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I am so enjoying sitting on an upside down 5-gallon empty pickle bucket out in the chicken coop watching the baby chicks turn into hens.  Relaxes me – learning from animal intelligence – and here are two stories I heard today that make me smile.

One woman had a friend in New Hampshire that fed a family of raccoons in her back yard on a daily basis.  5 pm on the dot and there appeared the crew to devour whatever goodies had been left for them as the humans who fed them watched with caring delight – only always the biggest and the oldest managed to grab for himself the best of the best.

Then one day at 4:55 there appeared one of the younger members of the masked-faced family who seemed to understand a brand new plan.  Five minutes later when the rest showed up there was a little battle as the biggest and the oldest wrestled away the choice loaf of bread.

Next day at 4:55 again appeared the younger one who had just enough time to rip open the plastic bag containing the stale bread donated from a local bakery.  The raccoon not only pulled off the wrapper, but did so in such a fashion that the entire loaf of bread slices remained in a stack.  The younger one had one of its feet planted firmly on top of this stack by the time the bigger and older arrived along with the rest of the raccoons.

The human family watched in amazement as the older came, took a look, assessed the situation and moved on to munch away on something else while the younger one simply lifted its foot off the stack only high enough and long enough to snatch one slice of bread at a time as it planted its foot back down on the shortening pile firmly – thus gaining for itself the entire loaf.

Daily 4:55 arrival and very clever bread stacking, that’s all it took and the rest of the raccoons showing up at the dot of 5 never figured it out.

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The other story was told by a woman whose male friend frequently house sat for another friend of hers.  There were specific instructions given for the daily routine:  First water the garden, second feed the dog, third feed the 250 wild quail that lived in the draw behind the property.

One day the man watered the garden, fed the dog and then mowed the lawn.   Involved with his task the hungry quail were completely forgotten.

As he sat on an old bench beside the garden shed busy adding new cord to the weed-eater a small movement caught his attention out of the corner of his eye followed next by a little tap on the toe of his tennis shoe.  Looking down he saw one quail.  Just one little quail.  One quail, that’s all it took, and the entire 250 soon had their supper.

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I thought about my six little chickens yesterday when I brought them out a large piece of watermelon rind with plenty of juicy red pulp still attached.  Oh, what a commotion among the sisters when I laid it on the ground in the shade of the adobe chicken coop where they had been passing their hot afternoon napping in peace!  What on earth was THAT?  Food or foe?

They ‘chit-chatted’ away in great confusion, excitement and concern until finally one girl dashed up to the strange object, scooped a beak full of luscious watermelon in mid-run and still racing in a wide circle headed back to her little flock hiding in the corner.  But before this brave (chosen?) volunteer could put on her brakes her five sisters rushed past her in the opposite direction to happily devour what they now all knew wasn’t going to devour them.

Ah, the clever side of social life.  It sure doesn’t belong to just humans!

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