- Jul 28, 2013
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Today is the day I decided to join this forum after having lurked for the past six months... and so I'll give a quick introduction.
I have never had any knowledge of chickens whatsoever, didn't grow up with any, nor did I ever have any desire to live with them... "chicken ignorant" would be the word...
About a year ago we got a couple of goats and decided to move into a better place where I could have a proper barn and maybe get some chickens. The woman who had lived in the place we were moving into had a nice flock with eight chickens and a rooster that she let free range in the day and upon moving in she asked if I was interested in buying her flock - so I did
There was a period of a couple of weeks before we moved in and I would go visit the farm and make sure the chickens got fed. Each time I visited there were less chickens, seven, then six, then five... etc until one day I got there and there was only one chicken left... hobbling towards me, standing on one leg...
I was pretty heart broken and explained to her that I would have to take her with me, that this was the only chance she had to live, she had to come with me somehow and that I had no chicken knowledge whatsoever and that she would have to help me out... I didn't even know how to catch her or pick her up... She listened and then slowly hobbled over to the coop, climbed up to where I could easily pick her up and stayed perfectly still so I could do so.
I got her and put her in the car and brought her home with me. She lived in a dog crate for a couple of weeks and each day we had these great chats - she really seemed to enjoy my company and I started enjoying hers as well.
We finally moved into our new place and I had no idea chickens were able to express such joy I saw when she got back to where she had grown up... it was amazing... she was running around checking out all her old haunts... As of that day she started giving me one large brown egg daily and it's now been a few months and she has proven to be the most amazing pet... has completely changed the way I look at birds...
Her name is now Coco and she is a big part of the fun we have around the house. A friend gave me another chicken and it's been strange since she seems to still prefer human company instead of hanging out with her own kind... we have this little game I call "let's go worming" when I turn stones and stumps over and then she will harvest what she can... I recently got us a worm farm and I'm sure she'll make it hers...
A friend with a farm gave me another chicken, a speckled Sussex and while Coco thinks it's just fine to sleep in the coop at night they don't spend much time together during the day... she'd rather be with us in the office...
A couple of days ago I decided to go out and get the Sussex some company... four new chickens. Unfortunately one of them does not seem well so I have separated that one until I can figure out what is going on - she smells really bad and has very runny poop but is slowly perking up and now eating and drinking. Maybe the shock from traveling in the car threw her off, I don't know what but until she is well I do not want to risk the rest of them - Coco is just too precious to me.
Coco is now teaching the other chicken Pearl where the interesting stuff in the house is to be found... here is a picture of the two of them... stealing cat food...
Looking forward to being part of the forum. Don't have that much to share at the moment but I will learn as much as I can.
Cocokeeper
I have never had any knowledge of chickens whatsoever, didn't grow up with any, nor did I ever have any desire to live with them... "chicken ignorant" would be the word...
About a year ago we got a couple of goats and decided to move into a better place where I could have a proper barn and maybe get some chickens. The woman who had lived in the place we were moving into had a nice flock with eight chickens and a rooster that she let free range in the day and upon moving in she asked if I was interested in buying her flock - so I did
There was a period of a couple of weeks before we moved in and I would go visit the farm and make sure the chickens got fed. Each time I visited there were less chickens, seven, then six, then five... etc until one day I got there and there was only one chicken left... hobbling towards me, standing on one leg...
I was pretty heart broken and explained to her that I would have to take her with me, that this was the only chance she had to live, she had to come with me somehow and that I had no chicken knowledge whatsoever and that she would have to help me out... I didn't even know how to catch her or pick her up... She listened and then slowly hobbled over to the coop, climbed up to where I could easily pick her up and stayed perfectly still so I could do so.
I got her and put her in the car and brought her home with me. She lived in a dog crate for a couple of weeks and each day we had these great chats - she really seemed to enjoy my company and I started enjoying hers as well.
We finally moved into our new place and I had no idea chickens were able to express such joy I saw when she got back to where she had grown up... it was amazing... she was running around checking out all her old haunts... As of that day she started giving me one large brown egg daily and it's now been a few months and she has proven to be the most amazing pet... has completely changed the way I look at birds...
Her name is now Coco and she is a big part of the fun we have around the house. A friend gave me another chicken and it's been strange since she seems to still prefer human company instead of hanging out with her own kind... we have this little game I call "let's go worming" when I turn stones and stumps over and then she will harvest what she can... I recently got us a worm farm and I'm sure she'll make it hers...
A friend with a farm gave me another chicken, a speckled Sussex and while Coco thinks it's just fine to sleep in the coop at night they don't spend much time together during the day... she'd rather be with us in the office...
A couple of days ago I decided to go out and get the Sussex some company... four new chickens. Unfortunately one of them does not seem well so I have separated that one until I can figure out what is going on - she smells really bad and has very runny poop but is slowly perking up and now eating and drinking. Maybe the shock from traveling in the car threw her off, I don't know what but until she is well I do not want to risk the rest of them - Coco is just too precious to me.
Coco is now teaching the other chicken Pearl where the interesting stuff in the house is to be found... here is a picture of the two of them... stealing cat food...
Looking forward to being part of the forum. Don't have that much to share at the moment but I will learn as much as I can.
Cocokeeper
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