Flying the Coup

‘Watch this,’ Al said to John.

Al flew around 180 degrees and then let one rip, right on the Old Man’s pool deck.

It was black, thick, oozy poo – the kind ducks do.

‘Ha ha ha.’ They couldn’t stop laughing.

‘He’s going to hate that!’

John flew around and added one too.

Then Mark, Melissa, Brad, Phoebe, Matty, Bronnie, Silas, all the gang, added their poo too. It was like a poo-fest.

‘You little turds.’ They all looked up as the Old Man ran out his back door. 

His dog was faster though, a vicious little labradoodle named Indie. She wasn’t really vicious, well she could be if she got one of the ducks in her mouth, but she never knew what to do with them so they could easily escape. Today though, the ducks wanted to escape the wrath of Nanna Duck, making sure they didn’t have Indie’s teeth wrapped around their neck in the first place, so they quickly flew away.

Indie was jumping and barking at the ducks.

‘Silly little dog, you can’t catch us!!’ Al said, flying off into the distance.

 

With the ducks gone, and duck poo to clean off his pool deck, the Old Man shook his head, angry at the ducks and wandered down to let his chicken out. He unlatched the gate on the chicken run and the girls came running out, ready to forage and enjoy the day.

They were happy little things, except Molly who could give a bit of stick, pecking at the Old Man’s feet if she was in a mood, but he liked having them and enjoyed their eggs even more. They were good company for him and Indie.

 

All of a sudden, as if out of nowhere, Indie came racing into the chicken coup at full speed, nearly knocking the Old Man over.

‘Hold up girl.’ He managed to say, hanging onto the door so he didn’t fall over.

She ran straight to the wooden pallet, where Beth the mouse lived.

Beth lived under the wooden pallet, in a safe space that Indie couldn’t get too, but she tried. Every day she tried, but Beth was too clever and she’d play with Indie, running around underneath the pallet, which got Indie jumping and snorting about, putting her paw in to try and grab Beth. Indie was never successful and Beth rolled around laughing and making fun of Indie.

Today, however, Beth was mid-run, heading over to the chicken’s grain for a feed. When Indie realised Beth wasn’t in her home, she looked around her, sniffing Beth’s trail and that’s when she saw her and Indie knew this was her chance.

Beth, couldn’t go back to her home, but where could she go that was safe? Ah the chicken coup, Indie can’t fit in there. 

Beth put her sprint on, Indie was nipping at her tail, she was so close. Beth ran up the ramp into the chicken coup. It was where the chickens slept and laid their eggs, she knew be safe in there. Indie couldn’t fit through the door, she was too big, or at  least that is what Beth thought. 

To make sure she was safe, Beth ran into the back corner of the chicken coup and turned around, watching the door. 

Then, bang crash, Indie, like a bullet, burst through the tiny door, breaking it. She only had eyes for Beth, and they were blazing. Her salivating tongue hanging out of her mouth, ready to wrap around Beth. Indie edged closer, she knew she finally had Beth and Beth knew it too, there was nowhere to go.

Beth looked around her, panicked, desperately trying to find a way out but everything was closed. The side door, closed. The roosting box door, closed.

She trembled with fear.

Indie took another step towards Beth, her eyes getting wider and wider.

Then, all of a sudden, there was a crash and Beth felt herself falling. She didn’t know what was going on, but there was hay flying everywhere, and her little body wriggled in mid-air. She didn’t know if Indie had her, she simply had no idea what was going on.

Thud! Beth landed on her back, hitting something hard. Beth rolled over and realised, she was on the ground. Indie was there too, all sprawled out not knowing what had happened.

Beth looked up and saw that the floor had dropped out of the chicken coup, Indie must have been too heavy for it.

Indie was slow to get to her feet, she was in shock from what had happened and had lost sight of Beth. Sneezing and shaking herself off, Indie looked around in Beth’s direction.

Beth winked at Indie, because she knew she was free. She sprinted off towards the edge of the chicken run,  through the chicken wire and climbed onto the roof.

Indie was going off, barking and jumping.

‘Ha, as if that’s going to make me fall.’ Beth laughed.

Beth looked down and smiled at Indie. She knew she’d won this round. 

Then, Beth took a big run up and threw herself over the back fence into the creek. Indie definitely couldn’t get her there and Beth was free to roam rather than having Indie barking at her all day.

 

Indie, still determined to get Beth, continued barking until the Old Man roared at her.

“You lunatic, look what you’ve done!!!”

Indie froze in her tracks. She looked at the Old Man, scared to look at the chicken coup. He was going to have to fix it and she knew he’d be cranky about that. 

Indie, scared about what he might do to her, wanted to leave but couldn’t. She just stood there, frozen, not even blinking.

“Get out of here.” The Old Man yelled, pointing at the door to the chicken run.

Indie sprinted for the gate, before he changed his mind.

 

Indie watched from a distance as the Old Man spent the afternoon fixing the chicken coup. It was busted up really bad. It was already old, so it wasn’t very stable and screwing nails in could mean he’d break it even more but he had to fix it for his girls as they needed somewhere to sleep and to lay their eggs.

The Old Man got some wood and a drill from his shed. On his way back down to the chicken run, he tripped on a stone and everything went flying.

The Old Man fell face first into the mud, he was covered, he even got some in his mouth and up his nose.

‘Yuck.’ He spat and snotted it out.

He sat up, sore and even crankier. 

‘Bloody dog.’

He mumbled.

He slowly got up, every bone in his body aching, mumbling cranky words under his breath.

Picking up the wood, that had gone everywhere, and his drill, he walked into the chicken run.

 

The girls had decided it was time to lay their eggs. They’d tried to go up their ramp, but they couldn’t, it was on the floor. 

‘Ok,’ Judy thought, ‘we can fly up.’

So Judy flew up, only to realise there was no floor. She was shocked, ‘What do we do now?’ She wondered.

She looked down at her sisters and said. ‘There’s no floor, it’s been broken, we can’t lay our eggs!’

‘Emergency!! Emergency!!’ Mavis screamed, running around like a crazy chicken, because to her, it was the end of the world.

‘What are we going to do?’ Winny asked, looking at Judy who’d been investigating.

Molly look back towards the gate, realising the Old Man was coming into the chicken coup. She could see he had wood in his hands and he was going to fix it but she needed to lay now!! He had to fix it now!! 

Molly spread her wings and ran straight for him.

‘Oh great, here she goes.’ Judy said, rolling her eyes. Judy knew that attacking the man who was coming to help them wasn’t a good idea. Molly just needed to chill, they’d find another way – they always did.

Molly flew up, opening her beak and bit the Old Man right on the nose. Her wings wrapped around his face and her claws dug into his neck.

“Aggghhhhh!!!” He screamed!!

He dropped the wood and his drill, and they landed on his feet.

“Aggghhhhh!!!” He screamed again. The weight of the wood could have broken his toes, it was so painful.

He reached up and pulled Molly off his face. His nose was dripping with blood and he had blood running down his neck.

“You maniac!!!” He yelled at her, as he tossed her to the floor.

Molly landed on her back, the dust rising around her. She was ok, but she wasn’t finished, he had to know she was cranky and that he had to fix it.

Molly got to her feet and ran back towards to him. This time biting at his feet. She was determined to draw blood again.

The Old Man, with his head in the air, hanky on his nose, soaking up the blood, felt sharp pecks down on his feet. He was only wearing thongs and it was like he was being pinch by the meanest kid in the playground, the pain radiated up his legs!

“Owwwww.”

He looked down and there was Molly, going for his feet.

‘Ok, ok, ok, I get it, you’re not happy, but enough with the attacks!’ He said to her as he swung his  foot in her direction, to push her away. He didn’t want to hurt her but if she didn’t stop he’d consider making her his dinner.

Winny and Robyn, ran towards Molly. They knew she wouldn’t stop unless they made her stop. They quickly ushered her towards a bale of hay that was perfect for laying eggs in today. It was soft and cosy on their fluffy bottoms.

The girls took turns laying their eggs, there was enough room for three of them to be on the hay bale, so, because Molly was in a rush, she went first with Judy and Winny. Mavis, Jan and Robyn went next. 6 perfect eggs for the day and then the girls went off into the backyard to explore again.

 

The Old Man picked up the wood and his drill, again, then cleaned out the mess of the floor that Indie had made. Slowly, he started rebuilding the floor. He was cranky that he had to do it, he had other plans that day which didn’t involve rebuilding the chicken coup. But he did a good job and when he was done the girls had a first-class chicken coup floor and hatching boxes. He was proud of himself.

 

Later that day, as he prepared the scraps for the chickens, the Old Man looked out the window and he started to rage.

‘BLOODY DUCKS!!!’

He marched to the back door. 

When Indie heard the door open she bolted past the Old Man, nearly knocking him over again, barking her head off. Just as John was letting one rip.

‘I’ve already cleaned that deck today!!!’ The Old Man yelled at the ducks. They laughed, and flew away.

‘Told you we’d get him again.’ Al said to John, they’d had a productive day causing mischief on the farm.

 

The Old Man had one more job to do before he sat down for his dinner. It was time to put the girls away.

He picked up the food scraps from the kitchen and walked out the back door. 

The girls sprinted for the fence because they knew they were getting more food – YIPPEE!!

The Old Man threw some corn out on the grass for the girls, so they’d eat that and follow him.

Next he threw out some spaghetti, the girls loved it. They thought they were worms and wanted to eat it all day long! They’d fight over the ‘skettie’, eating every last bit.

The Old Man continued walking down to the chicken run, with the girls running along behind him, he threw out some more corn.

They ran ahead to eat the food, but when Molly got there she didn’t want any more corn, she wanted ‘skettie’. Molly looked up at the Old Man and thought ‘he’s got more skettie in that bowl, and I want it.’

The Old Man was oblivious to what was happening, when all of a sudden Molly flapped her wings and few up in front of him, landing on the side of the bowl.

The Old Man flinched. 

“Jeepers, settle down there girl.”

Molly looked at the Old Man, and then at the bowl. There was more ‘skettie’, just as she though and she promptly pecked a piece out, eating it all up!

The Old Man walked into the chicken coup, and Molly flew down. 

He sprinkled the food on the floor for them to eat. The girls happily pecked away at all of the delicious food scraps and the Old Man let out a sigh.

“Boy it’s been a big day.”

He closed the latched on the chicken coup, the girls were safe for the night, and headed back to the house with Indie at his side.