Funny how these little critters grab you isn't it? I live in the "rural" suburbs of South Florida on a few acres with horses and cats and got my first chicken in 1995 when she excaped from a neighbor across the little canal in back of my house (she was a balsera LOL). She moved into a tree behind my barn and would come hang with me in the barn during the day.
I had always wanted Silkies and so when she went broody I bought her some Silkie eggs. Of the 6 eggs only one hatched. We named him "Peeping Tom" and I spent my afternoons following them around and watching them play. I learned so much from them! Then one day she decided to "wean" him and instead of leading him back to their nest in the barn she flew up her tree to roost. Well Silkie chicks don't fly and unfortunately I didn't realize what had happened until the next day when I found her in the tree and baby gone for good. He was only snack size for a raccoon or a cat. She was desperate to find him and so I thought if I got her another chick she would be OK.
So I called friend with the eggs and he brought me over a day-old bantam Dutch chick. But still being very new at chicken psychology I tried to give it to her in the middle of the day and she took one look at it and decided to kill it. Well between her and the curious cats the poor chick had a rather stressful afternoon. Once I recovered the chick I realized that I now had to raise her myself.
So she came to live in my home office and grew up playing on my desk and sitting on my wrist as I typed a text book I was writing. So she (and I) became "Computerchick". You can read her story on "Pip's Pages" at
www.computerchick.com. The diary stops in 1998 because I started working full time and just never had the time to work on it but she lived until she was 8 years old (2003) and then quietly passed on in her sleep.
She never really accepted the fact that she was a chicken and was horrified when the first rooster tried to breed with her. She lived in a carrier inside my house and would come in thru the kitty door every night to go to bed. She would also come in to her little house every afternoon to lay her eggs and then sometimes spend the day wandering the house until I got home. She was a very special girl and had so much personality - she taught me so much. She and I could communicate and I always knew what she was thinking.
So I've had chickens (chooks to you Auzzies) ever since. Now I only have one lonely Silkie rooster and his 3 children (2 roosters and a hen). At one point there were 34 but thanks to the passing years, hawks, neighbor dogs and the other wild critters these 4 are all I have left. I REALLY need a new Silkie hen for the lonely rooster if there is someone in Florida who will part with one - it needs to be close enough for me to go pick up. I don't want to have her shipped.
Oh and for those of you who have fire ants - be warned that Amdro or any of those fire ant mound baits are DEADLY POISON to any birds and especially chickens. I found out the hard way
:~D
