Exploring BACKYARD CHICKEN BEHAVIOR
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Learn all about raising backyard chickens from small beginnings with chicks and eggs to identifying problems within backyard flocks and how to fix them in Pam Freeman’s Backyard Chickens: Beyond the Basics (Voyageur Press, 2017). Freeman’s practical advice helps to make chicken keeping easier. The following excerpt is from Chapter 2, “Flock Behavior.”
Until I started raising my own backyard flock of chickens, I never thought much about chicken behavior. Yet after I got my birds, I found myself entranced. It started with the chicks in my brooder. They were fascinating! I spent hours watching them scratching, pecking for food, grooming, and even learning to perch. Once they were grown, I loved going outside and interacting with them.
My Barred Plymouth Rocks were the best foragers. Any time I dug holes for planting or turned over a rock or log, they were there to get the best goodies. My White Leghorns, contrary to their breed profile, were so docile I could hold them in my hand and pump them up and down like I was weight lifting.
Hoppy, our Partridge Cochin, formed a special bond with us. She loved to talk to us and come over for pets. One day our dog, Sophie, got out of our fenced-in yard. We needed to get her back safely so we split up places to find her. I went to the bottom of our driveway to make sure Sophie didn’t get out onto the road. My husband
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