like hens in a hen house
I'm worried about my little chickies. As a first time hen owner, everything makes me nervous about them. As of late is has been these windy rain storms. Last night got really bad. Pouring rain and loud strong winds. They have their hen house, plus a run, and we have made sure their house is nice and dry, no leaks to be found.. But still I worry that they might be getting too cold, or even scared. Can chickens even fear? How could we really know if any animal experiences fear if we have no knowledge of their living mental experiences? I am not convinced either way, however it still makes me nervous, on the very off chance they might be scared at night all alone in their little house with the big scary winds beating the walls and roof.
Anyhow, it just makes me anxious, and anxious for spring and warmer dryer temperatures for the girls.
They are really adorable. They keep surprising me with how smart they actually are. I've always thought of chickens in general as very dumb (another reason why I've never had a problem eating chicken but I do with lamb, beef or pig). But they are actually not dumb at all. They recognize sounds, people, patterns.. their run is about 15 feet from my kitchen window, and I've been doing dishes some days and suddenly see them see me moving and stop, turn their eye towards me and watch me. And I couldn't help but think, what thaaa fuck?! They can recognize me through the kitchen window!?
The buckeye we have, we call Maple, she is more carnivorous than Mrs. Featherbottom (the red sexlink). She LOVES worms and dried worms. Mrs. Featherbottom is not much of a worm eater, but she'll nibble here and there. They both love squash and pumpkin though, especially spaghetti squash insides, I think that is their favorite. They eat other veggies too if I chop them up first. If I put whole fruits or veggies in there they don't touch them. But of course, I give them mainly chicken crumbles made for hens their age.
If we can ever get around to fencing off the property properly, and clipping their wings a bit (cause that Mrs. featherbottom can fly!) then we are going to let them have free range of the backyard... Ideally I would like to make this a summer project.
Anyways I really need to head out to the library to pick up the books I put on hold and return all these ones Ezzy finished.
Toodaloooo!
Anyhow, it just makes me anxious, and anxious for spring and warmer dryer temperatures for the girls.
They are really adorable. They keep surprising me with how smart they actually are. I've always thought of chickens in general as very dumb (another reason why I've never had a problem eating chicken but I do with lamb, beef or pig). But they are actually not dumb at all. They recognize sounds, people, patterns.. their run is about 15 feet from my kitchen window, and I've been doing dishes some days and suddenly see them see me moving and stop, turn their eye towards me and watch me. And I couldn't help but think, what thaaa fuck?! They can recognize me through the kitchen window!?
The buckeye we have, we call Maple, she is more carnivorous than Mrs. Featherbottom (the red sexlink). She LOVES worms and dried worms. Mrs. Featherbottom is not much of a worm eater, but she'll nibble here and there. They both love squash and pumpkin though, especially spaghetti squash insides, I think that is their favorite. They eat other veggies too if I chop them up first. If I put whole fruits or veggies in there they don't touch them. But of course, I give them mainly chicken crumbles made for hens their age.
If we can ever get around to fencing off the property properly, and clipping their wings a bit (cause that Mrs. featherbottom can fly!) then we are going to let them have free range of the backyard... Ideally I would like to make this a summer project.
Anyways I really need to head out to the library to pick up the books I put on hold and return all these ones Ezzy finished.
Toodaloooo!