Chicken entertainment

I’ve got chickens : 1 huge black and white speckled rooster, 7 red brown hens and 1 white one.

5 hens are quite happy to stroll along with the rooster looking for stones and green juicy weed. 1 is an explorer and ventures quite far from the group. I always have to look out for her when I close the henhouse at night as I want to be sure she is safe.

The white one is very different. First, I was told that it was a fully grown small variety and I believed it, as I do not know anything about these animals. After a few days, it is clear that this is a young chuck that needs a lot of tenderness and friendship. She probably was some children’s pet.

I was very worried about her as she was sneezing a lot the first day. Life in a big garden and the abundance of food is making her stronger and she is learning a lot from the others : how to pick stones, sharpen her beak, fetch insects.

As she is different and the smallest one, she is dominated by the others. She has a lot of personality though and each day she is less afraid of them.

Whenever I am in the back of the garden, she comes towards me, stands at my feet talking all the time or just having a rest in my shadow. She loves to be caressed or sleep on my lap.

The rooster is not happy with our relationship. He sometimes looks jealously at me, but does recognize I am the bigger and doesn’t argue. After all, I’m the one supplying food.

1 of the red brown hens has got a lame foot and therefore also low in the picking order. Her handicap is not bothering her too much. She is using her wings to keep balance when needed. It looks like she is becoming friends with the white one and sometimes joins her in greeting me.

All in all, I never knew this would be so much fun.

Next spring, they will start giving eggs. Well fed hens supply an egg each day. That’ll be a lot eggs.