Time To Move The Coop

Every week I move the chickens and the chicken coop to a new location. They like the fresh grass. With this hot weather, I've been keeping the coop under the thickly leaved basswood tree so they can stay cooler. I am going to have to move it. Last night I let the chickens out to roam. At bedtime only one chick plus Meredith went inside the coop. Four others were wandering around. Once they saw the door open with Meredith inside, they went inside too. I looked around for the sixth chick. She wasn't inside the coop. She wasn't inside the run. She wasn't under the coop. She wasn't anywhere around the coop. I shut the door on the chicks that were in the coop, stood straight, rested my hands on my hips and tried to think. My eye caught a bit of movement in the tree branch high above the coop. There was the last chick, perched in the basswood tree on a branch higher than I could reach. In order to reach the chick and carry her I had to pull down on the end of the branch. That left only one hand available for grabbing. Both the chickens and I prefer the two handed grab. It's more comfortable to put my hands under their wings and support the body. I tried to pull the branch down with my teeth but I couldn't get it down far enough. So I ended up pulling the branch down with my right hand and grabbing the chicken with the left hand. This was not a graceful moment for me and not a graceful moment for the chick. Tonight the coop is moving farther away from the limbs of the basswood tree. I am grateful that chick didn't try to climb up any higher!