50 Ways To Love a Chicken…

I’m sitting here in the dark looking down at a dark chicken coop with no noise coming out of it. Of course it is dark, so that is normal. Except tonight I know there are no chickens in our coop. Since we will be moving soon, Jim and I had to make the tough decision to find a good home for them. It is a very sad day even though they went to a great neighbor.

In 2017 we started our first flock of chickens. We immediately fell in love with them. Each one of them had their own personality and they were all beautiful. Felix (our black cat) grew up with them. He was still a kitten when we got them and he hung out in the coop with them all the time. He never went after them and they were never bothered by him.

There are so many stories I could tell (at least 50) but I will keep them to a minimum.

1. Broody hens are awesome. And very protective of “her” eggs! When they decide to hatch, they mean business. Our Copper Laced Wyandotte was the perfect example. She was always the sweetest thing but once she decided to hatch an egg or two, watch out. She sat 24/7 as far as we could tell. I would feed her food out of a little bowl while she was sitting so she didn’t starve. And she produced two amazing little chicks that were too adorable for words. We learned that when new chicks are introduced to the flock by the mom (vs. buying chicks and introducing them) there is nothing for humans to do. Mom takes care of introducing her new babies to the flock and protecting them just in case any of the other chicks try to get fussy with them.

2. Roosters are amazingly ….. possessive?? dominant?? protective?? Connor was our rooster of choice. We only had 12 hens so one rooster was enough. He was my boy! He protected them in every way imaginable. When I would feed them treats, I would always go to Connor first. He would take the treats out of my hand and put them on the ground. He would cluck and let the hens know there were treats . Once all the hens were happy, only then would he eat. Jim would go to the coop to give them treats and try to feed Connor. Connor would look at the food and then down at the ground as if to say, “Please put it on the ground so my girls can get to it”. Also, when Connor would hear a hawk, he would start talking to the hens and lead them to shelter. Under the deck, under a bush, into the chicken run…. anywhere to protect them. Out of all the time they free-ranged we only lost one chick to a hawk.

3. You can train your chickens. From day one, Jim and I taught our chickens that when we whistled, we had treats for them. We did this so if we needed them to get into the run before dark (when they would go in by themselves) we could whistle, and they would follow. This paid off constantly. For reference, the chickens put themselves to bed at dark. No matter what, if they were out running around in the yard, they went into the coop at dusk. All Jim and I had to do was go down to shut the door to the run. So if we were leaving for a couple days, I would whistle and go into their run. They would follow me and go straight into their run. Their coop had an automatic door so at night when they were all in the coop, the door would close and they would be safe.

4. Chickens can run. Which is absolutely hilarious. They waddle back and forth and you can’t help but laugh. Sometimes they try to fly when they are running which is even funnier. They fly for maybe 4 feet and then land and continue running. I have videos that I will keep forever and watch any time I need to laugh.

5. Chickens learn to trust you. We could pet most of our chickens. Especially Connor. We started petting them when they were just chicks and they learned to trust us.

6. “Pecking Order” is real. I’m still not certain how it works, but I have seen it in action. We have watched younger chicks go after chicks older than them and establish the “pecking order”. Amazing.

7. Eggs! And oh my gosh, the eggs. We have blue, white, brown and brown speckled. We have small, medium and large. I will tell you that going out to gather eggs and then coming in to cook a meal is the best “farm to table” ever. Fresh eggs are above and beyond what you will get in a grocery store and once you have had them, you will never go back!

In closing (as I shed tears for missing my babies), I will say that it was an honor for both of us to raise these magnificent creatures. They are beautiful, smart, caring animals and we are going to miss them. A lot!

#ilovemychickensbethemagicfarmlivingchickens