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Friday, February 24, 2012

# 210 - Brave as a Chicken

I learned a new Farm Life Lesson about chickens yesterday.


For lunch, I had left-over pizza and I'm not one to eat the crust, so I decided to give the broken two pieces of crust (making four pieces) to hand-out to the critters in our household, accordingly:

1. One large piece thrown to chickens to share
2. One piece to Howdy
3. One piece to Liyla
4. One little piece to Belle

I had previously put the dogs outside so I could eat and mop the floors, so I took a plate with me to the backyard and decided to hand out the crust and take a few pictures while outside. First, I threw the chickens their piece. Then, I handed each dog their own crust.


Little did I know that handing out the crust to the dogs would cause a problems among the chickens.

As I snapped a few pictures and Howdy lay in the grass to my right over his crust, I had no idea a large problem was looming. Since Howdy is not a fast eater, he likes to savor his food, he wanted to lay on the grass with his crust for a bit, before consuming it slowly.

I'm still taking pictures of the chickens, not realizing they
are going straight for Howdy's crust.
However, I didn't really pay attention to the chickens finishing off their piece of pizza crust and their mad dash toward Howdy's own crust. I never imagined a chicken would try to fight a dog over food.

Howdy is smacking his lips. The chicken is about to make her move,
but I had no idea. I was about to jump in the air and be shocked.
Boy, was I wrong.

We all know which chicken is the culprit here...Big Mama. She is one bad-mamma-jamma. She ran straight for Howdy's crust and HOUSTON, we've got a problem. Howdy decided to defend his crust and began to be highly aggitated; he demonstrated his guard dog nature over the crust. He bared his teeth, took a wide-legged stance and lunged at Big Mama a couple of times in fierce bravado.

Howdy's lips are curled back, his front teeth are fully
showing, he has a leg raised and is about to lunge at Big Mama.
Big Mama was not impressed. She'd flap her wings and fly out of his reach, then she'd run for the crust again. Howdy was becoming more irritated.

Howdy looked up at me, as if to say, "Help?"


I had to get a freakin bamboo stick and shoo Big Mama away so that Howdy could take his beloved piece of pizza crust into the house to eat at his leisure.


And I've learned a valuable lesson...don't feed the dogs any food in front of the chickens because the birds are willing to go toe to toe with the Aussie who could rip them apart in five seconds.

Of course, Belle had to go check Howdy's old position in the yard to see if he left any crumbs behind. She gulped her crust down fast.



Smart girl.




If only we could all be as brave as a chicken.

6 comments:

Vickie said...

Lana, that is one bad chicken.

My dog Gypsy does the same thing with her food. I have to feed my dogs seperately. Gypsy guards her food dish selfishly even if it's empty. I've had her lunge at our little dog and she growls and shows her teeth at the little one. So I better keep Bug clear of Gypsy's dish!

Maybe you need an "attack chicken" sign in your yard and at your home in the country!

Charade said...

This is too funny. And the chicken was smart enough not to go after the Yorkie's pizza - the outcome might not have been settled in such a friendly manner.

LindaG said...

Glad things turned out well for Big Mama!

Mike said...

I could see Howdy's lip curled and teeth. lol. I think chickens were named wrong. When there's food involved it's every animal for themselves.
After the food was given to my Aussie Quigley, no one, not even me, was allowed close to it.

A Primitive Homestead said...

I found my little flock has little fear. My rooster has flew into both the little dog & the ducks. Now that was funny to see the rooster on top the duck one crowing the other quacking. They are all fed apart now. Our creatures can shock us & make us laugh. Blessings!
Lara

www.FarmLifeLessons.blogspot.com said...

Vickie - I guess it was shocking to me because Howdy is normally generous at the dog bowl. He will even volunteer to back away and lay next to the bowl peacefully so Belle and Liyla can take turns eating. But, the chicken really did start the battle, she was one determined little feathered creature. And he was just as determined to not have his food taken away, I guess if he doesn't volunteer to share at the communal bowl, the fight is ON. I sure did learn to be careful to not feed the dogs around the chickens.

Charade - Yes, the Yorkie may not have postured as much as she would have chomped down on a chicken leg. Howdy is very patient, the Yorkie gets to the point.

Linda - Big Mama always surprises me. I never realized how chickens can stand their ground so intensely!

Mike - If I would've had a side view of Howdy's snarl, it would have been impressive. His entire upper jaw was curled back and he's got this LONG jaw of teeth that makes his point, pointedly. haha And Howdy is normally very docile during feeding, but since we have little children around frequently, I raised him from a puppy to be good with good. I can take anything from him and he is ok about it. Obviously, he doesn't see the chicken as a food-sharing buddy. I think Howdy might have done some damage to the Big Mama if she kept coming at him so with such ferocity.

Lara - the rooster on the duck and all that noise had to make for an unusual scene. It's great that I learned tihs lesson now, before we move to our acreage. I'm sure my lessons will continue and continue.