My almost 2 and a half year old son LOVES his first chickens. He has Autism, Global Developmental Delay, Sensory Processing Disorder, and Combined Expressive & Receptive Speech Delay. He almost died at 2 months old the day of his vaccines (STORY HERE) which resulted in respiratory/cardiac arrest, seizures, and a mess of other complications that left him pretty vegetative for several months following the event. Hes been slowly gaining ground, thanks to many specialists and therapists, but still doesn't like to interact is is mostly non verbal.
A few months ago we went to the farm store for dog food and my son was fascinated by the little chicks which resulted in repeated use of the words WOW and Yeah as well as eye contact! Well, it also resulted in Daddy getting him some of the little chickies too. He learned to be gentle with them very quickly and even started using my hand to pet them... His speech and occupational therapists were as blown away as I was.
Now, his chickens are 14-20 weeks old and he is still fascinated by them. Though they are no longer in the house lol. He now has a little chair he sits in outside by them. He will jabber and carry on and try to sing to them. It is very cute. Some days he is more interested in other things like his outside toys, but will usually chat with the chickens first. Were hoping to name them so he will be encouraged to say their names to talk to them. Right now they are all named he says"bok...bok..bok.." for chickens... Even with the therapist. Which is not only cute but a big improvement. She tried to get him to say the toy rooster said "cock-a-doodle-do" and he said "nun..no..no.." "bok..bok..bok.." For him, this is a very big deal, as he currently has only around 7 words he will say with any consistency. He was also not walking at all when we first got them. Now, with the help of braces as well, they are a motivator for him to walk outside. And that is pretty much the beginning of my sons journey with chickens and how they help him. There have been some worried about him being so young around them, but even with his compromised immune system he has never caught any illness from them.
I have had many, many, chickens in the past and am delighted my son enjoys them as well in spite of his struggles. We have a little mixed starter flock for now, mostly so he could raise the chicks, but most will be leaving for their new homes soon as was planned. I am still not sure if we will be keeping full sized or bantams for the long haul. In any case, the goal will be a small number of birds that are easily discernible from each other. I am having some difficulty locating the breeds I really want though, and may have to look into ordering hatching eggs for them. The hatchery chicks were a great start, but I hope to get him into chicken shows as he gets older so I know I have some work to do before that day arrives.
Thank you for reading my story. -K
Long awaited eye contact!
Using my hand to pet the chick.
He was trying to kiss her, lol.
Not so little chickens anymore.
This is such a heart warming tale . Hard not to shed a tear of joy for you . May god grant you the wisdom and strength you will need in the years to come .