Chickens are so awesome :)

We originally took one in that was being neglected (the whole story is longer, but that’s the essence). We thought it was a hen, and got a second one as company because one chicken isn’t going to be happy.

Well, the first one was actually a rooster.

His crowing has managed to pull in a few volunteer hens from the feral flocks in the area, though they don’t tend to stay long and once they leave the fenced in yard with the big scary guy willing to shoot a coyote that tries to bother them, they don’t come back.

But just our pet hen lays almost every day, and since we aren’t daily egg eaters that’s plenty right there. The ones the volunteers lay are just nice extras.

Since the rooster is too big to actually manage a cloacal kiss, nothing ever gets fertilized, and none of them have gone broody. Hell, the pet hen, when she lays inside, she gets all loud, comes over to one of us and squawks like crazy until we go get the damn egg, so she can fix her little nest lol.

And they really are good company, even the feral ones. Our two pets are an endless source of joy, and the current volunteer is outright friendly as long as you don’t pick her up. She follows right behind me and the rooster when we’re piddling in the yard. She’ll peck at my pant cuffs, looking for treats; or she’ll do this weird little dance to get my attention, then run back and forth to the door, hoping I’ll go and get a treat. You could say she believes in a transactional relationship: we give her treats, she gives us demands for treats.

Before this, I had just put the hen to bed after two hours of her snuggled up under my arm, trilling while I played games with my wife. How can you resist that? I can’t lol.