What a fabulous story! Please give us more!!!!
My Name is Pearl *RIP Sweetheart*
- Thread starter Lunachick
- Start date
You have us hooked!! More of the story!!!
Loving it Luna!!!
MORE ..... PLEASE
xxx
MORE ..... PLEASE
xxx
- Thread starter
- #15
I mentioned our debeaking before. I was kinda lucky in a way.....my beak ended up very even. I mean, my top portion was the same length as the bottom portion. So you could say I was "even". So it was very easy for me to pick up snacks on the ground. I just had a shorter beak than usual and no pointy part. Which, of course, had it's disadvantages. But I was very fine with it. I didn't know any different.
Ruby wasn't so lucky. Her beak had a short top portion and a longer bottom portion, so she had a "shovel" beak. When she pecked at the ground she would keep pecking with no results, her bottom part of the beak was telling her she was hitting ground, but the top wasn't there to "peck" at the object. So, she got very frustrated with pecking at anything with no results.
Mom knew this. And she would chop our treats up so we could get a hold of the food and gobble it down like a "regular" chicken. And because of Ruby's beak Mom would put goodies in the palm of her hand and cup it so Ruby had depth to dip her beak into and grab large gobs of scratch for instance. Ruby knew Mom knew this and when Mom went out with scratch Ruby followed her and waited for the "hand cup".
Ruby was very resourceful. Dorothy had a regular chicken beak and had no problems....she pecked at the smallest things in the ground and got all kinds of stuff. Including putting her beak into the treat plate with swiftness and grabbing what she could. Til Ruby poked at her once or twice to remind her of where she stands.
Mom would let us out in the yard to forage and do a walkabout on our own. If she wasn't out in the yard at the time, she would be right by the glass door watching us. We must have been very cute, cause she kept watching us all the time!
Mom also had cats. (!) They never bothered us, out of four of them only one came outside. He was the rooster of cats. Big, black and his name was Oliver. Whenever Mom opened the door to let him out, we would come running thinking it was treat time, and when we got to the door, Oliver was there --wondering whether it was safe to go out after seeing three chickens staring at him.
We loved it. Ruby would be in front, and when Oliver decided to run towards the fence for his escape, we went back to begging at the back door. And yes, we got some treats too!
One time, Oliver must have eaten too much of something and had those "dry heaves" and yacking up stuff all the time. He was let out one morning and yacked up his dry kibble. It was in a pile by the garden. It had rained for a day or so, and we were locked up in our new run. When the days got nice, Mom let us out and we foraged. And we found a special treat! Oh boy! What did Mom leave us ??? Or should I say Oliver? Well we snacked on that pile of sun dried kibble all day! Yummy!
I can't stress enough how Ruby is such a great leader. She always has to be "on". To make sure we're in line and no one gets carried away with their attitude. Just like a rooster would do. Dorothy would get a peck here and there. That was to be expected. Ruby NEVER pecked at me. Everything was understood between us. She had to take care of her flock. It was a duty she was proud of doing with no regrets. And it was only the three of us. Until June.
This is our new coop area that Mom had built for us. A LOT of room! What was she thinking?! Anyway, she had Dorothy & Ruby an me kinda locked up for a week or so. Maybe so we could get used to the new situation? I think she knows what to do.
Me, Dorothy and Ruby
Dorothy, me & Ruby
Dorothy even got bossy for awhile! Jeesh! It was all in fun!
Me & Dorothy...waiting her turn.
Ruby wasn't so lucky. Her beak had a short top portion and a longer bottom portion, so she had a "shovel" beak. When she pecked at the ground she would keep pecking with no results, her bottom part of the beak was telling her she was hitting ground, but the top wasn't there to "peck" at the object. So, she got very frustrated with pecking at anything with no results.
Mom knew this. And she would chop our treats up so we could get a hold of the food and gobble it down like a "regular" chicken. And because of Ruby's beak Mom would put goodies in the palm of her hand and cup it so Ruby had depth to dip her beak into and grab large gobs of scratch for instance. Ruby knew Mom knew this and when Mom went out with scratch Ruby followed her and waited for the "hand cup".
Mom would let us out in the yard to forage and do a walkabout on our own. If she wasn't out in the yard at the time, she would be right by the glass door watching us. We must have been very cute, cause she kept watching us all the time!
Mom also had cats. (!) They never bothered us, out of four of them only one came outside. He was the rooster of cats. Big, black and his name was Oliver. Whenever Mom opened the door to let him out, we would come running thinking it was treat time, and when we got to the door, Oliver was there --wondering whether it was safe to go out after seeing three chickens staring at him.
One time, Oliver must have eaten too much of something and had those "dry heaves" and yacking up stuff all the time. He was let out one morning and yacked up his dry kibble. It was in a pile by the garden. It had rained for a day or so, and we were locked up in our new run. When the days got nice, Mom let us out and we foraged. And we found a special treat! Oh boy! What did Mom leave us ??? Or should I say Oliver? Well we snacked on that pile of sun dried kibble all day! Yummy!
I can't stress enough how Ruby is such a great leader. She always has to be "on". To make sure we're in line and no one gets carried away with their attitude. Just like a rooster would do. Dorothy would get a peck here and there. That was to be expected. Ruby NEVER pecked at me. Everything was understood between us. She had to take care of her flock. It was a duty she was proud of doing with no regrets. And it was only the three of us. Until June.
This is our new coop area that Mom had built for us. A LOT of room! What was she thinking?! Anyway, she had Dorothy & Ruby an me kinda locked up for a week or so. Maybe so we could get used to the new situation? I think she knows what to do.
Me, Dorothy and Ruby
Dorothy, me & Ruby
Dorothy even got bossy for awhile! Jeesh! It was all in fun!
Me & Dorothy...waiting her turn.
- Aug 3, 2009
- 8,427
- 81
- 263
Dorthy is a beautiful bird!
- Thread starter
- #19
We could always tell when it was the weekend. Mom would let us out early in the day so we could play. Even Dad was coming out and watching us, the weather was getting really nice! One beautiful Saturday morning we weren't let out for some reason. We heard the car doors shutting and them driving off. We couldn't understand why we weren't allowed out. So we did our chicken stuff in our run and made the best of it.
Then they came home and it was still daylight, yay we can come out now! But she didn't let us out, she gave us some sunflower seeds and some yogurt with chopped grapes. That was fun! Mom was busy doing something with her hammer and staple gun on the other side of the yard where our old coop was. Then she brought a big box with a latch on it right passed us on to the old coop area. The next day, Sunday, we were let out. Another sunny day to play all day!
We always travel together in the yard, safety in numbers you know! Every once in a while Dorothy would do her own thing and me & Ruby would catch up to her. Dorothy is a very vocal bird. She would constantly make her little noises so we knew where she was. Dust bathing was very important for us and we had our favourite spots; one place was under a rhododendron, another was against the fence under some small shrub. Whenever one of us growled, Mom would appear like magic and scan the skies with us. Sometimes there was a hawk way above, sometimes it was a noisy squirrel running along the top of the fence. There were plenty of spaces to run to in case of danger.
Later that day Mom came out to check up on us. She came over to where we were by our old coop. The three of us were staring at this other black & white bird that somehow got into our old coop & pen. What the heck is that? And it had a watermelon slice in there! We want some of that! Mom said "Ladies, this is Gertie, she's your new friend" Wha ? Another chicken? Well, Gertie didn't do much, we got bored and went off to play. Every now and then we would find our way over to Gertie to check her out. After a few weeks Mom let Gertie out with us. We didn't like that. Especially Dorothy. Me & Ruby tolerated her, but mostly Dorothy chased her and yelled at her. I figured this: Ruby is the boss, I'm second and Dorothy rightfully earned her third spot. Which means, (according to Ruby) this was Dorothy's problem. We would have conferences at night to figure this out. During the day, Ruby would poke at Dorothy to get her to do her job with new bird. Dorothy would grumble and screech then chase poor Gertie. Because of the stress put on Dorothy, she quit laying her little cream coloured eggs for a while. Gertie ended up always about twenty chicken paces behind us. I felt sorry for Gertie, she was like me - shy and well, no guts.
The worst was getting Gertie into our coop at night. Dorothy was always the first bird in, she would find a spot she liked on the roost and settle down. I was usually right after her. Ruby stayed up late trying to get it through Gertie's thick little skull that she had to get into our coop. Gertie didn't want to, she was scared of Dorothy. Mom & Dad stayed on the porch right by our coop and watch. Gertie knew they were there and went to the back door of the porch to be let in. Mom would come to the door and say "Gertie, you have to go with Ruby, you can't sleep on the porch." Eventually Ruby would round up Gertie and chase her into the run. Mom would run out and latch the run and we were on our own. This went on for weeks.
This is Gertie as seen from the screened porch she always wanted to be in.
And when things were getting better between us:
Then they came home and it was still daylight, yay we can come out now! But she didn't let us out, she gave us some sunflower seeds and some yogurt with chopped grapes. That was fun! Mom was busy doing something with her hammer and staple gun on the other side of the yard where our old coop was. Then she brought a big box with a latch on it right passed us on to the old coop area. The next day, Sunday, we were let out. Another sunny day to play all day!
We always travel together in the yard, safety in numbers you know! Every once in a while Dorothy would do her own thing and me & Ruby would catch up to her. Dorothy is a very vocal bird. She would constantly make her little noises so we knew where she was. Dust bathing was very important for us and we had our favourite spots; one place was under a rhododendron, another was against the fence under some small shrub. Whenever one of us growled, Mom would appear like magic and scan the skies with us. Sometimes there was a hawk way above, sometimes it was a noisy squirrel running along the top of the fence. There were plenty of spaces to run to in case of danger.
Later that day Mom came out to check up on us. She came over to where we were by our old coop. The three of us were staring at this other black & white bird that somehow got into our old coop & pen. What the heck is that? And it had a watermelon slice in there! We want some of that! Mom said "Ladies, this is Gertie, she's your new friend" Wha ? Another chicken? Well, Gertie didn't do much, we got bored and went off to play. Every now and then we would find our way over to Gertie to check her out. After a few weeks Mom let Gertie out with us. We didn't like that. Especially Dorothy. Me & Ruby tolerated her, but mostly Dorothy chased her and yelled at her. I figured this: Ruby is the boss, I'm second and Dorothy rightfully earned her third spot. Which means, (according to Ruby) this was Dorothy's problem. We would have conferences at night to figure this out. During the day, Ruby would poke at Dorothy to get her to do her job with new bird. Dorothy would grumble and screech then chase poor Gertie. Because of the stress put on Dorothy, she quit laying her little cream coloured eggs for a while. Gertie ended up always about twenty chicken paces behind us. I felt sorry for Gertie, she was like me - shy and well, no guts.
The worst was getting Gertie into our coop at night. Dorothy was always the first bird in, she would find a spot she liked on the roost and settle down. I was usually right after her. Ruby stayed up late trying to get it through Gertie's thick little skull that she had to get into our coop. Gertie didn't want to, she was scared of Dorothy. Mom & Dad stayed on the porch right by our coop and watch. Gertie knew they were there and went to the back door of the porch to be let in. Mom would come to the door and say "Gertie, you have to go with Ruby, you can't sleep on the porch." Eventually Ruby would round up Gertie and chase her into the run. Mom would run out and latch the run and we were on our own. This went on for weeks.
This is Gertie as seen from the screened porch she always wanted to be in.
And when things were getting better between us:
Last edited:
- Aug 3, 2009
- 8,427
- 81
- 263
You tell such sweet stories Lunachick and I love the photos.
Glad Gertie is finally being accepted by the other girls.
Glad Gertie is finally being accepted by the other girls.
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