3 Things if Chickens Could Talk - 'You are SO NOT in my Club'

We love Chickens.  And each and every one has a unique personality.  Here are 3 things we have learned that they say over and over again in their unique way.

What we hear them say........

Bossy Chickens

'You are SO not in my club'   Chickens come with temperaments and unique personalities that  they  keep for their lives.   So you have the nice ones, the meek ones, the ones who always tattle on everyone.  The ones who sulk and yell 'no fair'.  And the ones who just go their own way.   In a yard.. just like a school yard, chickens establish a order of who is in charge.  They also establish where each chicken sits (literally) in the hen pecked hierarchy.    NOTHING disrupts a yard as much as introducing a new chicken or a group of chickens.  The hierarcy is most noticeable when it comes to going into the coop (or clubhouse as we call it) at night.  The established hens go in first and sit in their same boxes.  Then the rest in the proper order.  We have to catch the new hens and force them in for the first few days  and the noise in the coop when we close the door is loud and hysterical for at least a week.   Older in charge hens never really accept the new club members and distinct clicks form in the yard.

We have some that hide their eggs

'I took a road less traveled'   Our favorite hens are the misfits.  Well misfit is the wrong word.. These are the ones that just dont' follow the general path and certainly not the rules.  Most hens absolutely love a routine.  They want to get up, go out of the coop, work their way around the yard, roost in the same spot go back into the coop in a particular order, sit in the same box and get irritated at the same other hens the exact same way day after day.  But then there are the loners.  They go in and out of the coop when they will, they lay eggs during different hours whenever they like (unlike our 'normal hens' who lay nightly in the same roosting box).  Our loners will lay outside  in hidey spots.  They roost in many different locations during the day almost as if they are always trying to get a different view on world things.

You know you are loved when.....

'No REALLY
I like you best'
From time to time a chicken will decide that they just love you.. or the dog or a particular other hen.  From then on every time they see the object of their affection they will come running.  They want to sit on your lap, or peck right beside you as you dig or sit on or follow around the dog.  Just watching it is abundantly clear that all is good in the world and there is love.

More about our chickens here  and here.

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