The Wild Chickens of Bobblehead Homestead
These four hens have been on their own since at least the end of July when the previous owner left. I don't think he did much to take care of them before then either as there is no coop of any kind on the property. I saw them briefly on August 2nd when I took possession of the property before going back to Illinois to sell my place there. But lo and behold, when I got back to the property last week, the chickens survived the last two plus months without any human help. Nature, man, nature.
(Those rafters are a good 15 feet high, I wanna know how they do that.)
I didn't see the chickens the first day back at the property, but the second day they wandered up but still kept their distance. The third day I put out three piles of chicken feed to try to lure them in closer to my home. It worked. The fourth day they were coming up by the front door, and the fifth day they were stealing the cat's food.
(I also caught that in the YouTube video below. 7 minutes.)
I had hoped to do more updates here on Steemit, but with an hour drive each way I just haven't been able to get stuff done on the property and keep up here. It'll get better once I'm able to spend the night at the property, which I hope happens soon. Thursday they finally came out and hooked up my electricity and today I finally figured out how to get the water well system operational. Tuesday they are supposed to come hook up my internet and land line (seriously, more about that another day).
Inside the mobile home I've gotten enough accomplished to get started and I'll be doing updates on that progress as soon as I can. This is all so exciting for me, but also so exhausting.
Bonus pictures, here's a friendly "neighbor" I met about 1/3 mile from my place. This horse came right up to the fence to greet me when I stopped to take a picture. I wanted to catch those horses in the same frame with Magazine Mountain in the background.
(All pictures taken by me on an old Kodak EasyShare.)
You can also check me out on...
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/PeoriaDude
Twitter - https://twitter.com/Bobbleheadstead
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/bobbleheadstead/
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/peoriadude/
My Steemit intro post w/ video
What a gift, free, hardy chickens!
Yeah those chickens have skills. :)
You got that right, those hens get a lifetime pardon no matter how hungry I might get. :) They might even be worthy of breeding, they've got some great survival genes and are fairly friendly to people and cats.
"I had hoped to do more updates here on Steemit, but with an hour drive each way I just haven't been able to get stuff done on the property and keep up here."
Man I know what this is like. There is never enough time....
You have an awesome place
You really did buy into an instant homestead. Chicenks, cat, and who knows what else you will find. Glad to hear things are moving along. Actually, sounds like you are moving pretty quickly. Be well and take a breather now and then. Your friend. 🐓🐓
Now those are some chickens!! Surviving alone for that long... wow!!
Glad to see things are moving in the right direction for you. It will take some time to get things exactly the way you want them and then you will always find other ways to do things.
Awesome that ya still have them there! (Chickens do have wings)
Something very wonderful, well done, my friend
Very valuable information
You are a wonderful person
Miacis, the primitive ancestor of cats, was a small, tree-living creature of the late Eocene period, some 45 to 50 million years ago.
Those are some pretty good chickens ya got there, to survive that long w/out any help. They remind me of my grandparents' chickens who used to roost in the trees all day. I didn't think they could fly but later found out they could glide for short distances , about 20-25ft up if need be. Thank God the last owner didn't clip their wings.