Angry hens

Yesterday, the hens were making really loud noises in the front yard. The front door was closed, but we could clearly hear at least two hens making an absolute ruckus. Matt and I were both puzzled- the hens never make loud noises except occasionally when they lay an egg. Had someone laid an egg in the cool grass of the front yard? It just seemed... so wrong.

Lucky and I went to the front door to investigate. I opened the door and there, sitting in between the two lilac trees, was a big grey cat. The cat was lying down, not looking too horribly aggressive, but there was no doubt that it seemed threatening to our hens! Three hens were pacing and ba-cocking loudly in the cat's direction, only a few feet away. I quickly commanded, "Lucky! Get the cat!" in my "Lucky go chase that squirrel out of the sunflowers" tone of voice. He locked eyes with the cat, took about two huge steps onto the front porch, and then launched himself clear off the porch, completely over the backs of the hens, and onto the spot that the cat was lying. Of course, the cat saw him coming so she was already up and over the front fence before his paws hit the dirt. Lucky did some pacing and quiet snarling as the cat hid under Matt's car, and then it ran across the street. I told Lucky he was a very, very good boy and he pranced proudly around the front yard. "I scared it! Did you see?!" he seemed to be announcing with his tail straight up and his posture especially erect.

Good dog. You protected the hens from the evil cat!