My babies love me!

[mrsbos]

What a great feeling today. My 6 wk olds were especially affectionate today, and it seemed like they all wanted to be cuddled (and I didn't even have extra treats on me). I also felt like a human chicken roost, as every chance they got, they would fly up onto my shoulders...or back....or head (I'm only 5ft tall so I guess I know how high they can fly now!). If I wasn't so paranoid about getting pooped on, I would not have minded so much having 3 chickens standing on me. I wish my husband could have grabbed the camera and got a pic. That would have been something to post!

Another thing.....have any of you guys noticed your productivity at home plummetting? I find I can spend hours outside just watching/playing with/cuddling the chickens. I've got 3 kids, a house to clean, meals to cook, etc. and the chickens just draw me away all the time with their cute antics. What did I ever do before I had them

-Michelle

 

[math ace]

I'm with you on the "there are a billion things I should be doing, BUT I hear chirp, chirp, chirp calling to me".

My non-chicken and chicken friends think I am NUTS . . . .

My chickens think I am great !

The chicken's opinion wins hands DOWN . . .

 

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

I have offten wondered this ...

 

[rainbowlake mama hen]

I'm with you....I'm a newbie here....first post. I have two miracle chicks (incubated a dozen eggs and the incubator got unplugged all night about 3/4 of the way through inc. time.....two chicks hatched!) Anyway, I'm a homeschool mom to 3 girls and have TONS of stuff to do, but I want to be outside with my chicks all the time!

 

[Qi Chicken]

I totally agree. I go out to change the water or something and an hour later I finally find my way back to the house. I just love sitting out there with them.

 

[Toast n Jelly]

What did I ever do before I had them

Houswork???

 

[CathyRN]

I am so addicted to my chickens.

We have 8 now, unfortunately lost 2 this year.....they are 7 months old. All hens. And all with distinct personalities. We know everybody's egg song by heart, we have names for all of them AND....we are sure THEY know each of their names. I have 2 hens that "tap" on my back door when they want a "treat"....seriously this is not a joke....and they still roost on us all the time. My husband is now hooked and calls them his "ladies" !! He talks sweeter to them then to me !! LOL. We can tell if their upset about something, alarmed, happy, laying, all by the sound that they make. I usually let them out at exactly 9am to free range out of the main coop, and Godforbid I'm 5 minutes late they are balking and complaining. !! So Funny.

One of the girls comes to let us know sometimes that the "neighborhood cat" is in the yard

and we need to keep an extra watch out. When he's in the yard, "Grace", one of our easter eggers, comes on our back porch and lets out this raspy balking until I come out to see what's wrong.....when I tell her I've seen the cat and I"ll keep watch over her she leaves to go eat grass. (I take my computer outside then on the back porch since I work from home).....then the cat leaves.

We have 2 pine trees in the back that the girls take "baths" under. It is so funny to watch them squat in the pine pile, turn on their side and roll in it, and then fluff up the dirt in their feathers !!

We can watch them all day long. We even have a yard bunny rabbit who feels completely comfortable foraging with our free range flock, and this bunny is even partial to my buff orpington hen, they "hang out" together.

 

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

ooops .. wrong thread!

 

[gryeyes]

I wasn't much of a housekeeper BC (before chickens) and I'm surely not any better now. Too much time spent outside with the chickens. I have learned all the differences between the ladies and am learning the girls (younger pullets recently integrated into the flock). The roosters' personalities are easy to learn, and hilarious to watch. I love when their baby kazoo crows start out as single syllables and then work up to the full "Err ah Err Err ERRRRR!"

I talk to all of 'em, they talk back to me, and we have interesting conversations. A couple of the gals actually have an obvious interrogative chicken sound: "Birk?" Everybody but the youngest eat out of my hand, but I think that's due to the pecking order; they cannot get to my hands full of treats through the barricade of higher ranking ladies.

Everybody but those currently sequestered in "integration coops" freely range on the property, but the most senior chickens monopolize the front yard. The youngsters are still "backyard" birds.

So I have two places to roam and in which to settle to watch chickens, depending on which group I want to visit. Well, can't ignore one group for the other!!!

 

[azygous]

Chickens are an addiction, all right. I'm a very hyper on-the-go-constantly type person, but when I crawl into the pen and sit down for a visit with my peeps, an instant calm saturates my entire being.

On the topic of talking to chickens, has anyone noticed chickens have language? They actually have syntax, and I've learned what a few phrases of modulated notes actually signify. They have a phrase for "Here comes our human", and a very similar phrase, but different by one note, for "Here comes the cat."

And they speak this language flawlessly from their first week!