have been on my mind. I've raised a variety of them over the years. As a kid
the first chicken coop I recall was about 8' by 8' and tall enough to walk
into. It had several inches of wood chips covering the floor, a waterer,
feed trough, and a crushed shell dispenser. There were several poles from
wall to wall about 4' off the floor for a roost. Those chickens had access
to a fenced in yard. In later years I had a similar coop but no fence. Those
chickens were allowed to roam - what they call "free-range" today. They
would be out picking at whatever growth appealed to them and worms most of
the day. But as the sun started to go down they would go inside to roost.
Which brings me to my point: there was nothing vengeful or evil about them
"coming home to roost". It was actually the opposite - returning to their
safe spot. So how did we get from that to the evil connotation implied by
newscasters for that same expression ?