Sept. 20, 2012: The 7 Habits of Highly Successful Chickens

Did you know that chickens form habits just like humans?  They have some very good habits, and some very destructive habits.  While they do not typically smoke, or drink alcohol, they do tend to get angry and beat up on each other,  They even cannibalize ( not just peck) each other in a kind of Lord of the Flies scenario. This is a very bad habit and hard to break if the chicken wrangler does not catch it early. 

When I read about this cannibalizing behavior I said," Holy Crap, what am I going to do if they start eating each other?"  Then common sense set in and I realized that if I am paying the kind of attention to what's going on in the flock that is needed, and if I train them well, and if I intervene at the first sign, I will do OK.   I learned that stress, overcrowding, lack of adequate foraging can lead to this.  Larger flocks have more of incidence of this while smaller flocks do not.  I'm sticking with the smaller flock, lots of fuzzeling, time outs, and plenty of food and water. 

Just like when raising kids, you have to start young teaching what is healthy behavior and what is not, and like kids, chickens with bad behaviors need consequences...time outs (or worse if the behavior continues).  Chickens have personalities and characters just like humans.  Even though some breeds tend to be more aggressive, TLC, training, rewards and consequences can make a difference.  The key is to start early, at the first sign of unhealthy behavior.

More important than focusing on chickens behaving badly,  I want to foster healthy, happy chicken habits.  Chickens like to 1) preen, 2) take dust baths, 3) nap in the sun,4)  run around a lot, 5) they love treats and 6) fluff their wings and 7) also love to chat.  Yep I said chat.  And I'm not just talking cluck cluck, but all kinds of sounds.  So I will be talking to my chickens frequently and even listening to them to see what they have to say.

As for the 7  healthy habits, I will provide the girls with opportunities to do all of those things, and I will probably take naps in the sun with them, though I'll be on a chaise lounge.  And if they are really good, I might introduce them to martini's..just a beakful, but no cigarettes!