Muscovy Conspiracy

The PVC Chicken Tractor caved again under the weight of a heavy downpour. This time, it happened in the dark and just as I was approaching it to check out how it was handling the rain. I'm not a structural engineer so I'm not completely sure what is wrong but clearly, this design, even with a peak roof, is not going to work. Time to move to plan B which is still formulating in my head. I'll share it with you as I get it going.

Actually, I think I do have a theory about what is happening. It is a duck conspiracy. What do I base this on, you ask? Well, here is the evidence as I see it:

Where is Dinner?

The ducks have gotten right used to hangin' around the chicken tractor at movin' time. Why, you ask? Well, because chickens are messy birds and get their food everywhere. The ducks love to clean up the chicken feed. After (and often while) I move the chicken tractor, they would be there eager for the task of chicken clean-up, their tails just a waggin'. No, really, they wag their tails when they are excited. Get them really excited and they will do a lot of head bobbing and coo'ing and break dancin'. Seriously. Sometimes, they even do the moonwalk. I'm not kidding you. I think they are planning to try out for the Muscovies Got Talent TV Show.

Anyway, back to the duck conspiracy. When the chickens are in the big PVC tractor, there is no spillage for them to clean up. This is quite upsetting to them. Just the other night after the chickens were back in the big coop,it was tractor movin' time. The ducks followed me to the coop, eager for dinner. I move the chicken coop. The ducks line up at the edge of the coop staring at the ground waiting for manna to appear. To the ducks dismay, there was no chicken feed to clean up. The tails stopped waggin. They stood in shocked dismay. Just staring at the ground where their supper should have wonderously appeared. But. Didn't. Their reaction reminded me of an old song:

Did you hear what the drakes did?

Get out the way old Dan Tucker
You’re too late to git your supper
Supper’s gone and dinner cookin’
Old Dan Tucker’s just a-standin’ there lookin’.

Thus, my theory. It makes logical sense if you think about it. The ducks decided that the big coop was a serious infringement on their culinary enjoyments and something had to be done. So, in the dark of night, they fixed the problem.

Whether my theory is accurate or not, it is clearly time to write the PVC Tractor off as a bad design and move on. It is only a failure if we fail to learn from what doesn't work.