This is a photo of my yard birds roosting where they are not supposed to be. If I don't lure them into the chicken tractor at sunset, they choose this spot. These birdbrains are banties from an assortment of feed store chicks.
I wanted banties because I had heard they are active and can fly...two necessary survival traits for free birds.
From left to right in this picture, the birds are: "Vader, That Pheasanty-Looking One, Satan, Hoot, and That Gold Hen."
When I bought these chicks, the teenage checkout girl at Tractor Supply opened the chick box and grabbed each chick in turn by the neck letting their feet dangle.
At first, I thought, " Man, this girl hates chickens, good thing I didn't buy a puppy from her." I guess she noticed my shocked look, because she stopped strangling my chicks and explained that she could sex them by the way they reacted. It had to do with whether they kicked their legs or not as she dangled them by the neck.
I forget now whether kicking your legs meant you were male or female, but I do remember that her prediction of how many were roosters and how many were chicks turned out to be accurate.
5 comments:
That seems like a good skill to have....I guess!
Zanne,
She was pretty accurate. It's nice to have a wide skill set.
I've never considered myself a fan of the yard bird but I am always delighted to see pictures of yours and to read about them.
Hey Girlonaglide,
Thanks. The good riding weather...cool and less rain is around the corner. Just gotta reason with hurricane season first!
I just spent the last 15 minutes browsing through your archives, looking for this photo, Fc. You have some splendid birds, and ALL of them are completely different from the ones I have now.
Since many of my birds can't fly worth a damn, I have to build a sturdy run.
The weekend can't come soon enough for me and the birds, both. We'll at least get a good start on the run.
The birds, meanwhile, have another week to stay in the coop. Then they'll have the daytime run of the place - outside and inside the coop. Safety first, though.
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