Proud of His Hens

Rocky the Rooster crows when he hears one of the hens doing her "I just laid an egg" cackle. He escorts a hen to the chicken house when she wants to lay an egg. Then he paces around outside for as long as it takes until he hears her happy cackling from inside the house.

He then struts up the ramp and goes inside. After a short while she comes out with him close behind her and they join the rest of the flock. He does this with each hen to different degrees. His favorite hen, Whitie, of course, gets the most attention from him. He simply adores her and she knows it.

He is always close by wherever she is. They have been in love since day one when I brought them home. I am so glad I took both of them. Without knowing, I could easily have separated them when I went to pick them up at the farm that day. Because back then I did not think chickens knew anything much less that they had deep, lasting relationships.

Barometric Pressure and Chickens

Ever notice that chickens stay close to their roosts when the barometer starts to fall below 29.5. If it falls lower than that, the chickens will actually go to roost early, even in the morning. When the barometric pressure is high, around 30.5, free range chickens, like mine, will venture far and wide, too far in my opinion. I like them to stay relatively close.

We have wooded areas around our place and whenever the barometer reaches 30.5, they venture into the woods. A danger zone because of predators, so my husband and I take turns scaring them back. We used to be gentle about shooing them back into the safety zone of the yard, but we have found that a good scare lasts a long time in keeping them out of the woods. Tough love.