I have a couple of behavior questions. Does anyone else have very curious Black Australorps? Mine will investigate anything and everything. They also seem to be the protectors of the flock. Once I had a flock of wild turkeys go through my backyard. All of the Australorps where at the edge of the backyard checking out the turkeys and sounding the alarm. I also have one White Bearded Silkie and she is ALWAYS the last to show up for treats, the last to come up to investigate, the last to join the flock. It seems as though she is a bit "slow in the head" so I named her Dim... ... poor thing. I was just wondering if anyone has experienced either of these behaviors in their Black Australorps and White Bearded Silkies. Any thoughts, stories, comments would be much appreciated!
Our Black Australorp (Lucy) taught the Isa Browns (Gabby is pictured, but Dot and Phoenix had a go too) to do this... so, yeah I would say they are curious - the herb garden wasn't touched before the australorp came along
My BA is very single-minded when she free ranges. She'll scratch the ground in a single area, intensely looking for insects or insect eggs (or whatever else is so darn interesting in the ground). And wherever she's working, that day, she will still be heads down there, long after the other girls get tired and move to another area. If I have a treat to give, the others hear it & rush at me immediately, but she's oblivious. I nearly always have to search for her and round her up. Usually, when I do find her and shake the cup of seeds, she looks up rather dazed. She LOVES seeds, too, but initially seems reluctant to walk away from her "patch". I have to talk to her & coax her to come. She is a fabulous egg layer - every day a nice big egg, so far. One day, she even laid 2 eggs, within 3 hours! She's a big, strong bird, just not the top of the pecking order. She is not the flock protector, because she get so caught up and riveted on one thing.
I have one BA, 2 EE's and 2 red stars about 25 weeks old. The red stars are laying, no one else is. I have been working on my tractor, winter proofing it, for the last few days. My red stars come over when they see me to see if I have any treats. The EE's ignore me unless they think the red stars are getting treats. My BA will come over and stay for long periods of time, talking to me, watching me secure plastic to the run, pecking at what I am working on to see if it's edible. It's adorable. Then I will grab her up, put her in my lap and she will stay for looong periods of time letting me pet her. She loves to have the top of her head rubbed by her comb. It makes her close her eyes and trill. Soooo sweet.
Silkies aren't necessarily slow-minded, sometimes they just can't see. The prettiest ones in my flock are the bearded ones with large crests. But you can see them struggling to peek out under their feathers to find treats. i have on occasion clipped the feathers right over their eyes so they can see a little better. i don't keep my silkies with my larger birds, my Red Stars and EE. If i did, they would never get treats.
