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 and the old man was running out his back door. 

His dog was faster though, a vicious little labradoodle named Indie, who wasn’t really vicious, well she was if she got one of us in her mouth, but she didn’t know what to do with us so we could usually escape, but we wanted to make sure we didn’t have her teeth wrapped around our neck in the first place, so we quickly flew away.

‘Silly little dog, jumping and barking at us, she can’t catch us!!’ Al thought.

 

With the ducks gone, and duck poo to clean off the pool deck the old man wandered down to let his chicken out. As he unlatched the gate on the chicken run, 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 curry, 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 the dog.

 

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. Everyday she tried to get Beth, but Beth was too clever and she’d play with him, 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 would roll around laughing, making fun of Indie.

On this day, however, Beth was mid-run, heading over to the chicken feed and Indie knew this was her chance. Beth, couldn’t go back under the wooden pallet, but where could she go? Ah the chicken coup, Indie couldn’t fit in there. 

Beth put her sprint on and ran into the chicken coup. This was where the chickens slept and laid their eggs. She’d be safe in there.

Indie was nipping at her tail, she was so close, as Beth ran up the ramp into the chickens sleeping and laying area. Indie couldn’t fit through the door, she was too big, or at  least that is what Beth thought. 

Beth ran into the back corner of the chicken coup and turned around. 

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 was 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, but everything was closed. The side door, closed. The roosting box door, closed.

She was trembling with fear.

Indie took another step towards her, as Beth’s eyes got 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 was wriggling in mid-air. She didn’t know if Indie had her, she simply. had no idea what was going on.

Suddenly Beth felt a thud, she’d landed on her back, on 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. Then, she sprinted off towards the edge of the chicken run, running out through the chicken wire and climbing the cage onto the roof.

Indie was going off underneath, 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, kept barking until the old man roared at her.

‘You idiot, look what you’ve done!!!’

Indie froze in her tracks. She looked at her Dad, 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 was scared about what he might do to her. She wanted to leave but couldn’t. She just stood there, 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 he 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.

He went and got some wood and a drill from his shed. Then, walking 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.

‘Yuck.’ He spat it out.

He sat up, sore and even crankier. 

‘Bloody dog.’

He mumbled.

He slowly got up. Every bone in his body aching and muttering cranky words under his breath.

He picked up the wood that had gone everywhere and his drill, and 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 said, 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 – and 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 were wrapped around his face and her claws were digging into his neck.

‘Aggghhhhh’ he screamed!!

He dropped all of the wood and his drill, and it landed on his feet.

‘Aggghhhhh’ he screamed again. The weight of the wood could have broken his toes.

He reached up and pulled Molly off him. His nose was dripping with blood from where her beak had cut it and his neck had claw marks from her sharp feet!

‘You crazy lunatic.’ He said to her, as he tossed her to the floor.

Molly landed on her back, and the dust rose 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 pecking at his feet. She was determined to draw blood again.

The old man, with his head in he 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 attacked – again!

‘Ouch.’

He looked down and here 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, because 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 at 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, and cleaned out the mess of the floor that Indie had made. Then he started rebuilding the floor. He was cranky that he had to do it, he had other plans that didn’t involve rebuilding the chicken coup. But he did a good job and when he was done the girls had a Gucci 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, 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 good day!

 

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 grabbed the food scraps from the kitchen and headed 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, and he threw out some more corn.

The girls ran ahead to eat the corn, 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 with all the food in it.

The old man flinched. 

‘Jeepers, settle down there girl.’

Molly looked at the old man, and then at the bowl. There was more ‘skettie’ and she promptly pecked a piece out, eating it all up!

As the old man walked into the chicken coup, Molly flew down. 

The old man 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 latched the chicken coup closed, the girls were safe for the night, as he headed back to the house with Indie at his side.