Potrack
Chirping
Another strange true tale from the Smith diaries with spouse as a witness. Have you had a similar experience? If you have, can you please explain to me what the hey is going on? Much obliged. Mysteries keep piling up around here.
I own a number of guineas and also one very large chicken rooster (red), one small chicken rooster (black hatch), and two chicken hens (red). All three reds are around 3-4 years old. All have roosted for all their days happily in the chicken house built for that very purpose.
7-8 days ago the large rooster was killed, I believe, by a large bobcat or something larger than that (another story in its own right!). He had held fox, possums and coons at bay very well because he was pretty big, and had some nice spurs. But the predator is probably irrelevant...maybe... I guess...who knows.
The day the rooster was killed (in the daytime, outside of the chicken pen, but not far) one of the hens began not only roosting outside of the chicken house, but outside of the chicken pen itself on the brace boards of a small pen nearby. I’ll paste a photo below. Not that it will help.
This was a suicidal change of habit from anything ANY of the poultry had ever done before. I would come in from working each night at 9:00 or 10:00pm, find her there, and place her where she belonged inside. I snapped a couple of photos of her and carried my spouse out there to have a look at the bizarre behavior. It was as though the chicken had a death wish. None of the chickens are ‘pets’, by the way. Just chickens.
Tonight her wish was granted. Gone without a trace.
Any explanations for the crazy behavior? Why split from the whole program like Col. Kurtz in Apocalypse Now? Why didn’t the other hen do likewise? How often do hens ‘go suicidal’ when their favorite rooster gets et? Maybe it’s common? It’s a first for me. I’ve owned poultry for a fair number of years, oh, say 35-40. This is pretty much off the wall, even for the funny farm here.
Whatever the explanation, she deliberately made conditions favorable to join the rooster wherever chickens go when they leave this earth. The real miracle is that she didn’t join him sooner. I just happened to beat the predator to her each night for a few nights. I guess she thought, “Dangit. How about leaving me alone, eh? I’m trying to die here!”
Only at this locale. We must be living on one of those ‘ley lines’ or something, I don’t know. It’s nuts. Just crazy.
I own a number of guineas and also one very large chicken rooster (red), one small chicken rooster (black hatch), and two chicken hens (red). All three reds are around 3-4 years old. All have roosted for all their days happily in the chicken house built for that very purpose.
7-8 days ago the large rooster was killed, I believe, by a large bobcat or something larger than that (another story in its own right!). He had held fox, possums and coons at bay very well because he was pretty big, and had some nice spurs. But the predator is probably irrelevant...maybe... I guess...who knows.
The day the rooster was killed (in the daytime, outside of the chicken pen, but not far) one of the hens began not only roosting outside of the chicken house, but outside of the chicken pen itself on the brace boards of a small pen nearby. I’ll paste a photo below. Not that it will help.
This was a suicidal change of habit from anything ANY of the poultry had ever done before. I would come in from working each night at 9:00 or 10:00pm, find her there, and place her where she belonged inside. I snapped a couple of photos of her and carried my spouse out there to have a look at the bizarre behavior. It was as though the chicken had a death wish. None of the chickens are ‘pets’, by the way. Just chickens.
Tonight her wish was granted. Gone without a trace.
Any explanations for the crazy behavior? Why split from the whole program like Col. Kurtz in Apocalypse Now? Why didn’t the other hen do likewise? How often do hens ‘go suicidal’ when their favorite rooster gets et? Maybe it’s common? It’s a first for me. I’ve owned poultry for a fair number of years, oh, say 35-40. This is pretty much off the wall, even for the funny farm here.
Whatever the explanation, she deliberately made conditions favorable to join the rooster wherever chickens go when they leave this earth. The real miracle is that she didn’t join him sooner. I just happened to beat the predator to her each night for a few nights. I guess she thought, “Dangit. How about leaving me alone, eh? I’m trying to die here!”
Only at this locale. We must be living on one of those ‘ley lines’ or something, I don’t know. It’s nuts. Just crazy.
