chicken personalities

[Davaroo]

I dont spend time "bonding" with my chickens.
To be fair, I used to. I spent many hours in careful study of Gallus domesticus. Watched their every move, recorded each subtle nuance of reaction.

Conclusion?

1. Chickens have spent thousands of years trying to avoid humans.
Who am I to turn that around?

2. That which we longingly cling to as 'bonding' is really just a learned response directly tied to food.
Without the food, there is no so-called "bond."

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Chicken thought process (such as it is):

"Oh no! Here comes that lumbering lummox of a creature again!

Ruuuuunnnnn!!!!!

-----
No wait - that creature has food! Food is good!

-----
I like food - that creature has food - I can tolerate that brute!!"

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Since chickens are excellent learners, but have the attention span of a gnat, this is generally repeated whenever you hove into view.

No one will listen, but I'll say it anyway: Much as we want it to be otherwise, chickens tolerate us, that's all.

 

[genabeana]

"It makes no sense, and I worry that I wont be able to free-range the second group because they won't come back into the coop at night, and won't let us catch them and put them in!"

The same group of chickens that I started this post with have done that! I let them free range and they decided that they lived under a low pine tree. It was a ton of hard work to get them out and back to the coop area. We had to scare them out though because we have a den of foxes in our woods. They wouldn't live through the night. They did that twice! Past 3 days I've kept them in the fenced - in coop.

MAYBE, if like everyone here has said, they're just being chicken teenagers, I'll be able to free-range them in another couple of weeks!

 

[genabeana]

David, I love your post! I can now unattach my emotions and remember that they are birds!

 

[sangel4you]

lol true david!
Shelly, I am in PA

 

[Davaroo]

Quote:
Free ranging is a mis-used concept. Most people only grasp the romantic, perhaps idyllic element of it. "Chickens roaming free, as God intended, etc."

To free range means you turn them loose. Chickens are happiest that way, to be honest, as they dont really need you. They are yearning to go back to their wild state, anyway. They only left it a few thousand years ago, after all. So you are actually doing them a favor...

But under that regimen, they are just as liable to leave you behind and set up camp on their own. No eggs. No meat. No feathered friends to follow you around.
People are always surprised when that happens. They shouldn't be, though.

On the other hand if you wish practice poultry stewardship as you should, and derive maximum benefit from your birds, that will never do.

I think what you are after is modified confinement. Some see this as a subtlety, but there is a pronounced difference. Confine them until they learn where home is - then you can begin giving them some room to get around in.

But I recommend you drop the idea of "free ranging" altogether.

 

[Davaroo]

Quote:
Someone will be along shortly and say THEIR chickens are the 'non plus ultra,'... utterly devoted to them.

You'll see.