if you have chickens that range, do they know you better in the winter

[picklespickles]

my chickens have always been standoffish which has been fine to me, actually. but now that it is cold, suddenly it's like HEY there's the lady who brings food. lol. you're our BEST friend.

it makes me feel like they really do get enough around here in the other seasons with some supplementary feeding but lots of bugs and plants and such to eat. because suddenly when they're not, they take notice of which door i use to the house and so forth.

was wondering if other people who didn't have them as pets noticed seasonal changes in behavior related to food source like that.

 

[hypnofrogstevie]

My moms barred rocks. They hate me and run when I have to bring them in. But when its feeding time they are between my feet

 

[CovenantCreek]

My girls (red sex links) have always been very curious about what I was doing and would tend to follow me around. During the summer they would come running if they saw me headed toward one of the horse troughs -- hoping that I would turn it over for them to harvest the collection of crickets gathered underneath. I've also noticed that they'll hang out by the swing set if there's a person down there, otherwise their roaming pattern keeps them closer to the house. Maybe since I've been the one to give them scratch, to take the horses out of the stalls, and to create their cricket (now earthworm) feasts they've always seen me as a source of good things.

 

[palabeco]

My four leghorns that we raised from chicks always come running as soon as they see me come out of the house.

 

[Sheila]

When my chickens see me head toward the compost pile with a garden fork in my hand, they fly. They love the worms.

Right now they are bored out of their minds. I'm keeping them in for their own good, it is so cold. Also, they can get under their coop, and trying to coax them out at the end of the day when it's 0 degrees gets a little rough (on me).

We had a big storm this week. I let the girls out while I shoveled a path from their coop to the gate. They stayed right behind me in the cleared path till I finished, then let me know that they wanted to continue on out (range). I said, "The dirt stops here."

They hadn't layed their first egg yet, so I sang them a song. You know the tune:

If you're happy and you know it lay an egg
If you're happy and you know it lay an egg
If you're happy and you know it, then an egg would surely show it
If you're happy and you know it, lay an egg

Seriously, after a couple of time, they started clucking with me.

I had my first egg the next morning.

 

[WoodlandWoman]

Now I'll have that song in my head all day...

 

[picklespickles]

that's hysterical i will try it.

 

[arlee453]

Gotta try that song - my girls are 19 wks now, so I'm not 'rushing' them or anything....but I've already started the 'omlettes or dumplings??' speech.

Maybe they will respond better to encouragements rather than thinly veiled threats.

 

[WoodlandWoman]

Sheila, you should post that in the Chicken Behaviors and Egglaying section, with a title like, "The Egg Laying Song." I think it'll be a hit!

 

[Lunachick]

My two red sex links are very friendly, and they always come running when I open the back door, If I don't have a dish with treats they just look at me for a minute to make sure I don't have anything for them, and they just waddle off somewhere.

But I did notice whatever greens I have left in the yard that they never touched in the summer is now gourmet pickins, I'm down to one azalea that doesn't look too bad. We'll see how those shrubs do in the spring.