Well, as one of the Kuegler Mini Farm farmers, I have seen some of the girls more recent antics. . .and THEY’RE NUTTY CHICKENS!!

First of all, there is now a very defensive mother in the coop.  She is one of the Black Wyandottes, and if you go near her when she is on her egg, she squawks loudly, flaps her wings, and attacks you.  Also, she is very nervous when around humans.  To get some pictures for this article, one of my sisters and my brother had to coax her out while I photographed.  Well, she is being a good mom.

The chickens are loving the warm weather, but this summer has, so far, been the rainiest ever.  This is causing excessive mud in the coop.  The mud, though, is actually a mud and chicken feces mix (Eww!).  The chickens don’t mind it, and they will even eat food out of it.  The mud is covered in chicken tracks that creates an interesting pattern.

Recently, I did some research on chickens and learned a lot. The eye of a chicken can focus on large items no more than 160 feet away. That’s why most chickens do not like to go more than that distance away from their coop.  Also, chickens are able to express over 30 different sounds and have an excellent sense of hearing. This can with be observed in the “talk” between hen and chick. The chick chirps with long, high sounds, and the hen answers with a deep, soft voice.  Our chickens talk a lot, especially after laying an egg.  They cackle loudly, as if to say, “Look at me, I laid an egg.”

The girls also are staying up later and later and getting up earlier.  They are going to bed at nine or later and getting up around five thirty.  Once, I heard one at four, which surprised me, but she was fine!

So, the farm moves on, with our fifteen lovable chickens and their caretakers.