"Chicken" - possibly an inappropriate insult.

So, while the workers were here...

As usual, the cats were in hiding.  Strange people, noise, commotion: run and hide until it's all over.

The chickens, on the other hand, were scampering around their cage, wanting to come out and play.  As long as the cats weren't around, Joy let the chickens out for a while, with close herding so they wouldn't disappear, poop on the nice hardwood floor, and so on.

Not very chicken, are they?

Oh, and the cats have gotten decidedly gallophobic.  (Gallophobia: fear of chickens, France, a sort of wasp nest, California wine, bile, and/or adhesion between sliding surfaces.)