My Little Dinosaurs

It's been a couple days now. For the most part the chickens seemed terrified of me. I have been keeping them in the area off the kitchen here in the house. Natalie warned me that a draft could kill them and it was pretty windy on Saturday when we brought them home.

Some of my first impressions are, chickens poop way more than I thought they would, both in frequency and quantity. Dang, those chickens can poop. Also, they are pretty fucking stupid. People warned me, but it's true. Not very bright.

The Wyandotte is definitely the adventurous one. Bambi suggested that I name her Freerange Molly, and the name is seeming more and more apt. The Marans is more fussy and skittish. She is bigger, but she really depends on the Wyandotte for support. They do this funny thing where if they are startled, one chicken will try to hide underneath the other one. At first it was the Wyandotte, but now it is almost always the Marans.

Sunday was nice, and I probably should have spent the day fixing up the chicken run in the side yard. However, we had to go to Ensenada to get some stuff, and a Sombrero. I am now the proud owner of the most amazing Sombrero ever! It is a vision of color and sparkliness, and really confused the border patrol lady on the way home. Luckily not enough that she felt a secondary search was in order. But this is a blog about chickens, not exotic headwear. I digress.

Another impression about chickens: their enclosure will get stinky fast! I had changed the bedding in their cage before I left, and by the time we got home it was ripe. Also, one of the chickens spilled the water everywhere. I took everything outside to clean out the cage and I had to coax the chickens out. They do not seem particularly excited to explore the great outdoors, especially after the sun goes down.

This morning I put the cage outside before I went to work. It's much warmer today, and I thought that the roomies could use a break from the stench. I want to get them used to being outdoors. At work I was able to find someone to loan me a weedwacker tomorrow so I can trim back the weeds and set up the chicken run. Then they can hang out in the Eglu until I can rig a run up in the side yard.

I just have to say that Daylight Fucking Savings time sucks ASS! I hate it. This morning I felt like I had jet lag but without the excitement of being somewhere foreign. Bleh. The good news about daylight fucking savings time is that I had an hour of daylight when I got home today to take stock, do some gardening and let the chickens run around a bit.

Jenny and Kate had already let them out earlier, which is great. I have been worried about them being too cooped up in the cage. When I took them outside and opened the door, they just hung out in the cage until I stuck my hand in and scooped them out. Then they went and quietly hung out in the planter box. They don't make what I consider to be chicken sounds. Bwak bwak bwak. They sort of whistle and sing, like other kinds of birds. The Marans won't shut up, but luckily, while she makes a lot of noise, she isn't very loud.

As the sun went down, I sat on my door stoop with a beer. Sparky was wandering around checking out the chickens. He seems more startled by them rather than predatory, but I'm definitely keeping an eye out. The Marans went inside the cage and the Wyandotte went after her, but the Marans kept trying to hide under her, so she came back out. The Wyandotte was walking around by my and she was looking at me like she wanted something. Then all of a sudden she jumped up on my arm. She sat there looking around and looking at me. For some reason I was a little worried that she might go for my eyes. Then she did this funny little peck/nuzzle thing around my torso. It tickled. I have no idea what she was doing but it was pretty funny, as long as she was staying away from my eyes. She snuggled in and settled down, and then she pooped on me. Bleh. I think I need a chicken-keeping jumpsuit that I can put on before I interact with them. Did I mention that they poop a lot? I eventually went in and got some broccoli because I thought maybe she was looking for treats. She really wasn't interested, just kept peck/nuzzling. Then she jumped onto my other arm and ended up climbing my shoulder and settling in on the back of my neck. Happily, she did not poop there. It was nice and soft and warm.

I have hopes that my chickens will learn to love me someday soon.