Should I seek psychiatric help for becoming overly attached to my chic

[suburbanminifarm]

Nope not normal.

But -oh dear -you sound just like me.... I love my chickees!
I'm leaving on vacation in a couple of days and I have been dreading this and stressing out over it. Every time I go on a trip no matter how short, disaster strikes at home. I only have one neighbor I can ask, and she hates chickens. I am sooooo worried she won't be able to get them all locked up tight at night, or let out at sunup, or will let a pedator eat them....and what do I do about my roo who I lock up in the garage to crow untill late morning? And my chicks? And my eggs in the incubaror? Can I take them all with me on vacation? Do chickens like to ski? Perhaps they would'nt be too much trouble.... hmmmm .........
I've put so much money and effort and time in to hatching and raising these pets of mine.......See, I am stressed........and I need group chicken counseling with ya too.......

 

[littlethorn]

Normal....for here anyway

As other people have pointed out, we spend so much time, money and effort on our birds that it is natural to be concerned.

 

[specklesmom]

Just be glad you have more than ONE baby. I DID discuss my deep sorrow over losing Speckles with my shrink. He had dealt with others who lost cats or dogs and were sad, but I think I was his first "chicken psycho".

Not a single day passed that I didn't spend time with Speckles. She loved to sit in my lap and I just enjoyed holding her and talking to her and feeding her all kinds of goodies. We patrolled the yard together in search of yummy bugs or other edibles. I could not count the number of rocks my husband and I turned over so she could pounce on anything edible underneath. She would sit on my chest in our darkened bedroom and we would nap together. She was a sweetheart. I took her photo with me whenever we were away from home and missed her terribly, even though I had a wonderful "chicken sitter" where Speckles was the star of the neighborhood and the Senior Citizen Center.

Losing her was worse for me because I made the decision to let the vet put her to sleep and now regret it and wish we had tried more and more things to try to save her.....I thought I was preventing her from suffering any further, but now I think I should have held out longer and insisted on more treatment options.

Anyway, loving chickens may not be "normal" to the average member of the public, but anyone who has ever "gotten to know" chickens will understand totally. There is nothing like hugging a chicken to lower your stress level. Be happy and just keep loving and enjoying your girls!!!

 

[firehog]

Sorry to hear about your barred rock. 2 of mine are that breed and they are part of the first 6 I got. I later got 6 pullets and the two "clans" did not really get along together too well, with the older hens beating up the younger. There is now an uneasy truce between them, but I noticed the day before I left on my trip while I was putting wiring netting over their backyard to make sure NO racoon could get in that "The Loo", my alpha hen kept dragging one of the younger hens out of her nesting box by grabbing her by the comb and just dragging her out, even though the younger hen was a little bigger.

I know it will be tough on me when one of them dies. My second in charge hen, "Stacey" is older, but not a clue how old. She went into a bad molt a couple of months ago and was afraid she was going to die. I gave her a lot of extra treats but she was so slow moving (I think she has arthritis) plus she seems to have a bone along the side of her neck, or some sort of growth. She doesn't like being held, but has a special soft cooing sound when she sees me and comes running up to me in a crippled hobbling way that tugs at your heart. I don't think she lays much, maybe 1 egg a week, but she will always have a comfortable life as long as she wants to live. I don't believe in making "soup" out of a chicken once she no longer can lay. I don't know what breed she is, maybe a mutt chicken, but she has dark feathers and black and brown feathers on her chest and she makes a coo-coo sound which is really soothing to me to hear.

I was so worried when I went on my trip because I forgot to tell my caretakers to make sure to count the heads of all the chickens when they were in the coop before closing the door.

I know letting the chickens walk into the house is a little over the top, but I just get a piece of bread and coax them out when they do that. Lots of times they camp outside my door and when I open it up there are a couple there just waiting to say hello.

I felt sorry for a poster who had left a heavy item in the coop and it fell over, probably knocked over by another chicken and it fell and broke a chickens neck and she felt so bad and felt it was her fault that this happened, but I feel that the poor chicken that died and your chicken too had such a good life while they were with us because if it wasn't for us "special needs" humans who coddle our chickens, these chickens could have ended up in a brutal caged egg laying factory and then slaughtered when their egg production slowed in a few months. At least your chicken got such a good life, you shouldn't feel sorrow on her passing.

I will see if I can post a picture of "Stacey" here, but I am a computer Neanderthal and it probably won't work...[/img]