Barn Mayhem

When we had extremely frigid cold days I thought it would be nice to open up the barn for the birds to move around. Mayhem ensued. For some reason the Muscovy ducks head straight over to an old metal cabinet painted white. I'm sure this old thing was painted 50 or 75 years ago. The paint is flaking off like crazy where one section was exposed to water. According to my ducks, this paint is the tastiest treat on the planet. Every time I turn around, I catch them licking, nibbling EATING the paint off the cabinet and the floor. Of course I shooed them away a few 5 or 6 times.
Then I see Cecil my male turkey attempting to come down the barn stairs. He was only a few steps up but this was obviously something a turkey was not designed to do. That's when I notice Clover his hen is missing. Okay this puts me into a panic, my only breeding female turkey. Pumpkin licked the other one to death last September. I'm counting, relying on Clover to produce fertile eggs in spring.
Clover has gone all the way upstairs in the barn, which is filled with crap that a turkey could get tangled in. Not to mention the stair problem. I have now spent so much time attempting to detour the ducks from their paint fetish, Clover's egg induced wanderlust has escaped me. Upstairs, chirping, Clover was happily searching for a secret spot to nest. Yes it's a little early but every girl likes to be prepared. Slowly I herd her to a safe place to make the grab. There can be no mistakes everything is riding on this bird. Luckily she is also very tame. I dove, quickly snatched her up, Clover and I are face to face, her feet dangling down to my knees, happily she chirps at me. Making sure I had a firm but gentle grip on Clover we headed down the stairs where I deposited the wayward girl outside the barn.
Slowly I turn around to assess the barn; the ducks are back licking paint. This is it, all ducks out, and I don't care. I know that ducks will eat anything but this is just stupid. I'm herding the ducks back into the animal side of the barn and I notice Clover is making another run for the stairs… Quickly I distract her from her mission and BLOCK the stairs. A large metal garbage can is installed in Cecil and Clovers living area to hopefully entice her into doing her egg thing there. The can is not working so far but the chickens love playing in it, Clover sneaks upstairs daily, the ducks are banned from the barn for ever.