brendaanddaveriley
In the Brooder
- May 11, 2020
- 38
- 91
- 43
I’m writing this story because after I told it to my daughter, she couldn’t stop laughing out loud and told me I needed to share this story with all my chicken enthusiast friends. So here it is!
We bought Matilda the Marans three days ago as a companion to our teenager rooster Mario. Mario’s brother, Big Boy had decided to be too mean to him so Mario got his own coop but he was lonely. So being the soft hearted chicken mama that I am, I decided to buy him a lady friend to keep him company and when he was just a month or two older she could be his mate.
I was amazed at how gentle and calm Matilda the Marans was as I held her in my lap in the car to take her to her new home. Yes, I had forgotten a cage, but I had a small tub in my lap with my hands gently patting her and singing “Waltzing Matilda” softly to her all the way home. She was very calm and quite interested in watching out the window at things going by.
We got Matilda the Marans home to her new little coop all by herself and let her settle in with plenty of fresh water and layer feed and a few raisins for a treat. She settled right in.
We let two days go by and then decided to let Mario, Big Boy, and Ms. Scrappy out to free range and meet Matilda through the wire. Oh and by the way Mario by this time had made up with his brother and they were back in the same coop with our little hen, Ms. Scrappy. So we did and all three went up to Matilda’s wire cooing and clucking softly, and Big Boy (not Mario) started doing his little side step dance for Matilda. Off and on all day the three would wander off and then come back and visit with Ms. Matilda. Matilda pleasantly cooed and clucked back at them, so I thought so far so good!
This morning I decided to let my trio of marans out to free range and while they were distracted elsewhere I would open Matilda the Marans coop door to see if she wanted to join them. She wandered just verily out of her coop and my trio of marans came over to greet her. It went well of about 2 minutes, then Big Boy decided he wanted more and Matilda wasn’t having any of it. Looked like a cock fight, but Matilda backed down and ran for it. Big Boy gave chase but we stood back to see what would happen. Big Boy was a gentleman after Matilda squatted down. Big Boy didn’t try to mount her but instead he did his courtship dance and then they all went on their way. It was going beautifully UNTIL the skys opened up and a deluge insued. My trio of marans ran to get under the truck and poor Miss Matilda the Marans just stood at the back of her little coop like she didn’t know what to do. So me being the good chicken mama I was, I ran out in the deluge to rescue her and put her back into her dry coop. If I had jumped into a swimming pool I wouldn’t have gotten that wet. Nevertheless, Matilda the Marans was safe and somewhere she could dry out. I decided that the trio who were used to their home would be fine, so I went into the house to dry off and dry out! LOL The trio put themselves up in their coop so we shut their door and let them dry out.
Three hours later the sky was clear and it was sunny. So we decided to just let Ms Mitilda the Marans out to see if she would choose to go visit the trio and perhaps the merging of the four would be settled. BIG MISTAKE! To explain I have to tell you we have another coop in the back of the field with 10 Black Jersey Giant pullets and it has ½ of the fenced in orchard as their run. I decided to open up a large can of tuna fish that I had, that was slightly outdated, and divide it up between my 14 chicken babies. Yeah, I know I’m spoiling ‘em rotten but what ya gonna do! LOL So I put Ms. Matilda the Marans tuna just out side her door and opened her door up. She dug right in, and I thought “So far so good!” Then I put my trio of marans tuna inside their coop and left the door closed. I thought “That will keep all four of them busy for awhile and then they can visit through the wire". So I walked out to the back coop to give my Black Jersey Giant pullets their tuna as a treat. That done, I walked back to the house only to find Ms Matilda the Marans no where to be found and her tuna was not finished. Panic stricken, I thought, “Where could she be? Did something get her?” I looked around, under, and beside everything and anything. Not a trace of her. By this time it’s not just dry and sunny, but has gotten very hot and muggy! I look up and all the sudden I see her all the way in the back field, at the orchard fence. I thought, “How in the world and why did she leave her tuna fish and go way back there?” So I go to get her.
Now, I’m not completely decrepit but I’m not a spring chicken either. So anyway, I trot back to the orchard to shoo her back up towards the house. Yeah right! She wasn’t having any of it. She was determined to go see these chickens in the back field and they seemed to be just as curious about her as all ten of them had come to visit her through the fence. So I thought well I’m not going to be breeding any of them until spring so if she wants to just be back here with the ladies for now I would let her and she wouldn’t be able to stray to far. Well she didn’t wait for me to put her in the coop or run and was just determined she was going past me to where she wanted to go no matter what I did. She even fluffed her feathers up and brocked brocked brocked really loudly basically chicken cussing me out! LOL
Well long story short I chased that little stinker all over the back field behind the fenced in orchard and I couldn’t catch her for nothing! The humidity and heat was getting to me so I decided I’d have to go back to the house and get the bird net and enlist my husband to help me catch her as she was now in the tall grass of my neighbor’s yard who has a rather nasty little jack russle terrier. I started back towards the orchard coop where I had a chair but I didn’t know if I was even going to make it that far. I’ll see if I can write the gasping sound I was making but not sure if I can describe it adequately. Something like HAW HE HO HAW, HE HO HAW, HE HO! I made it to the chair by the coop, halfway to the house. I had to sit down before I passed out, and I thought, “My husband’s gonna find me out here dead and never know that Matilda the Marans was the one who killed done me! I didn’t think I was even gonna catch my breath before I killed over!
After about 10 minutes, I was finally about to collect myself and get back to the house. I walked into the living room where hubby was asleep in his recliner. By then I was out of breath all over again so it sounded something like this. Dav HAW HAW id, HAW HAW, hen out HAW HAW, ran off, HAW HAW, neighbor’s yard, HAW HAW, afraid dog, HAW HAW, need help, HAW HAW. Yeah it’s hilarious now but at the time I was not laughing!
Well the story ends with us netting Ms Matilda the Marans and adding her to my pullets coop where she proceeded to boss them all around but no bad dust ups, and that’s where she’s gonna stay so she don’t kill me running after her!!!! She’s a sweet hen but very very determined. She’s a little bossy with my pullets but wouldn’t you be too if you had to live with 10 teenagers! LOL Hope this long story made you laugh as much as my daughter did when I told it to her, but it loses a little when it’s written on paper vs spoken. I love my chicken babies but WOW are they ever gonna get me in shape or kill me one! LOL
Update: My husband David said we need to rename Matilda the Marans to Madea! LOL
We bought Matilda the Marans three days ago as a companion to our teenager rooster Mario. Mario’s brother, Big Boy had decided to be too mean to him so Mario got his own coop but he was lonely. So being the soft hearted chicken mama that I am, I decided to buy him a lady friend to keep him company and when he was just a month or two older she could be his mate.
I was amazed at how gentle and calm Matilda the Marans was as I held her in my lap in the car to take her to her new home. Yes, I had forgotten a cage, but I had a small tub in my lap with my hands gently patting her and singing “Waltzing Matilda” softly to her all the way home. She was very calm and quite interested in watching out the window at things going by.
We got Matilda the Marans home to her new little coop all by herself and let her settle in with plenty of fresh water and layer feed and a few raisins for a treat. She settled right in.
We let two days go by and then decided to let Mario, Big Boy, and Ms. Scrappy out to free range and meet Matilda through the wire. Oh and by the way Mario by this time had made up with his brother and they were back in the same coop with our little hen, Ms. Scrappy. So we did and all three went up to Matilda’s wire cooing and clucking softly, and Big Boy (not Mario) started doing his little side step dance for Matilda. Off and on all day the three would wander off and then come back and visit with Ms. Matilda. Matilda pleasantly cooed and clucked back at them, so I thought so far so good!
This morning I decided to let my trio of marans out to free range and while they were distracted elsewhere I would open Matilda the Marans coop door to see if she wanted to join them. She wandered just verily out of her coop and my trio of marans came over to greet her. It went well of about 2 minutes, then Big Boy decided he wanted more and Matilda wasn’t having any of it. Looked like a cock fight, but Matilda backed down and ran for it. Big Boy gave chase but we stood back to see what would happen. Big Boy was a gentleman after Matilda squatted down. Big Boy didn’t try to mount her but instead he did his courtship dance and then they all went on their way. It was going beautifully UNTIL the skys opened up and a deluge insued. My trio of marans ran to get under the truck and poor Miss Matilda the Marans just stood at the back of her little coop like she didn’t know what to do. So me being the good chicken mama I was, I ran out in the deluge to rescue her and put her back into her dry coop. If I had jumped into a swimming pool I wouldn’t have gotten that wet. Nevertheless, Matilda the Marans was safe and somewhere she could dry out. I decided that the trio who were used to their home would be fine, so I went into the house to dry off and dry out! LOL The trio put themselves up in their coop so we shut their door and let them dry out.
Three hours later the sky was clear and it was sunny. So we decided to just let Ms Mitilda the Marans out to see if she would choose to go visit the trio and perhaps the merging of the four would be settled. BIG MISTAKE! To explain I have to tell you we have another coop in the back of the field with 10 Black Jersey Giant pullets and it has ½ of the fenced in orchard as their run. I decided to open up a large can of tuna fish that I had, that was slightly outdated, and divide it up between my 14 chicken babies. Yeah, I know I’m spoiling ‘em rotten but what ya gonna do! LOL So I put Ms. Matilda the Marans tuna just out side her door and opened her door up. She dug right in, and I thought “So far so good!” Then I put my trio of marans tuna inside their coop and left the door closed. I thought “That will keep all four of them busy for awhile and then they can visit through the wire". So I walked out to the back coop to give my Black Jersey Giant pullets their tuna as a treat. That done, I walked back to the house only to find Ms Matilda the Marans no where to be found and her tuna was not finished. Panic stricken, I thought, “Where could she be? Did something get her?” I looked around, under, and beside everything and anything. Not a trace of her. By this time it’s not just dry and sunny, but has gotten very hot and muggy! I look up and all the sudden I see her all the way in the back field, at the orchard fence. I thought, “How in the world and why did she leave her tuna fish and go way back there?” So I go to get her.
Now, I’m not completely decrepit but I’m not a spring chicken either. So anyway, I trot back to the orchard to shoo her back up towards the house. Yeah right! She wasn’t having any of it. She was determined to go see these chickens in the back field and they seemed to be just as curious about her as all ten of them had come to visit her through the fence. So I thought well I’m not going to be breeding any of them until spring so if she wants to just be back here with the ladies for now I would let her and she wouldn’t be able to stray to far. Well she didn’t wait for me to put her in the coop or run and was just determined she was going past me to where she wanted to go no matter what I did. She even fluffed her feathers up and brocked brocked brocked really loudly basically chicken cussing me out! LOL
Well long story short I chased that little stinker all over the back field behind the fenced in orchard and I couldn’t catch her for nothing! The humidity and heat was getting to me so I decided I’d have to go back to the house and get the bird net and enlist my husband to help me catch her as she was now in the tall grass of my neighbor’s yard who has a rather nasty little jack russle terrier. I started back towards the orchard coop where I had a chair but I didn’t know if I was even going to make it that far. I’ll see if I can write the gasping sound I was making but not sure if I can describe it adequately. Something like HAW HE HO HAW, HE HO HAW, HE HO! I made it to the chair by the coop, halfway to the house. I had to sit down before I passed out, and I thought, “My husband’s gonna find me out here dead and never know that Matilda the Marans was the one who killed done me! I didn’t think I was even gonna catch my breath before I killed over!
After about 10 minutes, I was finally about to collect myself and get back to the house. I walked into the living room where hubby was asleep in his recliner. By then I was out of breath all over again so it sounded something like this. Dav HAW HAW id, HAW HAW, hen out HAW HAW, ran off, HAW HAW, neighbor’s yard, HAW HAW, afraid dog, HAW HAW, need help, HAW HAW. Yeah it’s hilarious now but at the time I was not laughing!
Well the story ends with us netting Ms Matilda the Marans and adding her to my pullets coop where she proceeded to boss them all around but no bad dust ups, and that’s where she’s gonna stay so she don’t kill me running after her!!!! She’s a sweet hen but very very determined. She’s a little bossy with my pullets but wouldn’t you be too if you had to live with 10 teenagers! LOL Hope this long story made you laugh as much as my daughter did when I told it to her, but it loses a little when it’s written on paper vs spoken. I love my chicken babies but WOW are they ever gonna get me in shape or kill me one! LOL
Update: My husband David said we need to rename Matilda the Marans to Madea! LOL
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