Free and Fun for Very Nearly All

Tiny post here. It rained last night and this morning I 'released the girls'. No, not those girls, I mean my hens. Leisurely I followed my hens around the yard. I was absolutely amazed how many worms they sucked up in just a couple of minutes. When I say sucked up, I mean that literally. The worms hang out with their heads (butts?) poked out of their tunnel systems to escape their wet basements beneath the soil. My girls spot the worms easily - they are a tad closer to the ground after all - then pull the worms up and suck 'em down.

Sometimes two hens spot one worm and it's a free for all. One grabs the worm and pulls it out of the ground so fast the worm's tail end whips up out the ground. But hen #2 grabs the flying tail end and for one sweet second it's two hens with one worm between them. Yes, poor worm! Then it's a matter of playing chicken - whichever hen loses her grip first loses the worm. All that takes only seconds, someone usually has only a lose grip on the slippery worm, but sometimes that's the hen that pulled the worm up in the first place. But when the hen that actually found the worm loses it, there are no hard feelings. OK, sometimes there is a noisy indignant cluck or two, but hey there are plenty of worms for all so the hunt continues.

Now rainy mornings are a pleasure because I get to go on a worm hunt with my girls. OK, not as charming as an Easter Egg Hunt, I know, but still just as fun. Huh? What do you mean "you don't think so"?

Hunt for Worms, Hunt for Easter Eggs...
Which is more fun? A mystery for the ages, eh?