Happy Holidays! 2024
A Retrospect of 2024 Chicken Adventures
The chickens have had quite the year here in Maine! They’ve been settling into their new coop, enjoying five acres to roam, and making new friends. The year started with a flock of 11 chickens: my original three Rhode Island Red hens from Narberth—Marigold, Penelope, and Fiona—alongside Jon’s original three hens, whom I named Henny, Lolly, and Poppy. Then, of the five chicks we got from the feed store in spring 2023, two grew up to be roosters—Joe and Kezzie—and three hens—Big Bird, Road Runner, and Dragon. Definitely a full coop!
The roosters were fully grown this year, which has meant shifting flock dynamics around mating. This is my first time having roosters and as far as roosters go, Joe and Kezzie (yes, named after Outlander) are pretty good compared to horror stories you hear about how roosters treat hens and charge humans. This duo is pretty sweet, they find food in the yard and do a special cluck to gift the snack to the girls, and they scream REALLY loud if a predator comes near which gives me warning to come help chase it away (more on that later).
Still, in spite of being nice roosters, I was horrified to see the girls losing feathers from their (ahem) courtships, which is apparently common. As far as I can tell, women’s rights really hasn’t hit the world of poultry yet (to be fair, nor has men’s rights as most roosters get “culled” at birth). At least for feather loss due to mating, there’s a solution: hen saddles! Yes, it’s a thing. I ordered some utilitarian ones from Australia that looked a bit like Marvel costumes, and Missy from Narberth kindly sent along some stylish homemade saddles as well which has flushed out their wardrobe. Here is Big Bird, sporting both styles.
In early summer, the chickens joined me in hosting a backyard class called “Chickens & Chill,” which combined Pilates, stretching, and Reiki relaxation. This class was inspired by one of my favorite Maine discoveries: Pig Yoga and Goat Yoga! It was fun to create my own small backyard rendition as an extracurricular activity with the chickens. Needless to say, the few classes I hosted went well, with the flock happily pecking at mealworms I generously sprinkled between yoga mats to entice them to wander around and hang out with everyone participating.
In late July, when we returned from a long weekend away, I found Poppy sitting on a clutch of eggs. I let her stay on the eggs, and lo and behold, two baby chicks arrived in August! I’ve only ever raised baby chicks from the feed store, so this was a wonderful new experience for me to watch Poppy hatch and raise her babies. Although Poppy sat on the nest, the eggs underneath were all different colors, so all the hens contributed and the babies are a mystery mix in terms of breed. For names, I think I’ve settled on Ember for the gray one and Raven for the black.
The flock prefers to spend their days free-ranging rather than in their coop. Last year, we lost two hens to predators, but this year we’ve managed to avoid that—knock on wood—as I’ve been more discerning about letting them out to free-range when I’m home. Even as such, we’ve had frequent visitors from hawks, foxes, and even a bobcat. Every time I let them out, it feels like playing roulette, but as far as I can tell, they are definitely “live free or die” chickens, so I let them out and do everything I can. Fortunately, the roosters and I have worked out a security system. Except for photo shoots, I work from home, so whenever I’m home, I let them out. If a predator comes near, the roosters make a LOT of noise and start doing the egg call, and when I hear that, I come barreling outside to chase the threat away. As a byproduct of this, I now feel like somewhat of an expert interpreter of chicken sounds: I can distinguish the “predator” signal from the plethora of other sounds and calls they inevitably make. The chickens have also learned my signals, as is indicated here:
All in all, the chickens and I have had a great year. Now that it’s winter, they’re a bit less enthusiastic about leaving the coop. Instead of bursting out of the coop like in warmer weather, when I open the door, they simply stare at the snow indignantly. I can’t blame them—it’s probably cold on their little feet!
I’ll close out this 2024 retrospective by saying that initially, I originally had high expectations and envisioned this year’s holiday card as a walk with the chickens down a snowy street in Portland, Maine. I even had ChatGPT mock up what I had in mind.
However, some inclement weather combined with the chickens’ protest of the harnesses necessitated a pivot, so it ended up being a winter wonderland photo shoot in the yard. The girls humored me by cooperating for a two minute photo shoot, and seemed satisfied to be compensated for their modeling with generous amounts of meal worms afterwards. Here is a “behind the scenes” shot, as well as the finished card.
If you can’t tell from this blog post, chickens are a whole WORLD I love diving into. They bring me so much joy and make me chuckle most days when I go out to tend to them or take little videos to post on Instagram. Thanks for reading along if you made it this far. I hope they brought some joy to you too!
Looking forward to sharing more chicken adventures in 2025. Cheers and happy new year to everyone,
Avi
