And...chickens ARE funny.
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"?
If only they would teach the racoons and skunk how to do it.
I wasn’t very outgoing at parties so I got a duck. He teaches me how to get down.
Petaluma, the chicken capital of the world
That vid is SO funny!!
My SIL has chickens - 5 hens (was 6 ....). They all have personalities and they definitely “talk” to each other. We’ve also had chickens over the years & some were quite the characters ... Bruester the Blue Rooster (yup, there’s a story there), Big Daddy, Freckles, Egypt, etc.
I have no doubt that the hens were having quite a good time - any roosters around? That was probably what the story teller was gossiping about to the other hens (and why they were “laughing”) if there is.
Chickens ain’t all that smart.... trust me.
And...chickens ARE funny.
LOL! See post #20.
They’re viciousn, cowardly little velociraptors!
Why did the liberal chicken cross the road?
Because he saw a fox coming. But then he told all his friends that they were subconscious bigots because they didn’t like foxes. And he posted on Beakbook daily about his love for all things having to do with foxes, including the foxtrot and Michael J. Fox. and he joined an organization to convince chickens overseas to tear down the fences that inconvenienced foxes who surely had the best of intentions. And he made sure his chicks roosted in a coop far away from all foxes, but only because “the birdseed there fits their special needs.”
Birds are more complicated creatures than is generally assumed, especially those species that live in flocks. For example, a parrot that was intensively tutored by researchers to understand and use words seemed to have a sense of humor. One day, seeing a raw chicken on the kitchen counter, he chuckled and said “Oh, poor Pablo,” referring to an absent fellow parrot as if that was chicken carcass.
“You should listen to Sam. He has some important work for you to do with your Bulldog .44.”
Stay away from the Belt Parkway.
Give it a few seconds to start playing:
The Music Man (1962) Pick a little,Talk a Little
http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNjA3MzY1NzQ0.html
I loved your story.
Chickens are wonderfully entertaining creatures.
Fascinating creatures. And they do have personality, no doubt.
One day, laying in my hammock, a catbird landed on top of a wooden pergola, and was eyeing a small fountain we have with a stream of water falling into it. It obviously wanted to take a bath.
But it was clear that it was also nervous.
Now, here you have what is probably one of the most obsessive-compulsive members of the bird family, nervous about getting down to the water.
It twitched and flitted to and fro, singing over and over the same bizarre montage of sounds he sampled in his catbird life. He repeated them again, and again, and again. As it repeated the same little sequence over and over, it got closer and closer to the water, jumping to a branch on a bush, over to a chair, all the time keeping its eyes fixed on the bath.
I was nearly laughing out loud.
I visualized a bird that looked like a sleepless, ring-eyed avian version of a young Steve Buscemi, wringing its hands and saying over and over:
"I want a bath. There's cats around here. It's too open. I want a bath. A squirrel! Why am I here? I want a bath. Is that a cat?"
"I want a bath. There's cats around here. It's too open. I want a bath. A squirrel! Why am I here? I want a bath. Is that a cat?"
"I want a bath. There's cats around here. It's too open. I want a bath. A squirrel! Why am I here? I want a bath. Is that a cat?"
I figured that was the life of a small bird. Always keeping your eye out for the thing that will kill you or eat you.
That was awesome.
.
I like chickens. Love to hear the hens sing.
(Don’t laugh and make jokes. People who grew up around chickens know what I mean.)
.
Did they exhibit a sense of impending doom?
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