Please forgive me! I nearly forgot to finish telling you about Roz’s stealthy escape tactics. I’ve been distracted by all of the egg-citement around here.

Also, please forgive me for the use of the word egg-citement. I couldn’t help myself.

We are now officially up to thirteen eggs gathered from the coop. A couple of times a day I flip the lid to open the nesting boxes that hang off the edge of the structure. I peer inside, searching for breakfast. When I find an egg, I literally leap off the ground, just a bit, because I’m so thrilled.

Will you think I’m unbearably nerdy if I tell you I started a spreadsheet to track the egg production of my flock? If so, I totally didn’t. I was just kidding. Really.

Twice this week, I discovered two eggs waiting for me. One, a tawny light brown. The other, tan with a pale pink tint. This means two hens are laying.

And the rainbow of egg colors expanded even more when Jay found a light green egg in the coop. A light green egg!

And that brings us back to Roz. The one who is surely laying those rose and green-hued eggs. I already told you that Roz is a free spirit. She talks. And squawks. And follows me around the yard demanding treats. She also likes to flap her wings, get a little air under those feathers and hop right up onto the fence separating my yard from the neighbor house. And then, she floats down to the other side and explores the neighborhood.

Clearly, this couldn’t continue.

So I went straight to my chicken school textbooks to figure out how to remedy the situation.

It was time to clip her flight feathers. The book explains that cutting a few feathers off Roz’s wings won’t hurt her a bit and will prevent her from being able to get her usual 4-6 feet in the air. And in turn, it will keep her safe in my yard.

Under the cover of darkness, I carried a scissors out to the yard. Jay reached in the coop to get Roz. He held her snugly in his arms. And I got ready to cut.

Yikes! This is sounding much more terrifying than it really was.

I gently stretched Roz’s wing and clipped the feathers. I held the feathers tight and examined Roz, hoping her new haircut wasn’t going to ruin her look. If you look closely, you can see the site of the trim.

Roz didn’t even notice! In more ways than one. Because get this: she can still fly. She still hops up and over the fence. She must be some sort of super chicken because her first feather trim didn’t faze her one bit.

The only thing that does put a damper on her wandering nature? Snow. Thankfully, we got a thick coating shortly after the feather clipping took place. And it’s been keeping the escape artist close to home. For now.