Tag: roosters

If you want to live with chickens, prepare for noise.

Even if you leave that noisy rooster (who doesn’t just crow at dawn, mind you, he crows often during the day, pretty much when he feels like it, and his voice carries for miles) at the feed store, the hens will make a racket.

You know how hens just make soft clucking sounds in movies?  Well, they do that, but they also have their ultra-loud “I just laid an egg and it’s the most amazing thing I’ve ever done” call, that usually sets off the other hens, until they finally settle down.  Until another one lays an egg, that is.  That one sounds like “buckbuckbuckbuck B’GAWK!” repeated seemingly ad infinitum.

Then there’s the “I’m really completely hungry and haven’t eaten in days” sound that sounds like a raspy “raaaaaaaaaawk, raaaaaaaaawk, raaaaaaaaaaaaawk,” and once again has all the hens involved.  I don’t care how often you feed them, chickens are basically bottomless stomachs and have very little memory.  So they always think they are hungry.

I love taking care of chickens, and I even love the obnoxious roosters.  But they’re a bird for the country unless you have understanding neighbors.  My advice is, bribe them with fresh eggs.

Did you know chickens can fly?  Surprisingly long distances at times, even for the fat, heavy ones?  They can get up on roofs, into trees, and over fences.

Chickens are good for pest control, provided you don’t allow them near baby plants.  You might try a portable run that you could move around the yard.  Properly fenced, they are an asset.  The eggs are fantastic when you have your own chickens, they even taste better than the fancy free range cageless eggs at the store.  Chicken manure is great for your garden if you age it properly.   They will help you dispose of kitchen scraps and my even kill rats and mice.  Mine did, anyway.  Some chickens will become friendly and start following you around.   So definitely have them if you can, just be aware that it’s not at all like what you see in the movies!

That’s what I learned from a childhood of chicken-keeping!