Curious Chickens

[WanderRight]

My Orpington Marianna (who unfortunately died last year in a dog attack) was as curious as could be. She was smart and always the first on the scene to check out everything new. The best story I have about any of my hens happened because of her.

I think it was late winter/early spring, we had friends over. My mom, sister, and I were all upstairs with the guests while my dad was in the basement trying to fix a pump. We were talking when all of a sudden there was tapping on the basement door. Figuring it was the cat locked in the basement and reminding us she existed, I opened the door, only to see Marianna looking inquisitively at me. She cocked her head and cooed, probably wondering if I had come to give her some treats.

It turned out that my dad had had the sliding glass door in the basement opened so he could run a pipe outside. Marianna had come inside, quietly navigated the basement, and got all the way up the stairs to greet us. Never a dull moment with chickens.

Do you have any funny stories of curious chickens getting into shenanigans?

 

[TwinsLoveChicks]

I have a friend who went to another friend's house and then later drove home only to find that one of their friend's chickens had somehow gotten under their car and ridden all the way back to their house with them, almost 2 hours away!

 

[wowiesmom]

First, allow me to thank all of you who contribute to this site. I just joined but had been reading about a huge variety of issues and advice since last spring when we got our first chickens. Unfortunately, my seven girls were killed in a horrible fire - entire garage - at the end of January. They had taught me so much, but that last lesson was one I could have passed on. We will try again, though. I LOVE being a chicken mom! Next time, smoke alarms and baby monitors in the coop, for sure.

My story is about Darth Veda Saltenfuss, named for her ferocious temperament as a young girl, and her beautiful green-black feathers. She did mellow out, but "Veda" stuck. One summer afternoon when we had been in and out, doing some work in the basement, it struck me that I hadn't seen her with her pals, Big Red Chicken and Mrs. Bush, for a while. I called her. And called. And called. No Veda, but all the others were following me around, fully expecting a treat after all the ruckus. I started to hear some muffled clucks, but I couldn't hear where they were coming from. I looked everywhere in the garage, the yard, the neighbors' yards, the woodsy area across the street. No Veda. It eventually occurred to me to look in the house - she LOVED to sneak in and poke around, but I had always caught her before she could do much floor damage, if you catch my meaning. Anyway, I looked on the first floor, checked the basement. And our second floor. I could hear her, but could not see her. We do have a third floor - a giant open space that does duty as a guest room, storage area and playroom for my granddaughter. But I couldn't imagine that she had been able to navigate all those stairs. Ha! I finally went up, and there she was, perched on the ledge over the steps, by that time hollering her head off. I scooped her up and put her down next to the food and water outside. She told me that she had been calling and calling but nobody came to rescue her. I felt awful, and told her so. Then it hit me that she'd been up there plenty long to make a nice mess. I went back up, but was surprised not to find any poop. There was, however, centered perfectly, pillowed by the down comforter on the bed, a lovely light brown Veda egg, still warm.

 

[WanderRight]

TwinsLoveChicks, oh my gosh! I hope it all turned out okay. What a crazy bird! She probably got up under the car and, when it started moving, just decided she lived there now haha. It sounds like something my Nina would do.

Wowiesmom, that's hilarious! Some hens just love to explore, huh? A few weeks ago, my younger hens Carmen and Lavender got trapped in the garage. When I was leaving for work, I heard sad cooing coming from inside.

 

[TwinsLoveChicks]

Yes, the hen was fine, but that was one long drive to get her back home!

 

[TolChicken]

One time my chicken SunShine was being bullied while she was laying a egg and i picked her up and brought her in the house and she layed a egg in my arms