The Funky Chicken

I think chickens are smarter than people give them credit for.

We live on what we have affectionately dubbed, "Greene Acre Farms". We're not really a working farm; it's more of the hobby variety. We have a barn, pot belly pig, 2 ducks, and 8 chickens, all of whom we have raised since they were tiny.  My daughter learned how to collect chicken eggs before she learned to walk which is the essence of why we chose to move here after Bean was born: to bring us closer to nature, to teach her the joys of raising animals and to learn how to become more self-sustainable.

I've always been fascinated with our chickens. There is a very distinct pecking order amongst the flock. The ladies accept newcomers in the same way that we humans, often do; slow to warm up, flapping their tale feathers and pecking at the new girls until they submit to the existing order of the group. Some couldn't handle it. We actually had to re-home 2 very sweet silkies after they found themselves caught in the middle of a very cruel hen hazing.

Last summer husband built them a beautiful chicken coop--truly the Biltmore Estate of coops.

There was just one thing we didn't realize at the time; it floods like crazy on that side of the barn! So during the winter we started letting them out so they didn't drown during the floods. Being newbie 'farmers' we also learned that chickens can fly! Slowly, one-by-one they began to fly the coop, hopping over the fence to our yard or that of our neighbors. Even a chicken knows that the grass is always greener on the other side and the only thing holding them back from freedom was a little wire fence. We were a little hesitant at first about them becoming 'free range' chickens. After all, there are coyotes, hawks, dogs and other bird-loving predators around our house. They seem to have developed some street smarts, however, as we have yet to lose one. They always go back to the coop at dusk, continue to lay eggs in their nest boxes and stay right around our property. I have come to enjoy looking out the window and seeing them scratching in the dirt, seeming so happy as they unearth worms and other yummy snacks (and making their eggs ultra-nutritious). It makes me laugh to open the front door and be greeted by an entire flock of chickens hoping for a hand out. I just don't have the heart to lock them back in! And our grass? It's never been greener!

Grocery store egg on the left, farm egg on the right.