- Aug 14, 2010
- 302
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When I was a kid I lived in the suburbs in Northern California. One day a white chicken flew over our fence and ended up in our yard. My dad thought it might have belonged to someone down the street who had chickens but they said it wasn't theirs. We never found out whose chicken it was so we just let it stay. My dad named her Potluck and she ate dogfood and foraged in the backyard. We had a small dog (a Sheltie) who pretty much investigated then left her alone as just another pet.
We never ate her eggs (my brother told me years later that he thinks it was because she ate dogfood and because they never knew how old the eggs were - she nested wherever) She was just another fixture in the backyard. She finally died years and years later (maybe 10?) of the heat one summer. Although there was plenty of shade and water, but she was an old chicken and it was a really hot day.
So fast forward to me getting chickens a couple of years ago. We need to build coop Knox. We need to protect from predators. etc etc. I assumed that we just didn't have any predators in my backyard growing up, otherwise how would a white chicken survive without a coop for so long. My dad has passed away, but I was speaking to my old neighbor yesterday morning and he said no we had hawks raccoons etc. I told him my dad said Potluck used to roost in the trees and if a raccoon climbed up she would just fly to another tree. He said she may have done that originally but he remembered her sleeping in the doghouse with the dog!
LOL
We never ate her eggs (my brother told me years later that he thinks it was because she ate dogfood and because they never knew how old the eggs were - she nested wherever) She was just another fixture in the backyard. She finally died years and years later (maybe 10?) of the heat one summer. Although there was plenty of shade and water, but she was an old chicken and it was a really hot day.
So fast forward to me getting chickens a couple of years ago. We need to build coop Knox. We need to protect from predators. etc etc. I assumed that we just didn't have any predators in my backyard growing up, otherwise how would a white chicken survive without a coop for so long. My dad has passed away, but I was speaking to my old neighbor yesterday morning and he said no we had hawks raccoons etc. I told him my dad said Potluck used to roost in the trees and if a raccoon climbed up she would just fly to another tree. He said she may have done that originally but he remembered her sleeping in the doghouse with the dog!
LOL
