The hens who stare at walls

When Eugenia, Aibileen, and Minny joined the family two weeks ago, I was expecting lots of introductory chicken drama – 

hen-pecking, chicken-scratching and such. Didn't happen. The girls are one big flock of happy hens.

If a tasty frozen watermelon treat doesn't incite a feathered fracas, I'm hoping nothing will. 

The new girls have introduced the oddest behavior to the flock, though. 

They stare at the wall of the house.

Resolute, unflinching, eyes wide open, they just stare. 

They've even got Peach and Clara doing it.

Minnie is the worst. Not only does she stare, she stares with her mouth open. 

If chickens drooled, there would be an embarrassing puddle at her feet.

After staring at Minnie staring at the wall, it dawned on me what might be going on.

Maybe it's easier to see and capture bugs up against the wall than it is to pick them out of thin air?

Or maybe it's just chickens being weird. Don't get me wrong – I love my chickens, but they're weird.

They look weird, they act weird, they sound weird, but it's all part of their charm.

And another thing about chickens? They are really, really hard to photograph. They move incredibly fast, 

so unless they're sitting still for a moment, say, staring at the wall, it's hard to keep them in focus.

Then there's the whole kneeling-in-chicken-poop thing trying to get down to their eye level.

Oh, the sacrifices one must make for fresh eggs and a blog post.