Last night when I arrived home, it was around 5:30pm.  The flock was in for the night.  Quickly, I refilled the water bowl for inside the coop, slid it in and tried to shut the door.  Oyster Cracker came off the roost to see what I was doing.  Unfortunately, the chickens can’t see well in the dark and she was so confused.  Interestingly enough, as I peered into the coop to try and settle Oyster Cracker back onto the roost, I noticed that the sleeping positions on the roosts had changed.

Usually on the front roost, I find Oyster Cracker next to Sunshine; next to her is Tilly then Chocolate.  Well tonight was different for some reason. All four silkies and Tilly were on the front roost with Chocolate.  Six were so tightly squeezed together that I wondered how they could be comfortable.  However, apparently they were.  They were all nuzzled and fluffed up together fast asleep.  I finally locked them inside and rechecked all the doors for security.  I find it funny that instinct tells us to do certain things.  I am not sure why I did that, but now I know.  My intuition was trying to tell me something.

Around 2 am, I awoke from a very deep sleep.  I heard some sort of eerie yelling noise.  I heard it again.  It was a high pitched howl coming from the side of our house near our bedroom.  There was no mistaking what I had heard.  We had a visitor; a coyote again.  I leapt out of bed and put the lights on in the front and the back of the house.  I heard the howl again but from the other side of the house.  I checked on the coop through the window.  All the doors were closed.  I did not hear the rooster so, I assumed that they were all safely locked inside.  In fact, they were probably sleeping unaware of their unexpected guest.

I looked all around the yard and never did see the coyote.  I waited for about 5 minutes and then I turned off the lights and went back to bed.  My heart was still beating like crazy.  I laid there.  In the distance, I could hear the coyote howling.  It was gone but my mind was awake.  Finally after what seemed an eternity, I did doze back off to sleep.  When I went outside this morning, there were no signs of the visitor.  My chickens happily came out into the run and started to scratch in the dirt and it was just like nothing ever happened.