Just had to share this, it may seem totally average or normal to all the experienced chicken wranglers out there, but today I had a fantastic experience of my little "flock" as including ME!!! :-D
I had my 3 girls out "working" in the compost bin happily chirping away and finding fantastic buggies. If they're out of their run, I am there supervising, as they are little still (only 8 weeks) and everything is new to them (and quite frankly to me too where they are concerned, lol!). Plus, who knows what miscellaneous pieces of non-edible junk they'll dig up in the yard so, until everyone knows the ropes... well, you get it.
Today I ran inside just briefly a few times for water and whatnots and each time I came back out, they had gone back to their run and waited dutifully for me to return. As soon as I came out of the house they came up and greeted me and went back to foraging in the yard. It took about 3 times of this for me to get that at this point they feel most comfortable out of their run when I'm there. I felt very proud that they have included me in their flock as "safe". I know that they'll get bolder as they get older and this will all be old hat to them one day, but today it was heaven to have these 3 little feather dinos trust me to be their safe place in their new adventures.
The cherry on this happiness sundae is when the sun started to set just over the shed, shading the compost bin and they all decided it was time to call it a day... ALL THREE of them flapped up into my lap to settle down and preen themselves. The bossiest one at one point hopped up on my shoulder and nestled against my neck (not ENTIRELY certain that she WASN'T just looking for a way to peck my eyeball, but she didn't so I'm going with closeness to me, lol!)
These are my first chickens and I've only had them for 2 weeks. I have not raised them from day olds and I feel SOOOO honored that these scared, skittish little babies trust me this much this soon. They still hate being picked up or petted, but they follow me around like little puppies already so I'm sure one day they will trust me enough to pet them... and if not, so be it.
Seems silly to be so incredibly over the moon about being trusted by three baby chickens but color me silly because I am! :-D
I had my 3 girls out "working" in the compost bin happily chirping away and finding fantastic buggies. If they're out of their run, I am there supervising, as they are little still (only 8 weeks) and everything is new to them (and quite frankly to me too where they are concerned, lol!). Plus, who knows what miscellaneous pieces of non-edible junk they'll dig up in the yard so, until everyone knows the ropes... well, you get it.
Today I ran inside just briefly a few times for water and whatnots and each time I came back out, they had gone back to their run and waited dutifully for me to return. As soon as I came out of the house they came up and greeted me and went back to foraging in the yard. It took about 3 times of this for me to get that at this point they feel most comfortable out of their run when I'm there. I felt very proud that they have included me in their flock as "safe". I know that they'll get bolder as they get older and this will all be old hat to them one day, but today it was heaven to have these 3 little feather dinos trust me to be their safe place in their new adventures.
The cherry on this happiness sundae is when the sun started to set just over the shed, shading the compost bin and they all decided it was time to call it a day... ALL THREE of them flapped up into my lap to settle down and preen themselves. The bossiest one at one point hopped up on my shoulder and nestled against my neck (not ENTIRELY certain that she WASN'T just looking for a way to peck my eyeball, but she didn't so I'm going with closeness to me, lol!)
These are my first chickens and I've only had them for 2 weeks. I have not raised them from day olds and I feel SOOOO honored that these scared, skittish little babies trust me this much this soon. They still hate being picked up or petted, but they follow me around like little puppies already so I'm sure one day they will trust me enough to pet them... and if not, so be it.
Seems silly to be so incredibly over the moon about being trusted by three baby chickens but color me silly because I am! :-D
