My Little Chicken

If you purchase chicks at a store or online, there will likely be a minimum number you have to buy. This is because chickens are flock animals and are happiest when they are with other chickens. At least this is true for most chickens.

My Little Chicken came to us in the spring of 2023 in an order of Ameraucana chicks. When Neil and I scattered feed for the flock, one of the little chicks ran back and forth between our legs until one of us picked her up. When we turned over compost in the chicken run, the little chick perched on the pitchfork to get our attention. When we collected eggs, the little chick jumped into a nesting box and pranced around in front of us until we scooped her up. I looked forward to seeing her each day, and as soon as I’d get to the barn, I would look around and ask Neil, “Where is my little chicken”?  and that’s how My Little Chicken got her name.

My Little Chicken (or MLC as she came to be known) was different than the other Ameraucana chicks. She was weird. When all the other chicks stood around a tray of food to eat, MLC stood in the middle up to her ankles and chowed down. When the other chicks scattered at the site of us entering the chicken run, MLC ran toward us. When the other chicks played chicken games together, MLC wandered around by herself.

In case you haven’t spent much time with chickens, let me tell you that a pecking order is a real thing. It’s called a pecking order because high ranking chickens peck at lower ranking chickens to teach them their place. The pecking order is usually established over a couple days when new chickens are introduced to a flock and then when all the chickens know their place, the pecking stops.

My Little Chicken was at the very bottom of this flock’s pecking order. It was clear to me as a human, so I am certain it was clear to MLC, and it was obviously clear to the other chickens. Even though MLC knew her place, the other chickens were unrelenting. They sprinted across the run to peck MLC if they caught a glimpse of her. They stopped playing, scratching, or even eating for the chance to peck her. It was not just a few chickens who did this, the whole flock tormented her. I waited for things to calm down and monitored MLC for bleeding.

Poor MLC was teeny tiny. Her chick-mates were double her size. I started hand feeding her when I visited, but she was always hungry. One day, Neil showed me a picture he had taken of MLC with her head under a log in the run. She was hiding. My heart broke. I told Neil that nature is one thing, but I believe God gives humans empathy for a reason. He said, “My Little Chicken is moving in with us, isn’t she?”. Have I mentioned how much I love my husband? We set up an extra-large dog crate in the foyer and put pine shavings in the bottom. We added a roost, tiny chicken waterer, and a food tray and went out to the coop to get MLC.

MLC trying to hide under the log (the chicken in the foreground is eating watermelon, not a green fish)

It was after dark when we got out there, and all the chickens were asleep on their roosts. We looked for MLC, but she was nowhere to be found. My heart sank. We went outside to the run and through the darkness I saw a ball of feathers outside the coop door. I expected the worst, but MLC heard us coming and perked her head up. She was okay! I bent down and gently picked her up. She scrambled onto my forearm, put her head under wing and immediately fell asleep. Neil and I finished the rest of our barn chores that evening with MLC asleep on my arm.

MLC asleep on my arm while we did barn chores

MLC loved to perch on my shoulder, and I loved having her there. What I did not love was when MLC pooped down my neck. One day after my second shower, I decided we needed a change. I put MLC on the kitchen scale and started an Amazon search to find diapers for a .8lb chicken. Amazon did not disappoint, and Neil and I started diapering our sweet little chicken.

MLC hanging out in her favorite spot

Even the dogs fell in love with MLC. One night, our son Josh was holding MLC on the couch. Josh’s dog was watching MLC like a hawk, and our dog Bolt was watching Josh’s dog watch MLC. Josh’s dog made an almost imperceptible move toward MLC, but it wasn’t imperceptible to Bolt. He lunged and snarled and snapped. Nobody was hurt, but the message was clear: MLC is off limits.

I brought MLC everywhere with me. One day I had her outside on the porch while I watered the hydrangeas. I was talking to Neil when MLC walked off the edge of the porch. The porch isn’t high, and she flapped her wings a little before she hit the ground, so she wasn’t hurt. I said, “MLC is a klutz”. Neil said, “No. I think she’s blind”. He was right. Once we knew she was blind, we made some adjustments to MLC’s living quarters to make things easier for her. Neil lowered her roost so she could find it and I made sure her food and water were always in the exact same place.

MLC helping me water the hydrangeas

MLC lived her best life as a house chicken until the day she jolted the whole family awake at 2am with a scream that came from the depths of her little chicken body. We ran downstairs certain to find the mangled remains of our sweet little friend, but MLC was walking happily around her cage looking very proud of herself. Then she did it again. A piercing screech. I remembered I had read somewhere that hens will sometimes learn to crow if there are no roosters around. MLC had no roosters around and was learning to crow. And since she was blind, she had no idea what time it was when she practiced.

Very shortly after MLC started finding her voice, she moved onto the screened in porch with the bunnies. The four of them became fast friends, and most nights one or two of the little French Lops would be snuggled up with her. It was the picture of cuteness.

Around this time, we received a shipment of Salmon Faverolles chicks. Side note- if you want to own the cutest chicks of all time, these are the chicks you want. Normally we keep new chicks in a separate space in the barn, but we had a very big Black Snake living out there and decided to keep the chicks on the bunny porch with MLC instead. The chicks and MLC were adorable together, and the chicks grew fast. Finally, the chicks were big enough to move out to the barn. MLC was bigger too, and I suggested to Neil that we move all of them out to the barn together to see how they would do. I mean, after all, MLC could crow!

MLC and the babies went out to the barn that evening at bedtime. The next morning, they stayed in the coop while the big chickens went outside, but otherwise things seemed to go okay. On the second day, we couldn’t find MLC. I finally thought to look under the roosts, and there she was with her head stuck in the corner. Neil reached under the roosts and picked her up. Poor MLC. It was very clear to me that she would never be happy living in a flock. We brought her home and put her back on the bunny porch. The bunnies hopped to greet her, and MLC strutted around, happy to be back on her turf.

If you ask me how many chickens you need to start a flock, I will tell you to get a minimum of 3. Chickens are happiest when they are with other chickens. If you have some extra time though, I’ll probably tell you the story of My Little Chicken and how she prefers the company of humans, dogs, and bunnies to chickens and how she taught me that at least in farming, there is an exception to every rule.

MLC on my shoulder. I thi