A Chicken Love Story 🐔❤🐔

[Joel Just Joel]

The four hens you see on the left in this photo formed a borderline weird broody clique about a month ago and are seen here snuggling atop five almost-newborn chicks. When they started this clique, there was one hen in the flock who was not interested in being broody: Carrot Top, the hen on the right in the nest box. While the Fantastic Four spent three weeks doing their interesting communal brooding thing over a dozen eggs, Carrot Top developed her own routine; she'd lay a morning egg, sit on it for a while, and then go hang out in the run with Fluff, the black mostly-Silkie rooster. Carrot Top and Fluff were so cute together! Day after day, all day long, they'd bond side-by-side in a way that made them seem monogamous. Meanwhile, we did what chicken ranchers do - we ate Carrot Top's fresh egg each day. She didn't seem to notice or care too much. Until the new chicks hatched, that is. It may be my imagination wanting to assign human characteristics to chickens, but it sure seemed like the four new mama hens began snubbing poor Carrot Top and disdaining her for her lack of chicks (think of Rebekah in the Old Testament). Having pity on Carrot Top, we temporarily suppressed our hunger for fresh eggs to see if she'd go broody. Indeed, she has! She's been lying on her egg (or plural eggs?) non-stop for several days now. Not only that, but Fluff seemed to be brooding with her last night when I took this photo! No kidding, he was just lying still with her, comforting her, and helping to keep her nest warm. No, he was not "doing the rooster dance", lest you ask. Compared to other roosters I've seen, Fluff continues to surprise me with his gentlemanly behavior. Any of you ever seen a broody rooster??

Same cute couple from a different angle:

And a photo for the chick lovers out there:

They all lived happily ever after.

The End

❤

 

[sourland]

Chickens/roosters do have their favorites.

 

[Joel Just Joel]

I just realized that this is a love story, not a fairy tale, and many good love stories contain tragedy. This story is no exception. A few days after I posted this story, everything changed when a loose neighborhood dog broke into the chicken coop. After the dust settled, MIA were 1 hen and 4 of our 5 itty bitty, 2-3 week old chicks. We were heartbroken and the chickens all were, too. They seemed to suffer chicken PTSD for almost a week and then developed a new routine: Fluff, the rooster, wanders about on guard duty more than ever, often near the one remaining chick, who is the spitting image of Dove, our white silkie who is the presumed mother hen. Thing One (gray silkie) is also usually nearby. Here they are today (side note: see new dog-resistant fence around the coop & inner run!):

Meanwhile, inside the hen house, Carrot Top continues to brood over her one and only egg (almost hidden by the shavings in this photo). We expect the egg to hatch any day now, Lord willing. While Carrot Top broods, Thing Two (another gray silkie) watches over her and keeps her company:

As far as I can tell, no one is being mean to Carrot Top any more, and I'm glad. Amazing how personal tragedy can change our perspective of others.

 

[MomJones]

The four hens you see on the left in this photo formed a borderline weird broody clique about a month ago and are seen here snuggling atop five almost-newborn chicks. When they started this clique, there was one hen in the flock who was not interested in being broody: Carrot Top, the hen on the right in the nest box. While the Fantastic Four spent three weeks doing their interesting communal brooding thing over a dozen eggs, Carrot Top developed her own routine; she'd lay a morning egg, sit on it for a while, and then go hang out in the run with Fluff, the black mostly-Silkie rooster. Carrot Top and Fluff were so cute together! Day after day, all day long, they'd bond side-by-side in a way that made them seem monogamous. Meanwhile, we did what chicken ranchers do - we ate Carrot Top's fresh egg each day. She didn't seem to notice or care too much. Until the new chicks hatched, that is. It may be my imagination wanting to assign human characteristics to chickens, but it sure seemed like the four new mama hens began snubbing poor Carrot Top and disdaining her for her lack of chicks (think of Rebekah in the Old Testament). Having pity on Carrot Top, we temporarily suppressed our hunger for fresh eggs to see if she'd go broody. Indeed, she has! She's been lying on her egg (or plural eggs?) non-stop for several days now. Not only that, but Fluff seemed to be brooding with her last night when I took this photo! No kidding, he was just lying still with her, comforting her, and helping to keep her nest warm. No, he was not "doing the rooster dance", lest you ask. Compared to other roosters I've seen, Fluff continues to surprise me with his gentlemanly behavior. Any of you ever seen a broody rooster??

View attachment 3086553

Same cute couple from a different angle:

View attachment 3086595

And a photo for the chick lovers out there:

View attachment 3086601

They all lived happily ever after.

The End

❤

I love this story! It's pretty unique too. Thanks for sharing with us

 

[Buckingham Palace]

This is adorable. Roosters can be such
Sweeties. I'm glad carrot-top is doing good and I can't wait to see her chick. I'm so sorry for your loss.

 

[Joel Just Joel]

Family update: Here are photos of Carrot Top, her baby whom we've named "Fluff Lite" and Fluff, the father. They make a cute family!

Carrot Top and the other bantam hens are getting along fine now and sharing the brooding duty over about 20 new eggs. We're letting their sub-flock grow since we'll get plenty of eggs from our 17 new barred rock hens in a few months.

 

[Sally PB]

What a lovey story, even with its tragic chapter.