I've never had two pet chickens at one time but during Christmas holiday, one of my friends from college invited us down for Christmas dinner. She has all kinds of birds; from regular chickens to fancy chickens, ducks, geese and she used to also keep pet turkeys. After eating dinner we went outside and tried to catch her chickens. The first one I was able to catch did NOT like being held at all, so I let it go. The second one, however, seemed to really like me holding it. At no time was I looking to add another chicken to my home, but she said I could have it if I wanted. So with little thought, I took it.
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| Leroy Brown, Plymouth Rock chicken Christmas photo |
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| Leroy on back of couch |
Seeing as I have only ever kept one bird at a time, I wasn't sure how my other chicken, Amos Moses would act upon a new chicken coming home. Would I lose all of the training that I put into Amos? Would he get along with the new chicken? Would I no longer be the ruler, I mean rooster of Amos.
Well, I decided to give it a try.
For the first few weeks Amos HATED Leroy and would flog him every chance he got and peak his head. Leroy is a very docile chicken and he has never once tried to get back at Amos.
For weeks Amos would sit outside the chicken coop and watch Leroy. Adding Leroy has made Amos stay closer to home since sometimes Amos tends to go over into the neighbor's yard as he is a free-range chicken when he is not inside the house.
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| Amos and Leroy |
A few weeks ago I decided to put Amos in the cage with Leroy to see what would happen. Slowly but surely, Amos now likes being in the cage with Leroy and as of yesterday has started laying an egg again after months and months of no eggs! I guess having competition and Leroy being a pet who poops breakfast, Amos has decided to up his game!
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| Amos on back of couch |
Amos sleeps in the house at night as have all of my other chickens. I had Leroy sleeping in the chicken coop at night for a while but now he sleeps inside too. At first he slept in the kitchen but now he sleeps in the same bedroom (utility room) as Amos, just in a different box, but I do have the boxes sitting beside each other.
I'm so glad that Amos has started to warm up to Leroy and that he now feels the need to produce us an egg!
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| Amos Moses chicken Christmas photo |
