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Vicki
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 Posted: Thu Sep 25, 2003 4:20 am Post subject: Adoptive Mommy |
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I know there will be those of you who have been around chickens a long
time who won>t be surprised by this, but I>ve only had them for four
years so this brought tears to my eyes.
About three years ago I rescued a Frizzle hen from a local feed
store. It was hard to tell what the poor thing was, because she didn>t
have one feather on her body. She just had quills where her wings
would be, and the other chickens were starting to peck at her. I paid
all of $2 for her and took her home. It was early spring, so I kept
her in the house till she grew some feathers. We named her Frizzle.
That summer she laid maybe 6 or 8 tiny eggs, but I had no
rooster. She went broody for awhile and tried her best to hatch the
plastic Easter eggs and golf balls in a nest, or if the other hens
laid some eggs she would try to spread herself to cover 3 or 4
extra-large eggs...a tiny Bantam Frizzle. Last year she laid only one
egg at the beginning of the summer, but seemed to be broody again for
much of the summer. For Christmas, we got her a Frizzle rooster we
named Rocky. He has shown little interest in her, probably because
she>s not laying. (We like to joke that it>s because he likes the BIG
girls.)
She hasn>t laid any more eggs...she might be too old, I guess.
But she continues to be broody. Last month I bought four baby chicks
(Ancona and Americauna) who were probably a month old and
shell-shocked from living in a cage at a feed store. Humans reaching
anywhere near them freaked them out. I put them in a cage in my
"chicken shed," a tin shed where the ten nests and the roosts are.
That way, I figured, they could gradually get accustomed to the other
chickens and maybe learn people weren>t monsters to be afraid of.
Frizzle>s chosen nest was maybe a foot away from the cage. I
could hear her muttering to herself or to the babies...she was not
happy. After a week of them being out there I opened the cage. They
were still pretty uncertain of the world, and barely left the confines
of the cage.
They never left the shed even though they have free run of almost
half an acre. I saw them try to crowd into Frizzle>s nest where she
was desperately trying to hatch the golf balls and eggs...even though
it>s been over a year since she laid eggs. Funny, because they are
about 2/3 her size already. She muttered and complained but didn>t
peck at them or anything.
I came home from work Friday to find Frizzle and the four babies
out in the yard together. She was carefully instructing them on the
things that one needs to know to be a chicken...how to scratch in the
best dirt and find the tastiest bits of worm or whatever. Where the
nicest shade is in the yard, and which waterer has the coolest water.
They follow her around like they belong to her, and she is
strutting around as though she had laied and hatched all four of them
herself. Oh, and she isn>t broody any more.
If I had known this was going to happen, I would have gotten her
babies a long time ago, She has gone and laid in the nest a few times
since then, but not like she was. They follow her everywhere and seem
to look at her adoringly...if
chicks can have such a look.
I didn>t hope that this could happen because I have never had
luck putting even newly-hatched chicks in with a broody hen...and it
didn>t seem like chicks hatched by an incubator (who were over a month
old) could bond with a living hen. But it seems like Frizzle and the
chicks fill a need in each others' lives -- and that has really made
my day.
Vicki in Arizona |
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Sky
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| Posted: Fri Sep 26, 2003 11:20 pm Post subject: Re: Adoptive Mommy |
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Fantistic story Vickie, I enjoyed reading it. Seems like Frizzle is
very lucky that you found her and she is happy to pass your loving
care on to these little ones. Sky
vickin@usa.net (Vicki) wrote in message news:<fbf87332.0309241520.181927cd@posting.google.com>...
[quote]I know there will be those of you who have been around chickens a long
time who won>t be surprised by this, but I>ve only had them for four
years so this brought tears to my eyes.
About three years ago I rescued a Frizzle hen from a local feed
store. It was hard to tell what the poor thing was, because she didn>t
have one feather on her body. She just had quills where her wings
would be, and the other chickens were starting to peck at her. I paid
all of $2 for her and took her home. It was early spring, so I kept
her in the house till she grew some feathers. We named her Frizzle.
That summer she laid maybe 6 or 8 tiny eggs, but I had no
rooster. She went broody for awhile and tried her best to hatch the
plastic Easter eggs and golf balls in a nest, or if the other hens
laid some eggs she would try to spread herself to cover 3 or 4
extra-large eggs...a tiny Bantam Frizzle. Last year she laid only one
egg at the beginning of the summer, but seemed to be broody again for
much of the summer. For Christmas, we got her a Frizzle rooster we
named Rocky. He has shown little interest in her, probably because
she>s not laying. (We like to joke that it>s because he likes the BIG
girls.)
She hasn>t laid any more eggs...she might be too old, I guess.
But she continues to be broody. Last month I bought four baby chicks
(Ancona and Americauna) who were probably a month old and
shell-shocked from living in a cage at a feed store. Humans reaching
anywhere near them freaked them out. I put them in a cage in my
"chicken shed," a tin shed where the ten nests and the roosts are.
That way, I figured, they could gradually get accustomed to the other
chickens and maybe learn people weren>t monsters to be afraid of.
Frizzle>s chosen nest was maybe a foot away from the cage. I
could hear her muttering to herself or to the babies...she was not
happy. After a week of them being out there I opened the cage. They
were still pretty uncertain of the world, and barely left the confines
of the cage.
They never left the shed even though they have free run of almost
half an acre. I saw them try to crowd into Frizzle>s nest where she
was desperately trying to hatch the golf balls and eggs...even though
it>s been over a year since she laid eggs. Funny, because they are
about 2/3 her size already. She muttered and complained but didn>t
peck at them or anything.
I came home from work Friday to find Frizzle and the four babies
out in the yard together. She was carefully instructing them on the
things that one needs to know to be a chicken...how to scratch in the
best dirt and find the tastiest bits of worm or whatever. Where the
nicest shade is in the yard, and which waterer has the coolest water.
They follow her around like they belong to her, and she is
strutting around as though she had laied and hatched all four of them
herself. Oh, and she isn>t broody any more.
If I had known this was going to happen, I would have gotten her
babies a long time ago, She has gone and laid in the nest a few times
since then, but not like she was. They follow her everywhere and seem
to look at her adoringly...if
chicks can have such a look.
I didn>t hope that this could happen because I have never had
luck putting even newly-hatched chicks in with a broody hen...and it
didn>t seem like chicks hatched by an incubator (who were over a month
old) could bond with a living hen. But it seems like Frizzle and the
chicks fill a need in each others' lives -- and that has really made
my day.
Vicki in Arizona[/quote] |
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