Chicken lasagna

The henhouse got a fall cleaning/ "henhouse makeover" in fall colours.  The abundant maple leaves provided a big new spongy carbon layer, piled in over top of the dung and old grass that has been piling up.  It's like lasagna gardening, only lasagna composting.  It makes the henhouse smell really good again too.  Now when I open their hatch, I hear crunching inside as they start walking towards the door.I love the chickens!  They’re all grown up, and there are far fewer, because most of the roosters got eaten, but the little flock is so mischievous and amusing and ... lively.  It’s just nice to have animals roaming around being animals, murmuring to each other and sneaking around, popping around the corner of the barn, and scratching in the hay with their butts in the air like little schooners.  They hover around when we're working or raking leaves, waiting to reverse our work or dig for uncovered treats.They can fly quite well, too, as I discovered when I was dumping leaves in the henhouse. I guess it scared the willies out of them, and they went flying out the door over my head in a panic.They vanish completely for hours every day though.  I was wondering where they were hiding, and it turns out they DO roam around in the woods.  There were sightings of them back in the woods.  That’s so awesome.  Wild chickens!  Like the wild chickens of Hawaii.