No one benefited from online school more than my chickens.
Because I was at home every day, I let my chickens out of their coop. While I sat outside for online school, the chickens ran around and had fun. But, besides my chickens being happy, they made me happy too.
My next-door neighbor Beth, who grew up on a farm near Laurinburg, always wanted chickens. So she built a chicken coop in her backyard, but for years it sat empty (except for a metal chicken sculpture). But about six years ago, my family got real chickens and now we both take care of them.
My family can’t have a cat or a dog because my mom is allergic to them, so chickens are pretty great. Although many people think of chicken as delicious, chickens are so many other things as well.
When I was outside at online school, they would sometimes come up and sit next to me. Although some chickens like being petted, ours hate it. But they still are caring, even if they don’t like being handled. When they hear my dad approaching, they will come running from wherever they are to come see him, although they may just hope he has chicken treats.
They are also expressive. After just a few years of having chickens, I’ve started to understand more of their meaning. For example, if it is getting dark, one of them will come and hop up the steps to me and cluck at me to let me know she wants to go in.
A few months ago, I went over to the chicken coop to let them in, and I opened the door so they could go in when they were ready. They continued pecking around outside. But a few minutes later, they had a little chicken conversation. “Brawk brawk brawk?” Delfina, one of our chickens, said. “Brawk brawk brawk brawk,” said Boston, the other chicken. And then they both dashed into the coop together.
Sometimes, however, they are really silly. When I go to check the mail, they will follow me toward the mailbox before realizing that I have nothing for them. Often, they will go running off in a random direction for no apparent reason. But the silliest thing is their relationship with squirrels.
One of our old chickens, Parrots (named after ‘The Parrots’ in the book Yetta the Yiddish Chicken – one of our other chickens was named Yetta) hated squirrels. She would chase squirrels if they got too close to her, or if she saw a squirrel and wanted it to go away. Eventually, however, the squirrels figured out what would happen, so they stayed away. Unfortunately for them, Parrots was very smart. She would slowly move over towards where the squirrels were, just pecking around until she got close. Then zoom! – she would chase the squirrels away. But one day, a squirrel decided to charge at her, and after that, she didn’t charge at squirrels as much.
The other weird thing that happens between squirrels and chickens is that sometimes a squirrel will sit in a tree and make a “scree” noise. Whenever the chickens hear that, they freak out and start clucking up a storm. I have no idea why they do that, but it always scares me because the noise the chickens make when the squirrel goes “scree” is the same noise they make when they are in danger.
And, contrary to popular belief, chickens can fly. At least, my chickens can, even if it is just for a few seconds a short way off the ground. However, Delfina likes to fly over the fence if she is in the backyard, and Ethel, one of our old chickens, did it too.
My chickens have brought me lots of joy over the past six years that we have had them. They may not be the same as a dog or a cat, but they are fun in so many ways. I am really glad to have chickens.
Photos by Sol Landman-Feldman.
