Here's the yard when my last chicken had just arrived! (I stacked infertile eggs on the left and fertile ones on the right, and left off accessories to show things more clearly.)
For my next trick, I'm saving up to fill the yard with grapefruit, release an inordinately large number of hens into it, and just wait.<3
ok here's some CHICKEN FACTS
they are so. so. smart. they stand out from all domestic poultry -- they WILL experiment until they find every edible material and every possible way to escape from their area. they understand delayed gratification and can be taught all kinds of tricks; clicker training works well with them. they can tell colors apart and learn to pick a color or shape out for a reward, they figure out how to get food out of small spaces or find it in covered dishes, they create complex social systems among themselves and YOU TOO can be a part of that if you respond with the right body language cues. they have a bunch of different calls for different purposes (btw the cluck, cheep, and cackle sounds you picked for the game are PERFECT)
they've been bred by humans for thousands of years and their shapes and patterns and physiology are wild! roosters are usually more flashy, but look up "penciled," "laced," and "mille fleur" for some gorgeous feather patterns. many breeds come in a bunch of different colors; white, red, buff, chestnut, brown, silver, and lavender are some of them, and that's not counting the color combinations. regular backyard chickens are commonly from breeds selectively bred for eggs, meat, or both, but there's a wacky show chicken breed for every budget. Leghorns became common industrially because they lay a large egg for their size. Cochins and Brahmas are super gentle and the hens are amazing brooders and mothers. if introduced in the right way, they'll even adopt the young of other poultry and raise them as their own. Silkies are so, so soft and sweet but don't let them get rained on, they're TOO FLUFFY! Polish and Polish Crested have those floofy bowlcuts and sometimes need a trim so they can see through their feathers! Ayam Cemani is an incredibly expensive specialty breed that is entirely black right down to the bone. Russian Orloffs, Easter Eggers, and Aracaunas have fluffy beards under their beaks. (Easter Eggers are one of the breeds that lay blue or green eggs!) There are so many cool chickens.
and they all have personalities. while generalizations can be made for individual breeds (Hambergs are cheerful and flighty, Leghorns are more standoffish but can deal with living in a smaller area, Minorcas are friendly and easily handled, Orpingtons are gentle, patient, and cuddly, Faverolles are dignified and nonconfrontational, etc), each individual chicken has its own set of traits and its own individual relationship with each other chicken. some will fight for the top perch, favored nest, or first pick of the food; some like and dislike different foods; some want to know what's going on at all times, while others ignore everything except predator alerts; some just have inexplicable Attitudes toward each other and refuse to associate; they can be more or less vocal; they forage, poke around, shake out their feathers, stretch one wing and one leg at the same time, dustbathe, sunbathe, hop on your lap for a snooze instead if you've socialized them to, raid your garden without remorse, and go about their chickeny business with such panache!!
speaking of vocals, they have sounds for "everyone hold still," "everyone run and hide," "I'm saving this nice bit of food for you," "what is that, I am SUSPICIOUS," "don't touch me I'm nesting," "I HAVE JUST LAID AN EGG, SOUND OFF EVERYONE" and so much more. when not in the shrubbery where they may be out of sight, they communicate a whole bunch of stuff through body language, from reinforcing hierarchies to grooming each others' feathers. common nonvocal interactions humans may notice include:
-"are you eating that?" "I didn't want it anyway"/"YES"
-"I'm testing our boundaries" "back off or get a warning peck"/"I didn't want to be standing here anyway"/okay I'm leaving but I'm taking this tasty thing WITH ME"
-"you have been using that nice dustbathing hole for a long time, you know" "why yes I have, go find your own"/"whatever, I don't care"/"you can use it too, c'mon in"
-"oh too bad you picked that nest, I want it, find another one" "but I spent an hour getting it just the way I like it!!" "NO, MINE, SCRAM"
-"oh too bad you picked that nest, I waited till I'm about to pop and now I'm just gonna stroll in and lay this egg like you aren't even there and leave two minutes later, how do you like that" "barbara WHY, you're messing with my zen thing here!"
-"I touched the thing first, it's mine now" "NO COME BACK HERE"
-"WHAT WAS TH-- oh it's just susan run-flapping exuberantly across the yard, do they HAVE to, false alarm everyone quiet down" "look sometimes you just feel right and you GOTTA, no fears no regrets"
-"hey you have a bug on your comb." "oh I wondered what that was, you can have it, I'll hold still."
-"oh. here we are in a standoff. i'm sure this was an accident on your part, you'll back off first now, won't you?" "how strange, I was about to say the same thing to you" "okay but seriously now if you keep this up I'm going to feel disrespected and you will find that painful" "I can handle a bit of pain but are you feeling lucky today"
-"break it up, you two, no one wants to deal with this whole thing you have going on, now move along or catch THIS BEAK, good, I thought that's what you'd say, no harm no alarm"
-"oh hey it's the human DID YOU BRING US ANYTHING????"
and this goes on all day!
there's plenty more where that came from but I have to sleep; tl;dr omg chickens.<3
