Posted on 05/31/2014 6:43:00 PM PDT by lee martell
I work at a group home in Novato for disabled adults. I enjoy the job and my co-workers. I also like the city of Novato, a little to the north of San Francisco. Novato is a decent sized town, at 27 square miles, and a population of about 52000. There is a comfortable balance of the urban and the rural in this city. Many neighborhoods have started to keep a small group of chickens in their backyards. I believe roosters are allowed too, if they don't raise too much ruckus. I was at the group home today in the staff room, updating the medication log, when outside the rear window I began to hear a peeping noise. That peeping noise turned out to be one of the large hens that live in the house behind where I work. I was on hold with the pharmacy, and I heard this bird chirping out some sort of remarks to her sister hens. It sounded for all the world as though she was telling them something over and over that made the other two hens roar and cackle with laughter.
It was hysterical, I was on hold, with the pharmacy, and I listened as the lead Hen told her story a second time, but at a higher octave, and with a different ending. The other hens acted as though they had just heard the dirtiest, wildest joke ever to be told in a Novato backyard. They laughed for a good ten minutes. You know how contagious laughter can be, right? I soon also felt like laughing, but about what? When the pharmacist returned on the phone with my medicine orders, I was just about to explain to her why I was sniggering, but I thought no, she's gonna wonder if I'm in need of 'medication' myself. So I said nothing. Being from Detroit, I was not around many live chickens growing up, but after being in Novato a few years, I can now say I know the difference between how a Hen clucks vs how a Rooster clucks. I think they may have been reacting to a greedy pair of Blue Jays that kept coming by to help themselves to the Sunflower Seeds on the ground. Anyone else had such an experience listening to 'A Hen Party"?
A Canada Goose is more prodigious with the fecal matter than a duck, but it’s output is more like a dog’s than anything else, and so is less difficult to clean up by comparison, not that it’s really preferable by any means, lol.
There’s something going on. I watched sea gulls and crows playing in a low level thermal once. That’s the only way I can describe their aerial antics. They weren’t fighting. that’s for sure. They reminded me of kids on a playground.
Is his name Howard?
Chickens, no. Crows, yes....
Parrots are remarkable creatures, and are sometimes said to have the emotions of a human two year old. It sounds like those parrots you describe were both jealous of each other and suspicious and resentful of you and your husband as intruders.
Yes crows are smart, but urban crows can be NASTY. I’ve had a pack of crows decide they didn’t like me and follow me squawking. They’ll actually remember you later and park themselves in trees and attempt to crap on your head.
It sounds crazy I know, but it almost made me want to invest in a good slingshot...
The Chicken Police! Being bossy with the rabbits.
I know owls have very large talons. You would have to wear heavy gloves to offer your arm as a perch, even to a friendly owl.
Kalee, Thanks for the story of the gossiping ducks. I’m so sorry you had to deal with somebody being cruel to them. Some folks have a weak sense of self, therefore they a quick to try and injure or kill something less strong or less intelligent. That’s the kind of person that will snap a sapling in two, those decorative fruit saplings you see as landscaping. The ducks felt comfortable near your presence.
I own a boneless chicken ranch and I haven’t noticed anything unusually intelligent about them. They just lay there all day and stare up at the sky.
As a post script to the story, I found out later that Sharon and her husband divorced some time after her husband took that chicken and turned it loose at Knott's Berry Farm to get it out of the house - without asking Sharon. There were probably other issues too, I don't know, but taking her beloved pet away was certainly one of them.
You sure you're actually a "worker" at that place? Let me guess, the reason you didn't laugh is because you heard the joke before.........
What’s all this clucking about the other side of the road, he cock of the walk ain’t buying it.
Maybe wild flocks o crows can be mean and destructive, but the baby crows I raised as pets growing up were so sweet and charming.
They followed us around like little puppies. About the only undesirable habit they had was they liked bright shiny objects like jewelry, etc and would take it to play with. We often had to search the house for it and other things like eye glasses. LOL
We even taught them to say a few words. (Yes, crows can be taught to talk. They are natural mimics) One could say his name (Joe), 'hello', 'Hi', 'eat', and a few other words.
If any of you ever get the chance to take in a baby crow, do it. I'd do it in a NY minute. Very charming pets.
Crows have been proven to be very intelligent. They even use tools in the wild- like using a stick to fish ants out of a hole
.
No one that I ever spoke to had ever heard of chickens drowning themselves. Is this something that turkeys do?
I have heard that when one group of crows spots a person who is particularly mean or nice, these crows will ‘tell’ their friends and their offspring who that special person is and where to find them. Meaning if you drive your Mazarriti (sp) through a deep puddle full of crows sipping water, they will probably remember your car, your face, and how much danger your free splash put them in.
What I’ve found interesting about crows is how they often protect each other and provide backup. You’ll see a crow with an injured wing or leg hobbling down the sidewalk or street, surrounded by Secret Service crows who are panning the surroundings, looking out for anything that might endanger the injured one.
I worked on a boneless chicken ranch once. It was a real pain trying to herd them along with the side of your foot.
And then there was the summer between my junior and senior year when I herded turtles from Maine down to Massachusetts. Crossing the roads was a real killer.
I live on a lake. We have many parties going on. We also have Canadian Geese. Sometimes at night you can’t tell the conversation and laughter of the parties from the clucking of the geese.
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