- Oct 16, 2012
- 14
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It all started about 8 months ago. I was at my sisters house and of course she is chicken-crazy like me and had some chicks in the incubator. She said I could keep some and hand-raise them as show chooks (They were silkie Bantams). So i took two. Afew weeks later the two chicks were free-ranging out-side close to the house with my mum sitting where she could see them and just like that the chicken that we knew was defiantely pure-bred was gone. We only had the one chicken left which i had named Sooty due to his dark down colouring. I spent extra time with him during the next week to ensure he didnt get too lonely. We ended up going back to my sisters to get some more chicks for Sooty. Well, long story short the chicks grew big. Two of them, Sooty and Squiggle became young cockerels (it was clear now that Sooty was not pure bred) and the other become a young pullet. Since Sooty was the only one i hand-raised very young he was the only one who became truly friendly. He was AMAZING! He became my best friend just as a dog would become to his owner. Infact, believe it or not Sooty was just like that. Literally! He would follow me around all over the back yard! He had to live free-range as he grew older because both sides of our chicken coop have a rooster in and they would fight (We shut him up at night in our woodshed so he wouldn't get eaten by foxes at night). I could pick him up and he would always allow me to give his beautiful soft feathers a pat. I would say "book, book, book!" to him and he would ALWAYS reply with a funny-sounding "BRAAAWWWWK!" I absoluetely loved him! He was so polite. He treated me as part of the flock. I had to walk away after giving him wheat because otherwise instead of eating it he would just stand there 'booking' offering it to me. This was a chicken I had seen every single day of his life out of those 6 months we had him for (Exluding the one week i went away). I was so attached to him. But unfortunately the day came where i had to give him away to a Fodda Store who would them sell him to a owner who i knew nothing about. I was quite upset. Every day since that moment i have missed him and if i think about it too much i sometimes even cry. I no longer know if he's safe, if he's been eaten by a fox or cat, if he has a good diet, if he died of sickness and most of all if he's happy. I'm lucky to have the privellige to be able to go down to the chicken coop and watch his 4 almost pure-bred silkie chicks run around and scratch happily in the dirt.
- Sooty the lovable Silver-Laced Wyandotte X Silkie Bantam
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