Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Poultry and Pets => Chicken Chat => Topic started by: R_A_W on November 07, 2010, 19:31
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I just wanted to start something so that we could share amusing stories about our feathery buddies. Here's a few things that mine do that make me chuckle...
When I go to let them out in the morning, I slide open the door to the sleeping area part of the coop, and they all come flying down the ramp at top speed because they're so happy to be outside! Sometimes they run so fast that they dont stop in time before they get to the netting and bump into the sides of the coop...ha
When I'm bringing them food and they know that it's something they really love (like tomatoes) they'll start jumping up at the netting the marks off their area of garden even though theres no way they could clear it. It's all a big flap and fuss!
Mildred made me laugh earlier when she was chasing after a fly for ages with her neck stretched out and her beak snapping, and then she trod in her water bowl, slipped, and then the whole thing turned over and soaked her feathery thighs and her legs and she squawked loudly.
Bless. If anyone's got some funny feathery stories I'd love to hear them!
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I think the funniest thing Ive seen is when one of my girls had a worm. She was determined that the others wouldnt get it so she bolted down to the bottom of the garden just like a rugby player, ball in hand going for the try. Ive never seen a chook run so fast it was amazing. Its at times like that, that I really miss my Mum.She died 5 years ago, but was a lover of the countryside, she lived in Devon. She also loved France. She loved chooks and had a great sense of humour. She would have laughed her socks off at some of the things they get up to.
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My mum was annoyed at my dad when he told her that he'd bought her some chickens. now she loves them and we talk and laugh about them constantly. They really are great characters!
The naughtiest one out of the three (Mildred) will ALWAYS try to snatch food from the other two. Even if she's got something herself, she'll drop whatever it is and snatch Bessie or Mildred's treat instead. Then she'll run off and when the others try to catch her, squawking out of the side of her beak as she runs!
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ha ha ha thats so funny my new girl speckeldy jim had a slug just this morn and the other 3 noticed and decided they wanted it they chased her all over but she ran into the pop up childrens tunnel thats in their run where philip and ginger dont go in but alice does she cornered her speckeldy jim jumped on her head and over her running again she ate her slug all to her self :)
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Seeing one run around the garden with a 6" length of cucumber looking like a green beaked Toucan is quite amusing. :)
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I like the way they seem to hitch up their skirts to break into a gallop when they see you coming.
I love the way they chatter to me when they get a treat. I go in to clean them out etc and they always join me and go into the Eglu. I talk to them through the egg port door :nowink: The neighbours probably think I'm barmy. Who cares :D
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I've just realised how dreadful my grammar was in the previous post, sorry about that.
My biggest girl (Gertie) once slipped down the side of the chicken coop and got stuck in between the coop netting and the wall. I don't know how long she had been there for but when I went out to them I could just see this brown blob mushed up against the wall, then she saw me and gave a little squeak as if to say "help! I'm stuck!"...No idea what she was doing up there in the first place...just being curious (as usual). I let her loose and she had a shake and a preen, she looked very happy indeed to be un-stuck!
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When one of my girls had a worm and the others wanted it, It is amazing how much a worm will strech when it is being pulled at from both ends.
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I always laugh when I put my hand near a broody hen and she puffs up like a basket ball, making her cross sounds. Then as soon I remove my hand the basket ball becomes a hen again and so on...Makes me laugh every time. ::)
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Every animal we've ever had has been mad & the chooks are keeping up the tradition!!
My little boy Polish Bantam is always taking food out of the girls mouths even though there is some right in front of him, the girls are daft enough to just stand there & let him take it. He also likes to peck at my shoes, hairbands if i have any around my wrist & most recently decided to try pecking my bottom as i was crouching down hand feeding them all!!
As soon as they all hear the back door open or hear me around the corner they appear from nowhere in sight to at my feet in a nano second,it's funny to watch and they look like they're all trying to outdo each other & about to fall over because of the speed. Then as soon as they get a treat they all run off to different places so the others can't get at it!!
My Light Sussex trots around the outside of the coop and run once or twice then charges full speed at whichever one she chooses,just before colliding into them she screeches to a halt, turns around and walks off!! ::)
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I've never seen a broody hen in real life before, only on youtube videos. Are they as cross as all that?
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Yes they are just so grumpy. However if you do ever have a broody hen just remember it is a hen and cannot really hurt you, maybe a vicious peck or scratch but nothing that would need a trip to A&E. Your pet dog or cat can do you far more damage.
:lol: :lol: :lol:
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I could never imagine my three getting all pecky. They've only ever tried to peck at my hair when I was digging them a hole so they could find worms!
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If you have hybrid hens then the likelihood of one of them going broody is very slim they have been bred to be egg machines not Mums! I've only ever had a few hybrids go broody in over 15 years of hen keeping. However Pekin Bantams and I believe many other pure breed hens go broody at the drop of a hat.
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In that case i may have a broody hen or few to look foward to in the future lol.
I forgot to add in my last post that my Light Sussex likes to stalk my cat. As soon as she spies the cat she runs up to the wire fence of their pen and follows the cat, stopping if she stops and standing really still which looks like she's pretending she's not really following her and something out of a bad detective film :lol:
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One of our hens jumps on OH's back when he leans into the coop to clean it out. Unfortunately she never does it when I have a camera to hand.
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I have no idea what type of hen mine are....they're just....brown. Any idea what type that is? :nowink:
I can tell them all apart though, they all have their individual character.
Why do they do the crouching thing when you go to pick them up?
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practically any hen with silkie in them will go broody (I have lots of silkie crosses and they go broody at the dop of an egg :lol:). Even the odd ex batt will go broody which I think is lovely considering their previous life :)
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sit on the kitchen windowsill looking into the kitchen, just in case we have some food for them. no point in closing the bottom half of the kitchen stable door, they get over, make sure the kitchen door is shut, before you let them into the garden, they can make it back into the kitchen before you do, and then finish the dogs food.
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yuck! dog food? that's hilarious!
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RAW the crouching thing is simply submitting to the cockerel/ dominant person for mating.
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I hope they don't think I want to mate with them. Mine do that all the time when I go to stroke them, especially Gertie! She always does a funny little tap-stamp dance before she crouches, like I've caught her off guard. Bless
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Tinker today, chasing Merlin up the path and trying to follow him through the cat flap and almost succeeding :lol:
She was most indignant when I laughed at her :lol: