It sounds like a strange question, but Maria and I have found ourselves talking a lot this week about what we want our new chickens to be?
I don’t really believe in having animals just for the sake of it. They ought to mean something to us, and us to them. That’s what stewardship is about.
I believe people need animals in their lives, and I think many animals need people. It’s beautiful when it works that way.
At our first Bedlam Farm, set in a more remote part of the country, we lost many chickens – one to a snake, one to a hawk, one or two to foxes. Like rabbits, almost anything will eat a chicken, so we stopped naming them and took care of them.
We like having chickens, but don’t really have much in the way of connections with them, really, even Maria didn’t expect much from them. I had little to do with them, I’m working on it.
Now, we have two chicks – Kitty and Anne – and a Brahma rooster coming next week.
We have changed a bit and evolved a bit, and this farm seems much safer and more peaceful. We haven’t lost any chickens to predators.
Other than a wounded bear in our pasture two years ago and a predator that ate our barn cat Minnie’s leg, our animals and chickens have been healthy and safe. So we’re naming them and socializing them.
The chickens we have are wary of us, and we have little interaction with them. We want this round to be different.
My most frequent contact with the chickens was chasing them off the porch with a garden hose. Now, I call them and give them mealworms. They are starting to like me.
This is very different. The chickens are in a box on the dining room table and they are seeing a lot of us.
Maria and I are hand-feeding chick feed and mealworms to the two chickens, and one, Kitty, is already hopping up on Maria’s hand.
As I write this, Maria is singing “KittyAnne” to them in a high sing-song while she feeds them. This will be the signal to call them to us.
I reach down with mealworms in hand; these chicks eat out of my hand and are happy to climb onto my palm. I can brush them off and stroke their feathers, which they seem to like.
They are happy to see both of us and trust us completely. I’m not sure what we really expect of these chickens, except we have great fun socializing them in a different way.
“I like the idea of knowing their names,” said Maria, “observing them more, seeing what they can learn and how to grow. The last time we didn’t pay attention to them at all.”
I want the same thing,
So this is interesting. Animals should have a point for being here.
I’ve focused on the dogs and both of us love our donkeys. This is a new challenge.
I think we want to see just how much of a connection one can have with a chicken, we have become animal scholars and observers. I know chickens can be fun.
It’s working this morning. Maria held the chicks in one hand and cleaned them off with another. They were completely at ease.
They also hope in my hand and love to ride up for a view of the world outside of their box. I’m liking it.
I’m also enjoying paying more attention to them, seeing just how much fun a trusting chicken can be. I will, of course, keep you all posted on our progress.
I know this sounds strange, but for over eight years, my parents had a hen named Lucy that lived in their house. When my Dad was sick she followed him around the house. One day he got disoriented and stuck in the garage. Lucy screamed and screamed until my mom came out to find my Dad stuck. Lucy loved certain foods and hated others. She had a very sensitive palate and would let my mom know what she didn’t like with vocalizations. Chickens use over twenty-five different types of vocalizations to communicate. I think it is so wonderful that Maria is singing to the baby chicks, the mother hens purr to the eggs, so the chicks can recognize her voice when they are born.
Love this more than I can say! I’ve related to many creatures; it is always beneficial to me! Enjoy your posts daily, feel like you and Maria are kindred spirits. Love to each member of your menagerie?
Hi. My two chickens could see my office window from their henhouse. The minute they saw me they would say hello. Made my day! Enjoy!
They have many different personalities and behaviors. After clicker training a chicken, dogs are easy.
My grandmother was very fond of her chickens. She had long conversations with them as she went in to get the eggs. But she was also a practical woman who had experienced the two big wars. So, food trumped pets when it came to chickens. We would have fresh chicken on special days and as a little girl I fortunately never really made the connection between there being 1 less chicken in the coop…. Not sure I could have understood. And I probably would have trouble with it even today!
Let me end with a story where I ran as fast as I could after an encounter with a nasty rooster…
Two years ago I was staying with my cousin, in one of the western provinces of The Netherlands.
He has what is known as a hobby farm. Well, just like you, he has a collection of farm pets. He has a whole clutch of chickens and of course there are roosters too. He was out to work and I was having a mini vacation using his sunny terrace and sauna. At some point, the sky was looking stunningly beautiful so I wanted to grab my camera, run to the back of the property and make a photograph. I was wearing just my robe and some Wellingtons. As I stepped out I must have offended the small rooster in some way, because it had a go at my legs! It scared the chicken s***s out of me, I tell you! I ran to the back, thinking, surely he will let me go and I can make my photograph. But no, this creature had a turbo switch and was following me at high speed, half flying, half running, and installed the fear of the devil in me! When I reached the end of the property, out of breath, it started to hail. In April. Go figure. And only then did he retreat. My photo op by then was of course completely ruined and I too had to retreat back to the house….
In the next couple of days I checked the grounds before setting a foot outside of the house. On my very last day, as I was packing the car to leave, I walk up to the open passenger door to throw my last stuff in and there he was. Standing right in front of the door. Eyeing me with great distrust….
Later my cousin told me that, yeah, the rooster could be ‘quite agressive’ and had attacked and bitten several people to the point of blood. Now, with those types of chickens, I would have no issue at all eating them! Nice and fresh!