April 24, 2014

Personal Weather Chicken


I have a weather chicken. And what, you ask, is a weather chicken? Well, this particular chicken is the only one who still roosts in the cedar tree in the chicken yard. Most of the younger ones used to roost there, but as they've been caught and wing clipped, they've had to roost closer to the ground, i.e. in the coop. I have one Silver Laced Wyandotte who has escaped that and still likes to roost in that tree, all by herself. The one exception is when the weather is going to be snowy, sleety, rainy, windy, or otherwise nasty that night. She somehow always seems to know and then opts to roost in the coop. And she's always right! I have a personal heads-up on the overnight weather. Very convenient.

Personal Weather Chicken © Aptil 2014 by Leigh

21 comments:

Frugal in Derbyshire said...

Brilliant!! Further proof, were it needed, that "stupid" chickens are cleverer than us in many ways!
Gill x

Farmer Barb said...

EXCELLENT training!

You are very wise indeed. People always used to observe their animals back in the day. We sort of do it when our joints hurt.

Anonymous said...

Animals always know.

Leigh said...

Gill, I often think of how we use the words "smart" and "stupid". They seem to use human intelligence as the standard. It's true chickens might make pretty stupid humans, but we humans would make pretty stupid chickens. :)

Barb and The Awesome's, that is so true. And animal instincts are always dismissed as being "unscientific", as though human understanding makes something more true!

Renee Nefe said...

wish that I had a weather chicken. :D Very handy.

Felecia Cofield said...

Hi Leigh! That is awesome! My chickens used to roost on top of the converted doghouse. Even in the cold and rain! We finally moved the doghouse out for the goats, so they lost their roost. Then they started roosting in the hen house. I like your story better! Thanks for sharing! Blessings from Bama!

Mama Pea said...

Yay for your weather chicken!

Another old wive's (farmer's? homesteader's?) tale is that when chickens stay out to forage in a rain it means the rain will be long-lasting.

thewovenspoke said...

I am a chicken fan from way back. They are intelligent in their own way. I like the weather chicken!

Leigh said...

Renee, this is the first chicken I've ever had do this!

Felecia, they do seem to be insistent in their roosting places, don't they, lol

Mama Pea, I'd not heard that one, but I suspect there are a lot of good sayings and "myths" that are founded in reality. I have to say my chickens ordinarily don't mind rain.

Thewovenspoke, I agree!

Michelle said...

That's one wise ol' bird. Might not be a bad idea to raise chicks out of her!

DFW said...

How convenient!

Izzy said...

Oh, how fun is that!!!! Chickens never stop making me smile in wonderment!

Woolly Bits said...

maybe you should try to "breed" more of them - I am sure you'd have plenty of takers:) I could do with a weather-wise chicken - better than our forecast any day:)

Sandy Livesay said...

Leigh,

Smart chicken!!!! She can sense the change in climate, which means if you see her up in the tree it's going to be a beautiful day :-)

Mark said...

This is VERY cool! One of my community volunteer things is serving as a National Weather Service Skywarn severe weather spotter (Kinda like a "storm chaser" only safe and sane). We use radar, computers, and whole bunch of trained, certified spotters in the field linked by amateur radio. You have a single chicken! And as an icing on the cake, the chicken is probably much more accurate in predicting storm activity than we are! On the outside chance things could get really cool, do you 'spose your chicken could be taught to run a radio? (Hey, it never hurts to ask!)

All pretty neat, Leigh. Makes me antsy for the day my chicken come home and I can start enjoying them.

Sarah said...

What a smart bird! Think she could teach the weatherman a thing or two??? lol

Willow said...

I think our local weather man could learn a thing or two from observing this ~ lol

Leigh said...

Ya'll, I hadn't thought about raising chicks from her to see if this could be an inherited trait, LOL. Too bad I don't know for certain which eggs are hers.

Quinn said...

I just caught two of my hens for a "flight check" this morning...they are popping over a six-foot fence and laying eggs in mysterious places, plus it's time to start keeping them out of the gardens for a while. Unfortunately, the ringleader, a crazed and always hard-to-catch hen, eluded me this morning, so I have to try to remember to take her from the perch tonight and trim her flight feathers while she is (I hope) all dozy and complacent.

Laura said...

I'd clip her wing when she come in because of weather! But that's just me... I have a chocolate turkey hen who "flew the coop" recently. Fortunately, she's herd-able, and when I got her back with her buddies, I clipped her wing. She's staying put now. In fact, she's sitting on a nest cooperatively with the Royal Palm hen. Yay!

Leigh said...

Quinn, it's amazing how high they can actually escape over!

Laura, that's exactly what I need to do. When the new coop is ready I plan to move them all at night, clipping the wings of each one. I'll have to get all the SLWs at the same time when Ms. Tree Sleeper is indoors! Other than her spending the night in the tree, I can't tell them apart, LOL

That's great news about your turkeys!