On Saturday mornings I like to walk around the yard and just observe things. Usually on weekdays when I leave, it is still dark so I don't get to take in the sights and enjoy God's creation. Saturday and Sunday mornings are a treat in that regard.
I guess you could call me a "home body." Don't get me wrong, I enjoy traveling and seeing different places, but it is always nice to get back home. Home is a safe place - a familiar place. While walking in the backyard I was able to catch a glimpse of a creature that has no inhibitions about leaving home. The Bible Verse quoted above talks about everything having boundaries of their habitation. I present to you a hen that scoffs at boundaries.
She refuses to stay in her allotted space, preferring instead to blaze her own trail, engage in risky activity and defy her human caretakers.
This hen is an Aracauna. This breed is a wilder breed than the others and interestingly lays blue and green eggs. These birds are the most difficult we have. We cannot keep this black hen within the perimeter of the pasture fence. There is another Aracauna hen, a white one, that we call the "barn owl" because she roosts in the rafters of the barn. We haven't had much success keeping the white out of the barn or the black one in her pasture.
The black one struts around and scratches through the flower beds. She also scratches all the mulch out from under the blueberry bushes, exposing the roots. It annoys me to no end. I have to go rake the mulch back around the bushes so the roots don't dry out.
She causes me some extra work. When I see her she runs wildly. When I finally corner her, she squeezes through the space in the hogwire fence and gets back in the pasture with the other, well-behaved birds. Then she looks at me over her shoulder and sneers at me in defiance. Keep it up, hen, and you'll end up in a gumbo!
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