M
Member 482121
Guest
I talked to the TSC folks this morning. I told them not to have replacement chicks shipped. I just don't need the tension and stress, and the chicks don't need to be subjected to this kind of treatment. Besides, 45 (if they all survive) are already a goodly number, and I have had 15 eggs from my own hens in the incubator for about a week. We'll see if Elvis (my rooster) has been doing his job well. He sure appears to be a sex maniac. He's meaner than ever to me and other guys, and a pussycat around my wife, whom he even lets pet him. But the day he attacks her, he will meet dumplings in my big kettle...
You know, I never thought that raising chickens would be so much fun. We sit in the chicks' cabin and enjoy watching them and their antics. They run toward us if we don't move, count coup on our shoes with their beaks, and then run away. I love the way they fall asleep. They are running, eating, drinking, and then all of a sudden they fall asleep as though they had a stroke in whatever place and position they happen to be: with their beaks on the ground and their butts up, on their sides, in the feeder... This morning I thought I'd lost another one. Instead it was sleeping belly up. As soon as another chick ran across its belly it woke up, jumped back on its feet and began running around like the others.
The older chickens we have are also fun to watch. I we go out on the deck behind the house they all run toward the pen door hoping for treats. At times, for no apparent reason, the hens all run from one end of their pen (a rectangle about 30 feet long) to the other, flapping their wings as they run like a flock of coots trying to reach enough speed on the water surface for a take-off. Then they lose interest in whatever they ran after and scatter. Elvis is the only one who acts "cool" and does not get involved in these episodes of mass confusion. He steps about regally, like a gentleman with his hands behind his back, turning his head this way and that and shaking it as though disgusted by the silly behavior of his harem, which he truly loves. He never tries to take away their food, and instead gives them the first turn at the feeder or at the mealworms or bread we give them as treats. I have never seen him attack a hen, unless it's to "do" her, in which case he's really rough on them, and he's very patient when the hens peck at his tail, often pulling out a feather, or at his butt. He does not react, but jolts forward like a junior high kid who just got a wedgie. I think that having chickens around is healthy, a true stress reliever--except when you are awaiting the arrival of live (hopefully) chicks in the mail.
