CAN CHICKENS BE RACIST?
Today we put "Puffy-Doo" one of our fluffy white Silkie roosters into the aviary with the four Golden Comet ladies. Our original intent was for two of the ladies to be for Puffy and two of the ladies for Punky our little Silkie rooster with the mammoth personality. We expected fireworks between the white Silkie rooster and the four orange ladies. What we saw was shocking. One by one the ladies did something they never do, they went into their house and left poor Puffy all by himself in the aviary. The ladies turned their backs on the poor little guy and left him. They made it clear, they don't like him.
Puffy was well behaved and a gentleman. The girls wanted nothing to do with him so we took him out of their aviary and surprise, out they came from their house. One of the chickens said to me "whew, glad he's gone". Puffy returned to his play area and continued his dialogue with Flock-2 hens (which he can not access or get to).We had fully expected there to be chaos in the Comet cage when we put Puffy in but there were no problems. The orange-chicken ladies totally rejected the white-chicken guy so we did what any intrepid chicken handler would do, we put an orange rooster in with the orange ladies and what do you think happened?
The orange ladies love the orange rooster. What? When we replaced Puffy with our orange rooster, "Orangey" the ladies immediately came over to him like a long lost friend. It was love at first sight. Orangey was a total gentleman (gentle-rooster?) and did his best to not make any of the ladies mad. This was only the eighth day the ladies have been at P2 so they're still adjusting to their new home but the way they adopted Orangey as "their" rooster was a love story unfolding before our eyes.
Over the course of the day we watched Orangey carefully. On several occasions he went inside the chicken coop the ladies have been sleeping in, he always came back out quickly. We were wondering what would happen at dark. Orangey has been living by himself in his own chicken condo for months and is always quick to put himself to bed at sundown. Tonight we watched to see what he would do. The big question, would he go into the coop with the ladies or beg to return to his own condo?
One by one the ladies lined up on the ramp leading into their coop, and one by one they slowly went into their coop. After all four hens were inside Orangey hopped up on to the ramp and walked up to the doorway, he looked inside and went in. We were absolutely gleeful about them all getting along and going to bed together. The glee ended quickly when Orangey and one of the females ejected out of the coop. Orangey appeared to go to a corner of the aviary and stare at his old condo which sat a few feet away. The female hen took a couple of laps around the aviary and then she hopped up on to the entry ramp and went back into the coop.
Just as we were preparing to go out and retrieve Orangey and put him back in his condo something amazing happened. He walked over, hopped up on the entry ramp and walked up and into the coop with the four Golden Comet hens. We gave them another 10 minutes to see if he would stay inside. No chickens came back out, they were ready to sleep the night away.
When I went out to close and lock the coop door for the night I could hear very soft chicken chatter coming from inside the house. It was dark outside but I could still see inside enough to see that all the chickens were perching (as opposed to nesting on the floor of the coop). The ladies made room for Orangey in their house.
BEST LAID PLANS OF HUMANS AND CHICKENS
Our Golden Comet hens came from a much larger flock of 25-40 hens. In a group that big they don't function at an intimate level with each other. At our farm the four hens we purchased are just beginning to function as a family. They're still acclimating to their new deluxe surroundings and their much smaller flock size. They are establishing a pecking order between themselves but for the most part that process has not been mean or problematic.
The four hens are very chatty with us. When we get anywhere near their aviary they come over to us with their beaks partially open and emitting a gentle chicken-speak which cannot be emulated with text :-)
We got the Comets with the intent of two going to each of our Silkie roosters but instead our little Orangey came from nowhere, swept all the hens off their pointy little feet and moved into their house. BAM
It's all over. I don't think there is going to be any breaking the orange chickens apart from each other. It's love. Orangey the Southern gentleman rooster looks perfectly at home with the Golden Comets.
Orangey is a bantam size rooster (maybe two-pounds in weight). The Golden Comets are 6-month old standard size hens (3-to-6 pounds in weight).
Orangey is a Cochin rooster, the Golden Comets are mutt hens. They all look great hanging around together. Orangey's beautiful deep orange color is a wonderful complement to the orange hues which adorn the Golden Comets.
FLOCK FIVE IS BORN
Previously, we had four very discrete flocks which we called Flock-1, Flock-2, Flock-3 and Flock-4. With the mingling of Orangey and the Golden Comets it appears that one of our three pampered roosters has finally found a flock of his own to be part of. This is the first group of chickens we have that are all basically the same color.
It will be a new journey tomorrow when we open the door to the Comets coop and see the five orange chickens come out to greet the new day as Flock-5.
