Rosynek Week 5- Chickens

    Around Easter of last year, we bought 6 chicks from Tractor Supply. Unfortunately, we ended up with 4 roosters and 2 hens. One was so hostile that every time my mother or I went outside of the house and it heard us, it would run to attack us. This year, we are down to 3: our two hens, Rico and Olive, and our rooster, Tilly. 

    It has been quite a learning experience having these chickens and caring for them. When they were little, they all lived in a really large box with fresh shavings, food, and water every day. They were incredibly spoiled. I would always hold them every day, mostly Rico. (If you are confused why our chickens have opposite gender names, we didn't know what gender they were until they grew up.) She was the sweetest and would sit on your shoulder, your lap, and always cluck to you. 

    Present day, almost a year-old Rico, now runs to me as soon as she sees me outside, and comes to our front door to peck on it for bread. She is basically a dog who will follow you around and likes to have attention. Our other hen, Olive, is friendly but doesn't like to be pet or picked up. She prefers to lounge and eat (don't we all). 

    Even though we gave our other roosters away to farms where they could have their own hens, we still face a problem with Tilly. Tilly only likes my father. He dislikes me and other unfamiliar people. He will come after your shins if you get too close to the girls and he will chase you around. I have learned to never turn my back to him. We never figured out why the roosters dislike me. Some suggestions were that they didn't appreciate me taking the hens away from them or picking the hens up, or that they did not think I was part of the "flock." 

    I find chickens really interesting. As much as I'm always chased around by them, I've discovered a lot about the species. Our hens stopped laying eggs regularly in the winter because it is so cold. Their activities mostly consist of free-ranging where they forage for food during the day and the hens follow the rooster around the yard. They never leave home, as if they know invisible boundaries. They understand certain words and they know their names. If you raise them with a lot of attention and spend a lot of time with them, they can basically become dogs. We get two eggs a day, at most. However, very frequently our eggs are double and triple yolked. We get two eggs a day, at most. However, very frequently our eggs are double and triple yolked. 

    I'm grateful that we still have our three chickens, but I am hoping that in the Springtime we can adopt a few more hens.