a flock of their own) seem to have very crooked crows, there is no music to them at all! c
Wow, those chicks are just so cute.
and theya re growing fast, just in a day they are beginning to get their feathers, they will be needing them too as it is getting colder! c
I must build a chook house some day. I have plenty of wood, insulation, tar paper, and shingles. Just waiting for a small window so I know what size opening to make for it. Then chickens! And fresh eggs!
Oh you will love having chickens. if you are building it yourself make sure they get tons of light in their coop and then they will lay longer.. and in case I forget get rhode island reds, they lay all through the illinois winters, I have heard that leghorns do too but they are not as cute!! c
16! Now that is an impressive hatch! Love the pictures. I hope they all survive C
well if they all survive hippy then i will have the cleanest barn in the world because I will have 24 chickens in the barn and about the same in the chook house, fluffing all the straw up and chasing crickets and mice about and spreading the fertiliser in the fields. It will be amazing. Plus all those organic barn raised eggs! c
ranching and farming are great lives.
It is great Stephen. From reading your poems I guess you have done a bit of it yourself but on a much larger scale than us!.. You work is stunning.. c
Good show Ton Ton! That was really clever of him!
Nancy
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It was too nancy, i think he was alarmed by the loud peeping from the lost chicks.. he likes everything in its proper place, I forget how much a dog can hear.. c
What a surprise! Lovely photos.
a surprise alright.. and so late in the autumn!.. c
Those photos make me smile!! How cute. One of my favorite kids’ stories growing up was about two boys who hatched chicks in an incubator for a school project – something so precious about the whole process.
It is precious, i had a barnyard of kids this afternoon.. come to see the 16 chicks! c
Those chicks are cute, great shots.
Thanks raymond.. c
Gorgeous. Sheep dogs are so intelligent. (Well, not always, but usually).
16 chicks from one hen – am so jealous! The most we have ever managed is 9 and even then they didn´t all survive. Hope they all make it to adulthood (or hen hood)! And I´m with you on the dog feeding – ours too get real food and real bones and are super healthy and bouncy 🙂
stunning pictures C and wonderful post as always
What a surprise! Good Ton Ton!