We've had so much rain, we've been really delayed in getting their outside house completed. So they think they are inside chickens now. Oh so funny. I just follow them around with a box of kleenex and baby wipes. They follow me everywhere, and when I sit down, they jump on my lap. They have slept on my lap for an hour while I was working on my computer. They have trained me new tricks. They show me their poops, and when I bend over to pick it up, they jump on my back. They can even fly across the room, and jump on my back. They think that is funny. We have a squirrel that keeps coming into our house. The chickens don't mind, but my dog has had so many lectures about not attacking the chickens, she thinks she's not supposed to chase the squirrel either. The cat just doesn't care. New Hampshire Reds, and they are getting bigger and bolder, every day. My old cat was always smarter than I was, and now I guess the chickens are too.
The girls
They are funny little things. We hatched out 3 babies in the house under a light bulb about 2 years ago. The momma hen was sitting on eggs and ended up with extras that didn't get taken off. When hers hatched we didn't want to leave the other eggs because she wouldn't leave them and take care of her babies. So my husband said do I toss them or do we try to hatch them. I said lets just try, what do we have to loose. Well a week later one hatched. We called him baby. It was the most determined little thing and right after hatch wanted us to pick him up. He would sit on my sons shoulder and sleep. We kept him in a box ( turned out to be more like a chicken condo) he would peep and peep till we would take him out of the box and hold him. He would sit by my feet as I'd sew, if I got up he would follow me. It was just too cute. A week later another one hatched. She was so tiny and cute. A few days later another hatched.
So, to this day we have Baby, a beautiful rooster that is quite tame and now the master of the yard.. And, we have Poozie, a pretty little Barred Rock hen that just hatched 2 babies yesterday. The other baby we called Lucky and he died suddenly one night. We don't know why, he was several weeks old at the time.
Thanks for sharing your story. At least I know I'm not the only one that had to raise a few chickens like a momma hen.
Well you might be just a couple of old hens, but we love your stories. These girls are quite the comics aren't they.
I think it;s what makes the whole thing so much fun, their antics are at times just to crazy. However they are never booring like some people I know. Have a great day, and Elle it's about time you showd up again. Haystack.
Yep, it is fun to read these kinds of stories. I like how they have her trained to clean their mess so they can roost on her back. Too funny.
Elle, they will always be spoiled rotten now.
Oh spoiled rotten it is. By the way are chocolate chip cookies ok for chickens? I made some yesterday, and they love them. Oh well.
Too funny, did they have milk too?
Chickens eat just about anything. And unfortunately just about anything eats chickens....but we won't go there.
This message was edited Jun 5, 2009 11:52 AM
Hey Elle!!! Whatever you do, do not give those cookies to your chickens. Don't you know how dangerous that is.
Those are my cookies, and how dare you give them to another. Elle I'm in a forgiving mood tonight, I'm gonna pretend this never happened. LOL Haystack
Oh dear, Haystack hasn't learned to share. There just little chickens, they don't eat much....no wait....forget I said that. :) Maybe they saved you a crumb. Nope......probably not.
We were outside all day, working on their outside house. Thank goodness, no rain today. They were outside with us, supervising. When we decided to come in, we brought them inside and put them in their inside cage. They weren't ready for bed yet, and started to make a real fuss. PBS was having a show about big band music, with Benny Goodman, Glen Miller, etc. So my son lifted the lid to their cage, they jumped up on the ledge, and we stood in front of them dancing to the music. Alice jumped on my son's back, and started to do this funny chicken dance on his back. She was hoping up and down, flapping her wings, trying to do it to the beat of the music. It was the funniest thing I'd ever seen. My son almost fell down laughing. So Haystack, if you can dance too, I'll give you a chocolate chip cookie.
Way too funny. You ever think of starting your own show?