When you order 100 chicks you receive a "bonus exotic chick." Both of our exotic chicks have turned out to be little bantam chickens, dwarfed by the 100 big heavy-body roosters Cadence ordered to raise as broilers. When the heavy-body chicks began picking on the first little banty, we moved him in with our two black runner ducklings. They became inseparable friends, even when the ducks rapidly outgrew him and towered over him. He is a chick who seems to believe he is a duck, and thus we named him "Chuck Dickens." Chuck uses the ducks as his personal body guards. Whenever the other chickens attack him, and they do often, the ducks rush in and protect him. The ducks even allow Chuck to sleep between them, keeping him warm.
So, this afternoonm I was surprised to see Chuck cozied up next to one of the Toulose geese! Maybe Chuck realized the goose is a bigger, better body guard than the ducks. We have a pair of ducks and three geese--maybe Chuck and the odd goose feel left out and are banding together. Curious.
In other chicken news, the first 100 free-range chicks are nearing rooster-hood and beginning to crow - they sound like 100 New Years Eve blow-out party favors! They are also becoming obsessed by my laying hens. The white leghorns (Rog calls them the Foghorn Leghorns) seem to have matured first and are unrelentingly stalking my Aracauna hens. Their rooster, Chagall, must be exhausted, vigilantly protecting the hens. The day of chicken reckoning is soon at hand -- and those obnoxious Foghorn Leghorns will be the first to go!
1 comment:
the pic of the two is adorable :)
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