the ladies


We now have 14 chickens and 4 more coming in a month. My house is beginning to smell like a barn, but the coop is not done... not that that matters as the older chicks are not yet fully feathered, and it is too cold for them to live outside. I'm becoming impatient to get these chickens out of my house... mostly because they are escaping. A few days ago, when we got home, we did a quick head count and found that one chicken was missing. Our biggest bird, Gwendolyn, was hanging out in our laundry room. This is not the first time that Gwen has escaped. Chasing chickens around my house is not what I had envisioned when I agreed to this crazy scheme.



I have now completely gotten over my chicken phobia. Our birds are very friendly, and will hop right into our hands and snuggle down.


Chickens are strange animals. When we got our first brood, one was injured. The little fluffball baby chicks were going at the injured bird trying to peck it to death. We learned that this is normal. If chickens sense that one is weak or see blood, they will try to eliminate the weak bird. On the flip side, they all gather around our smallest bird, Mable, to keep her warm and safe. Frequently we have thought that Mable was missing, only to find her buried in the middle of the heap. She is always lovingly surrounded by these bigger birds.



When our first brood of chicks was a few days old, Alex was outside and saw a grasshopper. His first thought was, “I wonder what the chicks would do with that.” So he brings it in and drops it in the brooder. One chick notices it and pounces on it. Not realizing that none of the other chicks even saw it, she starts running with her beak holding this bug high in the air. Of course all the other chicks notice after that, and start chasing her in a fluffy mob. Eventually, the first chick is overrun by the mob, and as soon as another chick is able to get the grasshopper to herself, she starts running with the fluff mob tailing close behind, and the frenzy starts all over. It was like an idiotic game of capture the flag.


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