Would that every chicken had a living arrangement like you have set up! I thoroughly enjoyed the read. Your writing is high-quality and the way you phrase things is much more accurate than I could ever manage.
While very kind of you to say, it's not really true. You've written some good articles. Part of the difference is you neither have the time or the climate for observation. Also, yourself and other people set out to keep chickens with a completely different objective. I was fortunate in that the people who got the chickens in the first place lost interest in them quite rapidly. They were more work than expected and less friendly than required.
I was able, with a bit of arm twisting, to make the set up so I could do such studies. It is actually quite a lot of work. 6 coops that need cleaning at least once a week, plus the maternity units, supervised feeding and of course keeping my house reasonably clean is a bit of a nightmare.
Most of all, it's climate. I wouldn't be doing this in sub zero temps.
I was able, with a bit of arm twisting, to make the set up so I could do such studies. It is actually quite a lot of work. 6 coops that need cleaning at least once a week, plus the maternity units, supervised feeding and of course keeping my house reasonably clean is a bit of a nightmare.
Most of all, it's climate. I wouldn't be doing this in sub zero temps.