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Tag Archives: chickens

A pecking order

As you may know, my mother keeps a brood of hens.  She says it’s so we can have eggs and eventually chicken (when they get too old to lay eggs), but I think it might be more because of nostalgia.  She had a flock of chickens and ducks growing up as a child.

Anyway, I’ve noticed that one of the chickens, a Barred Rock,

she’s acquired is a huge bully.  HUGE bully.  The Barred Rock arrived with a Buff Orpington

who is also pretty big.  Together, they bully the entire brood of hens, with the Orpington filling the role of the lackey.

Actually, they kind of remind me of Bulk and Skull of Power Ranger fame.  Yes, I did just bring Power Rangers into this post.  I would have mentioned Voltron instead, but Voltron didn’t have a duo of bullies.  Now, Bulk and Skull were kind of ineffective as bullies, but they were a duo.  I can’t think of any other team of bullies that only involved a pair.  So anyway, I present to you the Bulk and Skull of our chickens.

They’re pretty mean to the other chickens.  The Barred Rock has her pick of food bowls.  When she goes toward one, all the other chickens, with the exception of the Buff Orpington run away.  They seriously run the other direction.  It’s not a saunter.  There’s no pretending that they’re suddenly interested in something else on the other side of the yard.  It’s fleeing…in terror.  The Orpington doesn’t inspire as much terror in the other chickens, but they’re wary of her too, since the Barred Rock and Buff Orpington like to hang out together.  The Barred Rock sometimes picks on the Orpington too.  The Orpington just kind of takes it.

That was it.  I just thought you’d like to know that some of the chickens think they’re part of the Power Rangers.

Btw, in writing this post, I learned that a group of mixed chickens is a flock of chickens.  A group of hens is a brood of hens.  A group of chicks is a peep or clutch of chicks.

Photos used with permission under Creative Commons and link back to the photographer’s site.

“The more you know” clip I assume is owned by NBC since their logo appears directly afterward, but I just found it on youtube and since no one has sued to take it down since it’s gone up (2009) I assume it’s ok to embed it here.

Scuba diving chickens

I mentioned before that we have chickens, right? And I also mentioned that we had Silkies and then didn’t, right? Well, we have another Silkie. A rooster, this time. Actually, for the longest time, we weren’t sure if the Silkie was a rooster or a hen. Silkies are pretty quiet for chickens and this one was also really timid on top of being quiet. But what I’ve since figured out, aside from the fact that he’s a rooster, is that he’s not so much timid as pensive.

Yes, pensive. This chicken is pensive. First off, he’s rather young and the only boy. The other six chickens we have are all hens. He’s probably lonely and uses his imagination to keep himself company. Of course, if we had another rooster, they’d probably fight. But at least he wouldn’t be lonely anymore.

He’s also kept in the front yard by himself. The chickens in the back had been sick (no, not bird flu) and we didn’t want the Silkie to get sick as well. So he was quarantined in the front yard. I’m sure that just reinforces his loneliness. He’s different from the others in so many ways. And so to combat this terrible, aching loneliness, he retreats to his imagination and thinks about what he wants to be when he grows up.

So, what does he want to be when he grows up? A scuba diver. It’s so obvious.

You see, I first noticed the Silkie’s affinity for water his first day at our house. He was penned in the front yard close to the front door while we were setting up a house for him. And when I came home from work, the dogs burst excitedly from the house (yes, burst) and ran up to see me. This startled and upset the Silkie terribly. Terribly. He made a racket and immediately jumped into his water bowl for safety. His water bowl barely fits his butt, but he apparently felt safer in there. Why? Because obviously you can escape rabid, predatory dogs by diving into water. Granted, my dogs are not rabid and arguably not very predatory (at least Choco), but how was the chicken supposed to know that?

He’s repeated this behavior a few more times with Yaris. Now, Yaris is the more predatory one of the two dogs, but we had explicitly told her that she had to make friends with all the chickens. I think she’s accepted that and she gets along with the chickens in the backyard (when they all decide to escape from the pen). That is to say, the chickens ignore her when she’s far away and when she gets too close for their comfort, they move away. Yaris doesn’t chase them around without good reason (we have told her that wanting to eat one is not a good reason) and the chickens accept that. The Silkie…not so much. He jumps into his water bowl.

And finally, we recently discovered that the Silkie is, in fact, a rooster. He decided to give a crow the other day. It was…not an impressive crow. It sounded garbled and muffled. Like if he were underwater. Scuba diving. Aaaand…there’s my proof. This particular chicken wants to be a scuba diver.