Though this starts out with a loss, I promise it is not all about that!
I lost one of my little girls, Gremlin, on Thanksgiving Day. She was only about 15 weeks old, and of course I blamed myself for my choice to allow this small family, of now only 19, to free range. This incident has strengthened my love for my flock. I wanted to share some observations/lessons about chicken families in general.
For me, my chickens are their own little family. And they are my family. Every day they teach me something new.
When they peck at each other, I don’t always just think “Wow, they are so mean”. I believe there are other reasons they peck each other besides just establishing a “pecking order”. When Gremlin died, her two sisters, Thing One and Two, were treated very differently by the rest of the flock. The older ladies began staying in the barn all day, and they did their best to not let Thing 1/2 out. If they tried to leave, one of the teenagers would come running from far off in the yard and chase them, or peck them, to get them back inside. An hour before dark, they were not only allowed to go out, but were actually forced to! I have watched over the past month as Thing 1/2 have become very fast and strong as a result of this treatment. I think a hawk would have a difficult time capturing one of them. I know this treatment has made it harder for me to capture them!
Picture is of Gremlin in the center and Thing 1/2 on each side of her.
I have also noticed that a lot of pecking happens to baby chicks. I believe it is to teach them and to toughen them up. It is not mean. Some people say the mama’s turn on their babies at 5 weeks. I strongly disagree. We had a big wind storm come that was really scary. The long since “rejected” babies were eight or nine weeks old. Mama left her sisters sides, risked her life, ran over and got each baby, one or two at a time, and brought them to safety. She still watches them out of the corner of her eye. For 6 months, if I picked up one of her children, and they fussed about it, she would look over to check on them. I could see the slightest twitch in her body as she forced herself not to respond. Something your normal observer would never notice at all.
When any family member is taken away from a flock, they all notice and they all grieve at different levels. I constantly watch what my chicken family does! Even the loss of a family member that appears to be disliked by most (like the new baby Gremlin was), will disrupt the behavior of the flock for many weeks at a time. And often it changes it forever. This is no different than what happens in our own families…
Watching my flock amazes me, and I do everything in my power not to take away one of their family members. Can you imagine if someone watched your family and tried to make a determination on which members should go into the freezer? I’m guessing a lot of teenagers would get pretty cold.
The old ladies in my group play an important role in teaching the flock how to be the beautiful, perfectly imperfect family they are. They are wise and they are respected, even with their constant poopy butts and difficulty walking.
I have come to realize that the less we intervene in our chickens family dynamics, the better off they are. Now that doesn’t mean I wasn’t out in the scary storm also risking my life to help mama get the babies to safety! I am crazy about them.
I want one of every breed, so I try to find eggs of various breeds for a mama to hatch. This year I’m going to try putting live babies under my broody mama(s). While chickens are very smart, I’m glad they don’t recognize when they get a foreign baby. Like humans, they will pretty much love every baby you give them.
Pictures: One of each breed!
It is a dynamic of my chicken family that there will be one (two in very rare circumstances) of each breed. Some breeds we try not to take in - white is not the best choice for our free ranging family! It is also a dynamic that we will invite every hen into the family that needs a better home than the one they currently have - even if they are white! I am again reminded of the beauty in the human species.
Those of us who adore our chicken families have all watched as one of our girls cried out every evening for weeks, looking all around for her lost companion. Some may even be observant enough to notice an even more astonishing sound…
After Thing one had already spent two weeks looking for and crying out for her cherished little sister, she let out a cry that broke my heart. The mama hen in the house, certainly not broody on this fall day, responded with a sound I have never heard. More words in their large vocabulary! While I can only guess what it meant, it felt like “It’s time to let go, honey, she isn’t coming back.” Many in our human lives don’t acknowledge our pain because it makes them uncomfortable. Anyways, the next night, after Thing 1 was comforted as she so loudly expressed her pain, the sweet little doll finally gave up staying up late crying for her lost sister. That loss showed me the strength that this family has!
They sometimes appear to hate each other, often for many months or even years, but that doesn’t usually mean we need to change anything. They work it all out in time. If there is blood, we must intervene. After all, isn’t it exactly the same thing we do in our human families?
Well, that’s a glimpse of the family I support and spoil and love. I didn’t mention how rambunctious and carefree some of the teenagers are. I didn’t talk about my adorable, hysterical Houdan hen that has terrible anxiety. I didn’t talk about Earl who often gets a bit of a kick for making the old ladies cry. I didn’t talk about the new skittish old ladies that my girls are trying to welcome in because they needed a home where they were regularly given water. We all have our unique family members, and we are all quite imperfect!
So much goes into our chicken families and I’m guessing they are just as much alike, and just as much different, as human families. What a cherished part of the world those of us who nurture it get to take part in! I am going to keep watching my girls as often as I am able to, and I hope you do the same. They have so much to teach us! And what a joy it is to learn from them.
Picture: Their home “Dinosaur Village”
For additional information about spending more time with your chicken family, see this great article by Mountain Peeps:
Ten Reasons You Should Spend Ten Extra Minutes With Your Flock Every Day
If you need help with the grief of losing a chicken family member, here is a heartfelt article by jewel bird that may help you recover:
Loss and Grief: How to Say Good-Bye to Your Bird
I lost one of my little girls, Gremlin, on Thanksgiving Day. She was only about 15 weeks old, and of course I blamed myself for my choice to allow this small family, of now only 19, to free range. This incident has strengthened my love for my flock. I wanted to share some observations/lessons about chicken families in general.
For me, my chickens are their own little family. And they are my family. Every day they teach me something new.
When they peck at each other, I don’t always just think “Wow, they are so mean”. I believe there are other reasons they peck each other besides just establishing a “pecking order”. When Gremlin died, her two sisters, Thing One and Two, were treated very differently by the rest of the flock. The older ladies began staying in the barn all day, and they did their best to not let Thing 1/2 out. If they tried to leave, one of the teenagers would come running from far off in the yard and chase them, or peck them, to get them back inside. An hour before dark, they were not only allowed to go out, but were actually forced to! I have watched over the past month as Thing 1/2 have become very fast and strong as a result of this treatment. I think a hawk would have a difficult time capturing one of them. I know this treatment has made it harder for me to capture them!
Picture is of Gremlin in the center and Thing 1/2 on each side of her.
I have also noticed that a lot of pecking happens to baby chicks. I believe it is to teach them and to toughen them up. It is not mean. Some people say the mama’s turn on their babies at 5 weeks. I strongly disagree. We had a big wind storm come that was really scary. The long since “rejected” babies were eight or nine weeks old. Mama left her sisters sides, risked her life, ran over and got each baby, one or two at a time, and brought them to safety. She still watches them out of the corner of her eye. For 6 months, if I picked up one of her children, and they fussed about it, she would look over to check on them. I could see the slightest twitch in her body as she forced herself not to respond. Something your normal observer would never notice at all.
When any family member is taken away from a flock, they all notice and they all grieve at different levels. I constantly watch what my chicken family does! Even the loss of a family member that appears to be disliked by most (like the new baby Gremlin was), will disrupt the behavior of the flock for many weeks at a time. And often it changes it forever. This is no different than what happens in our own families…
Watching my flock amazes me, and I do everything in my power not to take away one of their family members. Can you imagine if someone watched your family and tried to make a determination on which members should go into the freezer? I’m guessing a lot of teenagers would get pretty cold.
The old ladies in my group play an important role in teaching the flock how to be the beautiful, perfectly imperfect family they are. They are wise and they are respected, even with their constant poopy butts and difficulty walking.
I have come to realize that the less we intervene in our chickens family dynamics, the better off they are. Now that doesn’t mean I wasn’t out in the scary storm also risking my life to help mama get the babies to safety! I am crazy about them.
I want one of every breed, so I try to find eggs of various breeds for a mama to hatch. This year I’m going to try putting live babies under my broody mama(s). While chickens are very smart, I’m glad they don’t recognize when they get a foreign baby. Like humans, they will pretty much love every baby you give them.
Pictures: One of each breed!
It is a dynamic of my chicken family that there will be one (two in very rare circumstances) of each breed. Some breeds we try not to take in - white is not the best choice for our free ranging family! It is also a dynamic that we will invite every hen into the family that needs a better home than the one they currently have - even if they are white! I am again reminded of the beauty in the human species.
Those of us who adore our chicken families have all watched as one of our girls cried out every evening for weeks, looking all around for her lost companion. Some may even be observant enough to notice an even more astonishing sound…
After Thing one had already spent two weeks looking for and crying out for her cherished little sister, she let out a cry that broke my heart. The mama hen in the house, certainly not broody on this fall day, responded with a sound I have never heard. More words in their large vocabulary! While I can only guess what it meant, it felt like “It’s time to let go, honey, she isn’t coming back.” Many in our human lives don’t acknowledge our pain because it makes them uncomfortable. Anyways, the next night, after Thing 1 was comforted as she so loudly expressed her pain, the sweet little doll finally gave up staying up late crying for her lost sister. That loss showed me the strength that this family has!
They sometimes appear to hate each other, often for many months or even years, but that doesn’t usually mean we need to change anything. They work it all out in time. If there is blood, we must intervene. After all, isn’t it exactly the same thing we do in our human families?
Well, that’s a glimpse of the family I support and spoil and love. I didn’t mention how rambunctious and carefree some of the teenagers are. I didn’t talk about my adorable, hysterical Houdan hen that has terrible anxiety. I didn’t talk about Earl who often gets a bit of a kick for making the old ladies cry. I didn’t talk about the new skittish old ladies that my girls are trying to welcome in because they needed a home where they were regularly given water. We all have our unique family members, and we are all quite imperfect!
So much goes into our chicken families and I’m guessing they are just as much alike, and just as much different, as human families. What a cherished part of the world those of us who nurture it get to take part in! I am going to keep watching my girls as often as I am able to, and I hope you do the same. They have so much to teach us! And what a joy it is to learn from them.
Picture: Their home “Dinosaur Village”
For additional information about spending more time with your chicken family, see this great article by Mountain Peeps:
Ten Reasons You Should Spend Ten Extra Minutes With Your Flock Every Day
If you need help with the grief of losing a chicken family member, here is a heartfelt article by jewel bird that may help you recover:
Loss and Grief: How to Say Good-Bye to Your Bird
