Chicken Tales
There’s never a dull moment living at the ranch, whether it be learning new skills, getting involved with conservation projects or simply living with a whole group of amazing animals such as horses, cats, dogs and chicken, full of character and their own stories to tell. Currently at the ranch, we have twenty-four chickens, which is plenty of opportunity for them to have as many adventures as we do, and get into all kinds of trouble.
The first story is about Mama Chicken and her surprise brood of chicks. She had disappeared for a few weeks, we were worried she’d been attacked by a raven or coyote. She didn’t return to the chicken coop at night or join the other chickens in the yard during the day. Then, perhaps three weeks after she went missing, we found her, she’d made a nest beside the office, under some fallen tree branches which was why no one had seen her.
Jasmin and I had thought we’d heard chick calls earlier in the day, but had dismissed it. We didn’t think we had any baby chickens! In the nest with her were ten chicks, ranging from a few days to a week old, and ten more eggs which she was sitting on, trying to hatch. We were astounded and relieved – had she been here the whole time, incubating her eggs and caring for her new chicks? We didn’t want her outside where she was vulnerable to predators, so we filled a cardboard box with bedding, some from Mama Chicken’s original nest and put the chicks and eggs inside. Mama Chicken was understandably protective of her brood and had to be wrapped up tight in a jacket to stop her attacking anyone as we carried her and her babies to the chicken coop. Here, we set up a dog crate to keep the chicks safe from the other chickens and put in the nest box, some water and baby chicken food. There was a whole group of us there to name the chicks, who were a huge variety of colours meaning it was easy to tell them apart. Their names became; Molly, Jasmin, Manon, Kevan, Minto, Baby Cardtable, Cinnamon, Peeves, Olaf and Journey. Over the next few months, these little balls of fluff would grow their first stubby feathers, wobble their way around the chicken coop, make their first adventures outside, which included meeting our two pigs, Brendan and Remarkable, and the horses and become part of our ranch community.
The next chicken story also involves egg laying. While Juan was away on a pack trip, Yu returned to their tent to find Mia standing on his tent mate’s bed. She had laid two eggs there and was trying to hatch them. Here at the ranch, the rule is no food in tents. This is to stop wildlife, including bears and mice, and perhaps more often our pigs, from being attracted to the tents. We never thought it would be the chickens we would need to keep out. We’re not sure what exactly it was that had attracted Mia to Juan’s bed. Perhaps it was the soft, warm blue blanket which meant she didn’t need to make much of a nest. Yu removed the eggs and Mia left the tent, and Juan’s blanket, alone.
Over the next few weeks, we’d continue to find eggs in all sorts of unlikely places; it was laying season. One day, I found a batch of eight or nine eggs under the chicken house. I had less than a foot gap between the ground and the floor of the chicken coop, but I needed to get the eggs out, we didn’t need more baby chickens and as they weren’t being incubated by a hen, they would become rotten anyway. Removing my hat, I lay down on the ground and army-crawled under the house. The space was so small, I couldn’t lift my head and could just about see the eggs in front of me. Finally, I got to them, and moved them one at a time closer to the edge of the house, as I’d forgotten to bring anything with me to put them in. Now, I had to get out again. I had no way of turning around, so I had to shuffle backwards, trying not to kick and break the eggs. I made it out with all the eggs still intact and loaded them into a bowl to take to the ranch house.
A few days later, Yu found eggs in the same place, again not being sat on by a chicken. I had a technique now, and volunteered to crawl under the house and get the eggs. There were just as many eggs here this time and I passed them back to Yu. I got out with no more difficulty than last time, although at some point I’d crawled through chicken shit, and spent the rest of the day smelling of such. Well, I reasoned, I was on ranch hand duty and I didn’t think I could claim to have done that job properly if I didn’t end up covered in shit, mud or motor oil.
In the house, Lydia put the eggs in water to test if they were still safe to eat, rotten eggs float on the surface. We didn’t want to waste the eggs unnecessarily, this was the best way to test if they could still be eaten. All the eggs were good, after cleaning them, we put them in the fridge with the other eggs. Our chickens are free to roam around the ranch, happily putting themselves to bed in the chicken house each evening. We know exactly where those eggs come from, what the chickens have eaten and what kind of life they’ve had. Using their eggs helps us to live more sustainably, caring for our environment.
The third story is about one of our three roosters, Point 22. He’d managed to get a knot of old binder twine twisted around his leg, it must have been dropped on the ground and somehow he’d got caught up in it. Over a couple of days, Lea and Kathrin tried to catch him to free him from the twine but to no avail, he could still run. When I returned from the bush, I tried as well, but he escaped by running under a tent. The next morning, Kathrin and I were feeding the chickens and letting them out for the day. Point 22 was up on the top perch, which made it difficult for us to reach him. After trying to herd him down, I decided my best course of action would be to weave my way between the beams of the perches to get to the very back, where I could reach up and grab him. It was a bad angle and my grip on him slipped as he tried to fly away, I was only holding his legs, his wings flapping around my face. I managed to cradle him against my body, pinning his wings closed. Then, he stopped struggling and as a I made my way out from between the perches, he lay still in my arms. I extended his leg so Kathrin could cut free the binder twine using my Leatherman. The twine was securely knotted around his ankle and toes, meaning Kathrin had to cut it many times before we could free him. Kathrin was worried about cutting Point 22 with the knife, but the blade was sharp, meaning the twine was easy to remove. Point 22 was a cooperative patient, and soon we had him free. I set him down on the floor of the chicken house and he walked away, seemingly unfazed by the experience and ready for his next adventure.
I can say for sure there will be more chicken stories to come, like with everything else at the ranch, we never know what adventures they’ll get up to next.
