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This post is about Chickadee.
Chickadee was so named, because when she was a chick she reminded me of a chickadee. This is a silly reason to name a baby chicken "Chickadee", because frankly I knew she would grow up to look much different. But goodness help me, I couldn't stop. She was the Chickadee. The DEE.
Chickadee is 10 days old, here.
From the first moment she was out of her box, boing! Right into our hands she jumped. Her eyes are always bright, curious, happy.
Chickadee really loved to jump up to the highest point so she could stare into our faces. You could tell her little brain was just working over every little bit of information. If you offered a hand, she'd hop right into it and look around, and then look into your face. She was so clever even at a tiny age.
She was the first of the chicks to figure anything out, and ever so friendly.
She was also the first huntress.
When I noticed her chasing and snapping at a fruit fly, I put her to work. This summer we had a bad ant problem in our house, but we never use toxins to take care of them because we have other birds. So I showed Chickadee the ants.
She would walk along their known trails and pop! Pop! An ant would go in her beak. Pop! Another. She must have eaten hundreds and hundreds of ants for us.
She learned quickly if I tapped something, it was worth investigating. She'd come running.
Soon, I learned that she would be ideal for clicker training. I don't have a clicker, so I would snap my fingers. Chickadee quickly learned if she heard this and came running, that my hand would always point out an insect (usually a cricket) to her.
She never stopped loving our hands. She would always hop up if you asked her to.
She is incredibly curious and smart. She had to check out everything you were doing! Sometimes this got her into trouble because she was also fearless.
Thankfully she is not the type of chicken to peck first and ask questions later.
Soon, Chickadee got too large to easily hop into our hands. She discovered that sitting on heads was just as good, though.
This is my friend, Amber.
This is what it looks like, mere milliseconds before you get a Head Chickadee.
WOOSH!
Sweet, clever Chickadee, spending some time with us.
Chickadee is also clever enough to like watching videos. Here she is, watching a clip from The Labyrinth. You can tell she is Very Excited, because her tail is as high as it can go. I feel that way too, sometimes, Chickadee.
Once she grew out of her peeping stage, Chickadee didn't cluck quite like the other chickens did. She Boop'ed. And, all you folk are welcome to laugh at me, but I think she has her own Chickadee Language. She adds inflections to her 'boops' so that sometimes it is a question:
"Boop, boop boop?" (translation: "Do you have the food?" or... "Where is that bug?")
Or a statement:
"Boop, boop-boo-boo-boop." (translation: "Thanks for showing me that one." or, "I am getting impatient.")
Here she is, hunting some crickets.
Finding a bug on a branch for the first time is surprising!
"Boop boop, boop?"
And that, ladies and gents, is Chickadee.
Chickadee was so named, because when she was a chick she reminded me of a chickadee. This is a silly reason to name a baby chicken "Chickadee", because frankly I knew she would grow up to look much different. But goodness help me, I couldn't stop. She was the Chickadee. The DEE.
Chickadee is 10 days old, here.
From the first moment she was out of her box, boing! Right into our hands she jumped. Her eyes are always bright, curious, happy.
Chickadee really loved to jump up to the highest point so she could stare into our faces. You could tell her little brain was just working over every little bit of information. If you offered a hand, she'd hop right into it and look around, and then look into your face. She was so clever even at a tiny age.
She was the first of the chicks to figure anything out, and ever so friendly.
She was also the first huntress.
When I noticed her chasing and snapping at a fruit fly, I put her to work. This summer we had a bad ant problem in our house, but we never use toxins to take care of them because we have other birds. So I showed Chickadee the ants.
She would walk along their known trails and pop! Pop! An ant would go in her beak. Pop! Another. She must have eaten hundreds and hundreds of ants for us.
She learned quickly if I tapped something, it was worth investigating. She'd come running.
Soon, I learned that she would be ideal for clicker training. I don't have a clicker, so I would snap my fingers. Chickadee quickly learned if she heard this and came running, that my hand would always point out an insect (usually a cricket) to her.
She never stopped loving our hands. She would always hop up if you asked her to.
She is incredibly curious and smart. She had to check out everything you were doing! Sometimes this got her into trouble because she was also fearless.
Thankfully she is not the type of chicken to peck first and ask questions later.
Soon, Chickadee got too large to easily hop into our hands. She discovered that sitting on heads was just as good, though.
This is my friend, Amber.
This is what it looks like, mere milliseconds before you get a Head Chickadee.
WOOSH!
Sweet, clever Chickadee, spending some time with us.
Chickadee is also clever enough to like watching videos. Here she is, watching a clip from The Labyrinth. You can tell she is Very Excited, because her tail is as high as it can go. I feel that way too, sometimes, Chickadee.
Once she grew out of her peeping stage, Chickadee didn't cluck quite like the other chickens did. She Boop'ed. And, all you folk are welcome to laugh at me, but I think she has her own Chickadee Language. She adds inflections to her 'boops' so that sometimes it is a question:
"Boop, boop boop?" (translation: "Do you have the food?" or... "Where is that bug?")
Or a statement:
"Boop, boop-boo-boo-boop." (translation: "Thanks for showing me that one." or, "I am getting impatient.")
Here she is, hunting some crickets.
Finding a bug on a branch for the first time is surprising!
"Boop boop, boop?"
And that, ladies and gents, is Chickadee.
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