My brother shared this pic of a couple of his chickens on top of an old shed; he said with last week’s snow they just sort of poked their little heads out the coop and didn’t know what to make of it.
Silly chickens!
Not having much first hand experience, I’m not sure if I should believe those who say chickens are pretty smart or those who say they’re really dumb.
It’s pretty neat to see my brother understanding a bit more about bird behavior because of his chickens; he recognizes the peculiar sound the flock makes when they’ve spotted a hawk overhead and this winter he’s busy figuring o
ut how to keep starlings out of the coop to steal the chickenfeed.
Anyone with suggestions on that?
He demonstrated some weird kind of chicken logic for me today. They react to particular colors he says… he called them “fashion police” actually, and brought out this shirt that he says they hate. Sure enough the flock scattered at the sight of it and were freaked out for the rest of the afternoon, clucking suspiciously at us from beneath the pine trees at the edge of the yard while we talked.
Silly chickens!
Isn’t that shirt kind of fox colored? Maybe they are bred to be fearful of that color–a fox in the henhouse?
HA! Love the title to your post! They are certainly colorful birds. I am with Beth on her observation! It does indeed look fox brown.
After years of domestication, one needn’t be surprised that farm chickens aren’t the brightest birds around – the smart ones evaded capture.
Make that three votes on the shirt looking like a predator – to a chicken, anyway.
Used to have a cockatoo and anything that looked like a snake made it go whacka-whacka. I feel the same about GA lawyers and politicians, but I digress…
Silly humans!
That’s funny Laura! I agree with Beth and the others… maybe he looks like a big fox? :c)
this is pretty funny! Who would have expected a chicken to react to color? I think Beth is right about fox color though. Makes sense.
Oh, others have beat me to it. I was going to opine that the rusty color of the shirt may look like a red-tail hawk color. I didn’t think of fox, but that works too.
But, as I said–others beat me to it.
Mine freak out at black.
… when it is black fur on Bear.
It always amazes me that a bird with a tropical ancestry is so well adapted to cold climates.
Guess it’s easier for you to understand the phrase “don’t be such a chicken.” I think your brother should do a scientific study about the chickens and their reactions to shirts!
How funny – I had the same thought as Beth and the rest, that the shirt was a foxy reddish-brown. Does that makes us chicken psychics or just a bunch of dumb clucks?
All: Feeling like a total dummy for not seeing the *fox* in that shirt.
Duh!
Oh, too much! Sometimes I get weird reactions from ducks when I wear a white coat. Sometimes they even move closer to shore. Odd.
Fun to find your blog.