My RI Red is a strange bird indeed. 1. She not hang out with the other birds 2. She does not lay eggs. (They TOLD us she was 1 1/2 years old when we bought her in August) 3. She is always running off. The other day we put her outside to enjoy a little fresh air in what we thought was a secure pen, and she somehow escaped and ran off. She usually comes home in the morning. Once she was gone for 2 days. 4. Se is also happier indoors with us than outside in the yard. In the house, she is alert and curious, wandering about happily and poking her nose into everything. Out in the yard, she just looks lost. 5. Another interesting thing is, we found her sitting on the other hens' eggs. 6. She seems to perfer our company. She likes to be picked up and held, and she will sit on my son's lap and watch TV with him for hours. 7. If you put her in a laundry basket, she will just sit there, but we had her in a puppy play pen and she kept getting out. On a funny side note, my husband found her and one of the cats sleeping under the kitchen table together. Does anybody know why she would act this way? We are curious as to any part of this puzzle. Hubs suggested that she may have lived in a barn all her life and is happier indoors and in a restricted area, like a lap or a basket, because it is familiar to her. (Like a nesting box). Anyway, I'm just wondering.....
I think she sounds adorable. Maybe she is older than they told you and past laying age. I wonder too, if she had been a housepet and that is why she is depressed outside. She may have had little or no chicken social skills. Maybe she was an "only" from a hatch and raised in the house .Do your other hens attack her? If you don't mind having her in the house, I think she'd do best there. Is she happy when you go outside ? Does she follow you around? Maybe she just isn't cut out to be an ordinary chicken- she aspires to be top house hen. Any pictures of her?
I think she may be older than what they told us, yes. Which would also explain why she was so cheap. The others don't actually pick on her that much, just don't care about her. She just doesn't seem to fit in. LIke that one girl in high school that nobody really likes, but nobody really hates, either; she's just always there... on the sidelines...oh wait, that was ME. Maybe I'm projecting ..... I'm seriously considering getting her a chicken diaper and letting her hang out in the house sometimes, especially since it is getting so cold out and I do not want to take a chance on her wandering off and getting caught in a sudden cold front. If we bring her indoors during part of the day, the others can still have freedom to get in and out of their house, and little tramp girl will be safe, too. She also did another interesting thing I wanted to ask about. I can't remember if this was before or after we sent away our other rooster, Brian, but we were watching them get settled in for the night. One of the leghorn hens, Maeve, was standing on top of a nesting box. My little RI, Brigid, actually jumped up on the box with her and tried to cuddle up under Maeve, almost as if she thought Maeve was her mom. in about 2 seconds ALL the chickens (5 of them, I think) were trying to cram themselves onto the top of this nest box, which is really an old milk crate, about 12" x 14" on top. Why did she do this? Come to think of it, why do they do ANYTHING?
Sometimes it is really hard to explain why a chicken will do the things that they do. But I would think that the chickens are cold, and that by huddling together they are sharing their body heat, and are warmer that way. Your house chicken sounds adorable. She must have been spoiled at her former home. I have a show quality Silkie that is currently living in the living room. The other girls are being very mean to her, so she is safer inside with me.
I know she likes ot sit on the others girls eggs. She si so sweet and docile that I think I may have her be a surrogate mama to some new chickies if we get some in the spring.
