Generally shutting up the farm animals for the night goes very smoothly. Once in a while there are detours to navigate to get to the goal of getting all chickens, ducks and rabbits to bed. Tonight it's just pouring rain. I was trying to wait for a break in the rain to shut up the farmyard gang. No break came so off I went with my jacket, mud boots and headlamp on. The ducks didn't want to go in, they love the rain. They did head in when I called- after a bit of reluctance. I counted NOOOO only 8 ducks not 9. One of the black birds was still out, Rocky! Rocky is Hayley's duck, I call her Rocky Talky sometimes because she talks a lot. I found her without too much trouble and persuaded Rocky into the barn. I didn't even get to the point of counting the chickens when I heard a noise outside, a chicken noise. One chicken hadn't gone in and was in fact in the adjoining vegetable garden. I don't really know why she didn't make her way in maybe the heavy rain confused her, the chickens like to go in at dusk and often go in early when there's bad weather. This chicken, one of our Polish chickens, named Star (or sometimes Goldie or Goldie Star) looked quite pathetic and clearly needed help. BUT the garden has gone crazy this year with the heat and the rain, it's a jungle. Trying to make my way through it without damaging anything is hard enough in daylight on a nice day, in the dark with pouring, sheeting rain, well not easy. I'm sure I broke plants though I tried very, very hard not to. Finally made my way to where Star the chicken was. I managed to get Star to safety and dry her off, she seemed fine if bedraggled. Then it was indoors for me and a complete change of clothes as I was soaked through.
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