Identity-Confused Chickens
chrellis
think they are cats. Well today I heard a strange noise at my back
door. It sounded kind of like a meow but not quite. I looked out and
a Barred Rock was rubbing its side back and forth pacing against the
door just like the cat does when it's begging for scraps, and it was
the hen making the strange meow-like noise. Are chickens really that
smart? It worked. I immediately returned with some old bread.
Twice this week when I've gone to gather the eggs, I've found the
kitten curled up in one of the nests of the ten nest unit. If the
kitten actually hatches some eggs, I'm going to flip : )
Christa
Lila Chapman
Yes, I truly believe chickens have intelligence beyond what they are given
credit for. It may be natural instinct, but they are wonderful creatures.
We have found that animals develop a relationship with those who raise them.
If you have little contact with the animals, they just do their thing. If
you pay attention to them and have a special relationship with them, they
respond accordingly.
We have a rooster named Pip. He was hatched at Woodland Park Zoo in
Seattle, along with eight other eggs from our farm. All nine eggs hatched.
The process was recorded and the video plays in their farm exhibit at the
zoo. They all came to live at our farm after they were fully feathered.
Pip and two of the hens are still alive. They are seven+ years old. Pip
thinks he is a dog. He comes when called, loves to be picked up, petted and
will coo. At our Harvest Farm Tour this fall our 4-H kids had placed Pip on
a display table with a Silkie hen and a Plymouth Barred Rock cockerel they
hatched this year. Those three had the crowd laughing hysterically. The
three of them started posing for photos. When one would pose, the other
would turn their head and pose as if to say, "it's my turn to have my
picture taken".
Our first rooster literally save the life of his hens and me. One summer
after noon, I was cleaning the chicken coop. All of a sudden, Rusty let out
a blood curdling crow that I had never heard before. The hens were way out
on pasture. They all put their wings back, they heads forward and started
running toward the coop as fast as their little legs could carry them. No
more than five seconds after they were in the safety of the coop, the first
rain drop fell and then hail the size of golf balls covering the entire
area. The ground was white like snow within seconds. Our small sheep tent
was totally destroyed. Our new little ewe lambs were all huddled along the
eves of the barn where the sheep tent once stood. I watched in total
amazement seeing nature at it's greatest. The hail wiped out an entire
field of corn across the road from our farm; there were just stocks with no
corn attached after the hail storm. The instinct of that one rooster was
totally amazing.
Lila
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Bill Brier
>If you pay attention to them (chickens) and have a special relationship >with them, they respond accordingly.
--------------
How do you develop a special relationship with girls that don't seem to want one? In all my years of growing up, I've never had such a problem (until now). As proof, I've successfully proposed (then married) three times -- so there you go.
Right now I have three girls, three months old. (Cochin, Ameraucana, and leghorn). I give them loving attention everyday by ringing a bell, and when they scamper up, I feed them juicy morsels from my hand while murmuring sweet nothings, but whenever I try to pick them up they always hightail it outta there.
Please help.
-Signed, spurned (bill in So. Cal).
P.S. Don't even ask what it's like trying to get them in their hen-house if necessary.
--------------
--- On Wed, 12/16/09, Lila Chapman <costu...@verizon.net> wrote:
Lisa
sees or hears me. She LOVES grapes, will eat out of my hand and
follows me all around chatting and carrying on. She is by far the
most vocal of all my chickens, but if I try to pet her or, god forbid,
pick her up she gets all excited and moves away. I don't understand
either.
On Dec 16, 11:36 am, Bill Brier <billbr...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> >If you pay attention to them (chickens) and have a special relationship >with them, they respond accordingly.
>
> --------------
>
> How do you develop a special relationship with girls that don't seem to want one? In all my years of growing up, I've never had such a problem (until now). As proof, I've successfully proposed (then married) three times -- so there you go.
>
> Right now I have three girls, three months old. (Cochin, Ameraucana, and leghorn). I give them loving attention everyday by ringing a bell, and when they scamper up, I feed them juicy morsels from my hand while murmuring sweet nothings, but whenever I try to pick them up they always hightail it outta there.
>
> Please help.
>
> -Signed, spurned (bill in So. Cal).
>
> P.S. Don't even ask what it's like trying to get them in their hen-house if necessary.
> --------------
>
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> - Show quoted text -
Trae Dever
I hear leghorns are particularly excitable.
Bill Brier
-bill
--- On Wed, 12/16/09, Trae Dever <tr...@dever.us> wrote:
Jamie Johnson
links I find easy. Ameraucana I found to be skiddish. I hold and
walk around with the ones I like. I think chickens show
good intelligence is some areas.
Jane Rutzler
| I think you are probably correct Trae, It isn't really natural for them to be handled, I think it depends on the disposition of the particular bird... There always seems to be one that comes running like a dog, maybe even gets used to the name you give it...I think all animals (and birds) are smarter than we humans give credit for but I also think that like humans, there is different degrees of intelligence. Not all chickens can be "tamed", or conditioned to like what is not natural for them. I am thinking the larger the number of birds you have the greater the chance you will find one or more that actually seems to like petting..if not picking up...maybe if they get used to you scratching them under the wing (a favorite itchy spot) they will come to expect it ...(conditioning..but then maybe some of them have a limit to what they will "allow" if only by instinct...) Jane |
--- On Wed, 12/16/09, Trae Dever <tr...@dever.us> wrote: |
Jane Rutzler
| And Bantams...seem to have a wild streak...but I found the Arauncans to be very quiet and easy...and those Love-able Buff Orphingtons...Anoter one that is gentle and quiet ("tameable") is the Black Australorp's --- On Wed, 12/16/09, Jamie Johnson <wojo3...@yahoo.com> wrote: |
|
|
Karen
handled from babyhood tend to be more tame no matter what breed. This year
I let foster moms raise the chicks and all of them grew up to be pretty
wild, even the buff orps.
Also, different birds like different kinds of attention. My barred rock
loved to be held but hated to have my hand underneath her -- which usually
calms the other birds down. Some like to roost on my hand, others calm down
only with the hand-under-body hold. Right now my friendliest chickens are
the Jersey Giant roosters, although I don't know if they like me to pet them
or just don't move fast enough to get away :)
Karen in MT
Jane Rutzler
| I agree..and that is true of most animals... --- On Wed, 12/16/09, Karen <kscho...@q.com> wrote: |
|
|
|
Trae Dever
Jane Rutzler wrote:
chrellis
they come running as soon as anyone goes outside. They follow us
around the yard, almost tripping us sometimes. They will eat out of
our hands, but none of them will let my husband, 3 of the kids, or
myself pick them up. However, my 5-year-old can pick up just about
any of them, and they will let her hold them in her lap and pet them
like a small furry animal. Maybe it does have something to do with
towering over them (as I think someone else stated). Maybe my
daughter is short enough not to be intimidating to the birds. I do
have one broody hen that will let me pet her. She spends most of her
day in the nest box. When I go to collect the eggs, I just gently pet
the back of her head with one hand while reaching under her with the
other to grab the eggs. She lets out a little squawk at me for
stealing the eggs but never tries to peck me or attack. She stays
right on the nest (with one golf ball remaining) even after I take the
eggs. I'm going to see if I can get her to hatch some chicks in the
spring. I'm always stooped down to her level when I pet her because
the ceiling in that part of the chicken coop is only about 4 ft. So
again I'm not towering over her. Maybe it's easier to develop a
relationship with the birds if you crawl to them : )
Christa
Jane Rutzler
| I think your are right, Christa, I think towering over them is the problem, because if you do crouch down smaller they will let you pet them. Ours do.. that too..come running..all 2-0-25 of them across the yard to see what goodies you might have... Some flocks we have had only a few that will do that, and other flocks, the whole flock will come to you....they especially Love it in the summer when you are turning over a patch of dirt..they just KNOW there will be worms! I Love how they can clean out the squash beetles...(and larva) --- On Wed, 12/16/09, chrellis <chre...@hotmail.com> wrote: |
Cristy
talking about tame chickens that put up with human nonsense....
http://picasaweb.google.com/cristyanspach/Parade#
From our little town's Christmas Parade last weekend - my kids were
part of the 4H float.
My son Joe's "Henny" rode Rocket the Goat for the whole length of the
parade.
:)
Chris Squires
(eons ago) I had a flock of RI Reds and they were like feathered dogs.
We had a rooster named "Big Bird" who used to bring two or three of his
ladies with him and perch on our front step railing (we had a little
porch there, and a porch light). At night, when all the other chickens
were in the coop, I'd sometimes open the door, look out, gather up him
and his favored ladies, and carry them through the house and out the
back door to put them in the coop out back (my mother was very tolerant
of my critter habit). I caught my mother, and my aunt, playing with
this bird and fussing over him. He was so tame, and a real
sweetheart. Part of my flocks' tameness may have come from my
frequently fussing over them and handling them as baby chicks, and every
bit of attention made them tamer.
One summer we let a friend babysit critters for a couple of weeks. He
loved to take Big Bird under his arm, and in two weeks had taught the
rooster to stay perfectly still while wielded like some sort of
bug-eating power-tool. Our friend could hold that rooster upside down
and show it the Japanese beetles hiding under the bean plant leaves in
our garden. Normally chickens were not allowed inside the garden
fence. This training just made Big Bird tamer -- he looked forward to
being picked up, carried into the garden, and allowed to gobble lots and
lots of juicy bugs!
When not being carried around by human assistants, fed bugs, or fussed
over in general, Big Bird went to 4H shows and won blue ribbons for
me. I think the diet high in bugs helped him look really healthy, and
of course he was just the friendliest, perkiest bird and lovely for the
judges to handle.
I still recommend RI Reds to people who just want a few friendly birds.
Can't go wrong with them. Except that now, as an adult, I want more of
a challenge!
Chris
Little Biddy Farm
Jane Rutzler wrote:
> And Bantams...seem to have a wild streak...but I found the Arauncans
> to be very quiet and easy...and those Love-able Buff
> Orphingtons...Anoter one that is gentle and quiet ("tameable") is the
> Black Australorp's
>
> --- On *Wed, 12/16/09, Jamie Johnson /<wojo3...@yahoo.com>/* wrote:
>
>
> From: Jamie Johnson <wojo3...@yahoo.com>
> Subject: [Grass-Fed-Eggs] 1301 Re: 1296 Special Relationship With
> Your Chickens
> To: "Grass-Fed Eggs" <grass-f...@googlegroups.com>
> Date: Wednesday, December 16, 2009, 11:58 AM
>
> Some chickens are harder to "humanize" than others. Barred Rocks, Sex
> links I find easy. Ameraucana I found to be skiddish. I hold and
> walk around with the ones I like. I think chickens show
> good intelligence is some areas.
>
> --
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