That’s right. Chickens play games. And they have toys.
Now that spring is here, I have a nearly endless supply of chickweed I can pull out of the lawn. Sure, I could toss it into the chicken run for them to feast on—and I often do. But it’s much more fun to fill their bell toy and watch them jump up to get it. As they grab the chickweed, the bell rings.
Meredith, pictured below, adores chickweed. Can you see her airborne to get a bite?
Of course, as the head of the household, T. Boone Chickens figures it’s his job to make sure his hens have a fair supply of treats. When they’re on walkabout in the yard, he often finds tasty little morsels. But rather than eating them himself, he makes a wonderful and excited “chuck, chuck, chuck” sound to call over the hens so they can eat the treat.
In the chicken run, he’s so tall compared to the hens he just reaches up and pulls down the chickweed for the hens to eat.
In his own roosterly way, he loves his hens, I think.
So there you have it. Chicken games!
Hi! I'm Robin Ripley author of Wisdom for Home Preservers, published by Taunton Press. I am also co-author of Grocery Gardening. Bumblebee is about my life in rural Maryland, my garden and my love of food, my little dogs and pet chickens. You can follow me on Twitter, Pinterest and Facebook. Thank you for visiting!
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Too cute Robin. It never occurred to me until I read you post, is this were the common name for Chickweed came from? H.
He does tower over his ladies! Robin, BF Skinner or Pavlov couldn’t have trained chickens better! gail
.-= Gail´s last blog ..Wildflower Wednesday~Spring Beauties =-.
I wish I had space for chickens…and time. Your photos make me envious!
.-= Leslie´s last blog ..Ready, Set…Wait =-.
I agree with Leslie….who would have thought one could make a chicken run look so beautiful…those pictures are awesome!! Great photography!!
.-= Stan Horst´s last blog ..Lyon Hardwood Locker Room Bench =-.
What fun! My chickens never played games like that- I didn’t know they could. Enjoyed your post.
.-= Ilona´s last blog ..Tough Plants for Tough Places =-.
What a considerate chicken boyfriend!
This post is adorable and really cheered me up (in bed sick). I love chickens and have some serious chicken envy. Thanks for sharing this delightful story.
Cute shots! T Boone Chicken looks enormous, I heard his name somewhere else recently ( the T Boone part) but for the life of me can’t remember where. Is he named after a prominent individual? I look forward to having my own flock. I was planning on this year, but it will have to wait as we need to get my horses home asap. (boarding is very costly!) I will definitely plan for toys.
Yes! T. Boone Chickens is named after T. Boone Pickens, the Texas financier who is campaigning for wind energy to reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil. My T. Boone has big shoes to fill. But as you say, he’s a big guy.
You can read a bit about T. Boone Pickens here. If you Google him there is a lot of interesting info.
I love the idea that your rooster takes care of his hens. I only have hens in my backyard, so I don’t get to see this display.
.-= Rosanne´s last blog ..Okay, a little more about me. Augh! =-.
I love your chicken/chickweed pictures. Didn’t realize that there was a reason for the name of the weed.
Have a great weekend!
I don’t know a daggone thing about chickens but I sure wish I had a set up like you. And… the pictures are fantastic!
.-= Amy´s last blog ..Visualize World Peas =-.
Oh I love it! I must get a bell toy for my chickens and mine love my chickweed too. Wonder if that is why they named that weed that? Love your spotted polish chickens. Very pretty.
Debbie
.-= Debra Howard´s last blog ..Spring Time Blooms =-.
That was wonderful! Many thanks – I am going to rush and hang such a toy in my chicken pen. I have 3 hens and they obviously like to stay busy. The best thing I did was build them a sand box yestrdy. Now they take their dust baths in style and they just like to lay down in the sand to spend time primping. If anyone would like to email me, I’d enjoy discussing this further. Let’s get chickens the toys they need so desperately. bostoncrocus at yahoo
[…] a bit here, even though this is the Reader’s Digest version. Edith is not the birth mother. T. Boone Chickens, our enormous rooster, does not do the wild thing with the Polish hens. I don’t know if […]