CHICKEN LOVE STORY
Cream Puff is back! To catch up, I sold some chicks, and thought it would be in everybody’s best interest for Mom to go with the chicks. So Cream Puff (The Fierce) went along with all her chicks to a new home, and the plan was that once her chicks didn’t need her any more, she would come back to me.
Updates filtered back: the same day her sister Perchick, still at home, turned up her beak at her chicks and went on an extended date with Philippe, Cream Puff dropped her chicks, and embarked on a romantic holiday with their rooster, Chris. ” Cream Puff ‘the Fierce’ is now Cream Puff in love– she’s madly in love with our rooster!”
We thought it might pass. It didn’t. They were madly in love, not growing out of it, and I was informed that Cream Puff wasn’t coming back here without Chris. “They can’t be separated. I’ve never seen anything like it!”. I was willing to let Cream Puff go; I don’t want to stand in the way of chicken love either.
But today, they came back together. Chris is HUGE! He’s a massive Barred Rock rooster; gorgeous fellow. Cream Puff looks positively petite next to him. We accidentally released them in the greenhouse with an hour of daylight left, so they are sure to have pecked holes in any of the ripe tomatoes that were left in there, but I wanted them to transition smoothly, not just drop him into a fight, so the greenhouse was better than nothing.
He and Philippe had a through-the-door fight; they’re aware of each other. Philippe will readily abdicate tomorrow, I’m sure- he’s not a very authoritative rooster, and I think he’ll still retain his loyal little harem. Chris’s previous keeper said he was hardly paying attention to any of their other hens. We’ll see.
After it was good and dark, I moved CP and Chris out of the GH and into the vacant former skycoop – the small coop, and it’s at the opposite end of the GH from Philippe’s coop. Maybe they will continue to honeymoon in there; maybe they will choose another coop. CP will remember using the other coops.
When I moved them, I caught him first, and then came back for CP. Oh, the squawking! He was flipping out at her screaming until I brought her close to the door (relieved clucking), and then slid her in, and their reunited, and going-to-sleep-now sounds… wow! I’ve never heard anything like that either. Purring, almost like cats.
Tomorrow will be interesting.