The Spoiled Chickens

My chickens think every time I go out there, I’m supposed to have a treat for them. Even if I’m walking towards the edge of the fence to turn on a water faucet in our yard, they think I’m coming to bring them something, which makes me feel bad if I don’t so I have to find something for them . . a treat . . every time I walk near the chicken yard.

Remember not too long ago when so many of them were molting and they were looking kinda naked? They all have beautiful feathers now. There always seems to be one or two with amazing personalities. This is one of them. She’s so funny.

She’s the first one to come up to me. She follows me around, will come inside the greenhouse with me and always looks like she wants to tell me a secret.

This is one of my favorite chickens. She’s a mix of the Dominique rooster and one of my old red hens that I don’t have any more. She has just a little bit of red on her head and neck. She isn’t very friendly – not mean but just not friendly. She’s not a hen I could ever hold or pet.

We have two different black and white hens. The one on the left is a Dominique hen and she has a barred pattern. The one on the right is a Cuckoo Marans. She’s more grayish black and her color pattern is more random whereas the Dominique would be probably more uniform. Neither of those two breeds are terribly friendly either. Again, not aggressive but not friend.

Our only rooster on that side is a Dominque rooster, Wilbur, and he’s the sweetest rooster ever. I can reach down and pet him when he walks buy . . kinda like Cat. Can’t pick him up, wouldn’t try but he’s a good old boy.

Here’s a sad story for you. The mama chicken hatches the eggs and she sticks to those babies like glue . . for almost exactly two months and when she’s done with them . . she is done! It breaks their little hearts and it breaks mine too. They try to follow her around and she runs off and leaves them. All they want is just a little attention from her but no . . she is DONE!

In those first two months, the mama sleeps in the nesting box with the babies but she she’s done . . she’s up on the roost with the other chickens and the babies are in the nesting box by themselves. They chirp and they try to get on the roost with her but she squeezes in amongst the other chickens so there’s no room for them. She can be mean to them if they don’t leave her alone. It’s a sad day for them and for me because I just can’t imagine how it breaks their little chicken hearts for her to act that way. They’re probably wondering what on earth they’ve done to aggravate her . . it’s just nature. I guess if she didn’t do that, they’d be grown hens still hanging on to mama.

Soon they’ll forget about her  . . I guess. It’s day 3 now since they’ve been abandoned and they were doing better yesterday. Last night it got cold but not cold enough to turn the heat on the coop. I kept thinking about them and hoping they were ok.

In the picture above, you can see how much lighter that one is than the other one. Baby chicks are so cute!