A Farm Needs a Chicken

Our Chicken George is a riot. As noted, we didn't think he'd last 24 hours on our farm as we have foxes and coyotes and skunks and raccoons and neighboring dogs. But he is one happy chicken. He makes it sound and feel like a real farm. He gives a completely different atmosphere to the entire place.

I think he spent his entire life in a small wire cage and the freedom he has here must make him a very happy chicken. He seems happy. He makes us laugh. We hear him at the crack of dawn crowing inside the barn like CRAZY.. he must drive the animals insane. Then we feed him and he makes all sorts of happy noises clucking softly while he pecks every crumb up.. and we open the barn doors to let him out into the world for the day. We hear him occasionally throughout the day crowing proudly.. and VERY loudly.. from neighboring properties, from the woods, from behind our house.. wherever. He gets around. And then in the late evening, he reappears in the barn, hops up high on the rafters, squats down into a huge puffball that makes him look twice his normal size and snoozes.

Except for that one night that Timm left the tractor out and hadn't put it up until very late at night... George was settled for the night on the tractor seat deciding that was a good place to perch for the night. Silly chicken. That was NOT a good idea.. he needed to be in the barn where it was safe. So since chickens go into some sort of zombie-like state when they are sleepy, I simply reached over and picked him up by his feet and held him in my arms like a lazy cat and carried him gently into the barn and tossed him up on the hay where he ruffled his feathers in indignation and hopped up on his customary rafter to resettle into sleep... or so I thought. Apparently my waking him up had disoriented him and he began crowing... continuously.. and very loudly... VERY loudly... echoing off the metal barn sides and roof. Thankfully by the time I got the stalls all cleaned out and bedded with fresh straw and brought the horses and donkey in and fed them, he had settled down and was quietly snoozing on his rafter.

I like that chicken. He's cool.