I hatched a single baby out on June 27th, and because we had no other tiny chicks to put with her, we've spoiled her and given her tons of attention because we didn't want her to be lonely. Well, the end result is that she does NOT like other chickens, they terrify her. However, she LOVES us and loves my chihuahuas. Due to the fact that I had to quaratine one of my outside birds, I had to move Indy's brooder from the bathroom into my room. Well, she doesn't like to stay in her brooder. Instead she jumps out and runs the room. She thinks she's a hotshot and likes to stretch out on my bed. I tuck her into her brooder each night and when I turn off the light she cries like a baby because she doesn't want to stay in her brooder. Instead she wants to be in the bed with me. The moment the sun comes up in the morning and she can see the bed, she shoots out of her brooder and jumps to the floor and then runs over to my bed and jumps up. She picks a spot and lies down and goes to sleep. She tries to snuggle with the dogs but they don't have the same affection, lol. They are scared of her and try to stay as far away from her as possible. When I come home at night from work she comes running to my bedroom door to greet me and asks to be let out of the bedroom so she can come visit with her "grandma" (my mom). She adores my mother. She will follow my kids everywhere too cause I suspect that she sees them as her clutchmates. She is a loudmouth too. She wants to come sit on us, but doesn't want to be touched, snuggled, petted, etc. She will complain loudly if we try to "hold her down". However she lets me tickle the bottom of her feet and scratch her under the chin, and if she feels picked on too much, she runs into my arms and wants to be held close. I don't know if anyone is familiar with the tv show Bindi the Jungle Girl (Steve Irwin the Crocodile Hunter's daughter). But since Indy's name rhymes with Bindi's I started singing "Indy the human chicken, Indy!" and she comes running. She is 5 weeks old now and spoiled rotten, and she knows it. She is a little beast. Last night she decided that what we were eating was better than what she was eating, so she flew up to the table and tried to steal bites from our burritos. She was sent straight to her brooder and then stood at the bedroom door crying cause she was "punished". She absolutely cracks me up. This morning I called my 3 chihuahuas out of the bedroom so my 9 year old could take them outside, and who comes running right along with them when I called them? Indy! I looked at her and asked her if now she thought she was a chihuahua too! She just peeped at me (Cause she is NEVER quiet!) and proceeded to jump up on the couch and sit down. She evicts dogs from the couch so she can have the whole thing to herself. I have another chicken that I recently got that thinks I am the best thing ever and wants to be with me constantly, and she is VERY jealous of Indy. Every time Indy tries to jump on me, she lets loose a low cluck and chases her off. To our best guess Indy is half EE (her dad), and half standard Buff Orpington. She is a beautiful red with the EE black feather markings, though she doesn't have muffs and is built more like a BO than an EE. Plus she has pink legs, not green ones. She is beautiful and she is my baby. I just wanted to share some of her crazy behavior. We get laughs out of her on a daily basis. I don't have pics yet cause my camera broke before she hatched, but as soon as I get one, I will take lots of pictures of her as she relaxes on my bed, which she thinks is there just for her. So much for roosting. She would prefer to stretch out and kick her legs backward and enjoy my nice soft foam mattress. She's a beast, but she's my beast and I love her. Oh what we do for our chickens...
