Last week one of my hens (Suzy Q) was looking poorly. She was about halfway through her molt when it seemed she was having a relapse. Shivering with the early unusual cold temperatures, I scooped her up and brought her inside my house. I kept her inside for 5 days and made sure she was eating. She immediately shed more feathers, but finally started looking perkier. Her comb returned to a nice healthy red so I thought it was time to take her back to her cousins in the coop. Although she was still a little weak I watched her closely and hand fed her to make sure she was eating. When I went to close the pop door for the night I noticed there were two hens sitting on the roost in the run. Sure enough it was my little Suzy Q. I felt better that she was strong enough to fly up to that 40 inch high roost. But the real surprise was her companion. Big Buffy, a very robust RIR hen was keeping her company. I carried them both into the coop and they started moving toward the roost with the other birds. One of my BR pullets snapped at Suzy Q, then Buffy just kind of gave her a look and the BR moved away and Suzy Q made her way to the roost next to the rooster. This was so surreal. My little flock is normally a rowdy gang of whiney "two year old kids." Here they were acting like a loving family. Call me crazy, or maybe chickens are evolving and developing emotional ties to their flock members. Am I reading too much into this?
