My research is, admittedly, unscientific. But when it comes to deciphering the chicken mind, personal observation counts for a lot, as it does in so many aspects of our lives.
One of the things I've noticed since we started keeping chickens almost four years ago is that our hens are loath to abandon an idea once they get it into their noggins, even if the facts that put it there in the first place have changed dramatically. This is especially true during the winter months.
A couple years ago, our hens refused to emerge from the coop during a blizzard, even though I had covered their pen with tarps, top and sides, to shield them from the wind and the snow. That did not strike me as odd because, truth be told, I didn't want to be outside in that kind of weather either.
But the following day, and for several days thereafter, the sun shone, the temperature was (relatively) balmy and the wind speed never exceeded that of a mild breeze. Yet the day after the storm blew itself out, the hens still refused to come out. And they behaved the same way the day after that too. Not until the third sunny day did they tentatively emerge from the coop, as if eyeing a post-apocalyptic world.
But the following day, and for several days thereafter, the sun shone, the temperature was (relatively) balmy and the wind speed never exceeded that of a mild breeze. Yet the day after the storm blew itself out, the hens still refused to come out. And they behaved the same way the day after that too. Not until the third sunny day did they tentatively emerge from the coop, as if eyeing a post-apocalyptic world.
The same phenomenon has repeated itself following our most recent storms, albeit on a less dramatic scale. This past weekend, for example, it snowed all day on Saturday, so "the girls" decided to hunker down in the coop. Sunday brought clear skies and pleasant temperatures, yet only two of the hens came out for breakfast, and both quickly retreated into their abode, even though it wasn't really cold out by chicken standards. Only when the sun neared its midday zenith yesterday did Snow, Nellie and Hope decide that a prolonged session of peck and scratch out in the pen wasn't such a bad idea after all.
Perhaps this is simply another example of the similarities between humans and chickens. We too fall into ruts, and often take too long to realize that once-sensible patterns of behavior are now passé.
Perhaps this is simply another example of the similarities between humans and chickens. We too fall into ruts, and often take too long to realize that once-sensible patterns of behavior are now passé.
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