Each and every night I have been chasing Dottie Speckles out of the nesting boxes.  I do not want her to sleep there.  We have been having a major battle on this subject.  She is defiant, but when I open the boxes, she knows.  Like a moping teenager, she slowly finds her way up to the roost.  Sometimes, if it is not entirely dark, she will sneak her way back into the box.  I have learned.  I do a final check on the girls just as complete darkness arrives.

The last two nights, I have had to also take Dolly out of her “broody” nesting box and put her up on the roost.  Both evenings, she has been fast asleep.  I had read about sleeping chickens but I had never had to deal with one in person.  They are funny, completely vulnerable and unaware.  I lifted sleeping Dolly out of the box.  She was like a limp rag doll, somewhere off in dreamland.  I tried to place her on the roost.  She plopped a few inches off the back and ended up on the floor.  She did not notice.  She was still fast asleep.  I scooped her up again and took her feet one by one and guided them onto the roost.  All the while, she slept.  She did not make a sound.  Mind you, this entire exchange happened in total darkness!

This morning she happily came running out of the coop.  It must have been that great night’s sleep.

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