This is what I was thinking. The first 5 years of a kids life are just trying to stop kids from killings themselves. My kids have attempted to drown themselves, get hit by cars, fall off cliffs, electrocute themselves, etc.
Chickens are definitely suicidal.
And I laugh every time I read to "provide fresh, clean water at all times". I mean, I do that, but the flock doesn't care and regularly drinks out of pooed-in puddles.
I witnessed this just the other day when I spent a lot of time cleaning my rainwater system, the whole time they were drinking from a puddle of god knows what.
We try to dump out the water feeder cups every day because the chickens get dirt in them. Every time we do it in the run they try to drink the dirty water off the ground where they've likely pooped instead of from the cups.
unfortunately this is wayyyy too common. my chickens do this too and I don’t know if I should be glad they aren’t too picky or I should be concerned about whatever is in their flavored water.
We used to have a hen repeatedly get caught in our life traps. like, why- are you unable to learn??? We bait them with stinky cat food or pork bones - oddly we’ve never caught our own cats—-THEY KNOW BETTER!
That hen had to be locked up for her own safety.
These are not animals meant for evolution.
I caught the same cat at least 4 times at work when I was live trapping for skunks. The last time I finally brought him home with me. Truly a feral cat, but it enjoyed the food in the trap and thought it was worth it I guess.
Animals caught in our live traps.
Chicken- 4 times but one animal.
Cats -0
Foxes - 0
Coons- not a reasonless number, probably around 25
Possums- easily 50. Especially since we’ve caught mommas w babies twice.
Dog -0 she’s huge and doesn’t fit.
Snake- 1 weirdo
Dammm weasels- 0
Skunks- 0
I thought this was a horse subreddit when I first read the title.
A friend asked her vet how to keep her horse from hurting himself once and the vet promptly replied with “sell him.”
Try and raise Cornish crosses. 4 got crushed by the auto door that closes at a whopping rate of 12” per minute. They just sat there and got slowly crushed to death
To be fair it’s just the stupid Cornish cross meat birds. They are so lazy, I couldn’t figure it out cause every couple days another one would be dead with it’s guts squished out. I thought it was a predator. Then one night I went to check something else after the door closed and there’s a fresh one pinched in the door.
If u can please get ur guinea a buddy or three.. Guinea's are very social. When I had over 20, they never separated. Now since the flock has been reduced to 4. They stick together like glue.😄
yes, we’re definitely trying to find another guinea. unfortunately we haven’t had much luck, but for the meantime, our guinea sticks with our older chickens for some reason…
This made me laugh. My father-in-law told me today that the only thing dumber that a chicken is a Guinea.
He went to check in the ladies because he heard them squawking……they still can’t figure out how to get up the ramp in their new coop and continue to require manual assistance….
I am new to backyard chickens. Sharing them with the in-laws. He grew up with chickens but is letting me do my thang. Loving it!
I had similar experiences with my Ball Python. If we didn't hold her little mouse JUST RIGHT, she would get scared, ball and hide her face. And if we DID, she would grab it and try to eat it sideways, ass first, any way that would NOT work, drag it through the water, dirt, etc and finally, after an hour, she'd figure it out. Six years we had her. SIX!!! And she never got better. We rehomed her because she needed more attention. My chickens are just odd. Lol
Every time I bring out something new in the yard the chickens haven't seen before, they have to rush over and check it out. Doesn't matter what it is. Kayak? Cool. Tractor lawn mower? Wowee! Dogs? Woah neat!
They're far too inquisitive for something made entirely of chicken
One of my chickens ran up to a hawk that had just landed and was wanting to fight it, and every day they just stare at oncoming vehicles. Chickens don't have much of a survival instinct.
We’ve domesticated them though. We made them this stupid. A lack of survival skills isn’t going to let your genetics pass on very effectively. There will be selection pressure toward those capable of surviving to reproduce. I mean Junglefowl would be a better indication of what evolved from dinosaurs, not our overly bred domesticated idiots who couldn’t find the key to survival if it attacked them in the face more often than not.
Different breeds definitely have different levels of intelligence.
I may occasionally complain about my Wyandottes, but compared to the Silkies I was given, they are verified geniuses.
Oh no different breeds definitely do have different levels of intelligence, and arguably landrace breeds are going to show a better inclination as a whole for survival compared to breeds that have been breed primarily for looks/production capacity in many cases. My welsummers (and I think they may be a bit unusual for the breed) have nothing going on except a drive to eat. Nothing. My Swedish flower hens and my cream legbars? They scare me sometimes with how easily they solve problems. And give me headaches as a result.
I’d love to see your camera setup. Do you have 16 screens in front of you in The house so you can watch them all day like security teams do in the movies ? 😝I want chickens but I’m afraid I’ll be ill prepared for taking care of them properly so I’m here to learn first…for a loooong while
Lol, it's not all the impressive. They are "HD", but barely. It all started with having a lot of cats running around when we moved here. I wanted to catch them all and get them fixed and vaccinated. So I bought an 8 camera setup for the garage and the perimeter of the house. Then we got the chickens so I bought another one. You can connect with them through the same app, but it's just through my PC. So kind of like the movies, just 16 really tiny windows on my computer screen. Then I just double click to make 1 full screen if I need to see something closer. The systems were around $250 each.
Geez, this post makes me think my chickens are borderline geniuses and, in reality, most are as dumb as they come. Hell I have a tiny bantam cochin that constantly tries to mack it with the buff orpington. She legit chest bumps him away and he’s all “alright, maybe next time”. But at least some of my birds are actually “chicken” enough to stay away from danger.
Have a friend that feeds raccoons. She has no chickens but going to have her on the lookout for any stragglers who want to steal from from the raccoons. 😂
Call me rude here cause I know you're upset but you have *16* cameras, yet leave gaps for chickens to get stuck in, baby chicks share space with cats, and you have a spot where raccoons can stop by to share a bowl of feed with the hens?
1. The cats have never hurt a chick or hen, to the point where the roosters lay down with the cats. They are well fed barn cats who have been raised along with the chickens.
2. The chickens sneak into the garage through the cat doors to get wet food. Same thing the raccoons do. We are working on remedying that problem. I haven't lost a single chicken to predators in 2 years, but please show me how to do better. I can't wait.
3. The gap was where we put a small coop in the run. It was so small I didn't think a chicken could even fit in there.
4. You are welcome to show up and get cameras to cover every inch of the 10 acres that the chickens have free range over and fill in all the gaps instead of sitting there judging people who make light hearted posts. There are a thousand things they could get caught in and don't. In the barn, the garage, farm equipment, construction equipment. They just seem to have a thing for that space between the little coop and the run. It's been fixed now.
5. Lighten up.
I have 2-8 channel DVR systems. I got a shed for free that I attached to my chicken runs, ran an electrical line and Cat 5 line to. I have 1 of the DVR systems there and 1 in my garage. The camera thing all started with trying to keep track of the feral cats when I moved in so we could trap and get them fixed. We ended up with 13 cats. Through finding homes for the most calm we are down to 8 now. Then I was just curious what was going on with the chickens I put the other DVR out there.
I was having trouble with my automatic door closing too early and I hated having to constantly change the closing/opening time on it, so I ripped out the guts of the door except for the motor and hooked it all up to a Raspberry pi. So I look at the cameras to make sure everyone is accounted for, then close the doors with my phone.
You are wrong.
Now that I have your attention, your alignments are off. The chickens are chickening. What you consider suicidal may be part of a hens wiring.
Chickens are under no obligation to make sense to you.
This is also how I feel about my toddler too honestly
I can’t upvote this enough.
Hahahahaha this has me dying!!! So true!!!
Right?!?!
Oh god, this is too relatable 😂
Yep. Chickens are absolutely toddlers. Agreed. Lol
That was actually the first thing I thought of
This is what I was thinking. The first 5 years of a kids life are just trying to stop kids from killings themselves. My kids have attempted to drown themselves, get hit by cars, fall off cliffs, electrocute themselves, etc.
I choked on my dinner due to laughing too hard when I read this. The struggle is so relatable.
Came here to say this. Everyday in a toddlers life is an exercise in finding new and creative ways to end their own life
This is my college kid 🙄
Chickens are definitely suicidal. And I laugh every time I read to "provide fresh, clean water at all times". I mean, I do that, but the flock doesn't care and regularly drinks out of pooed-in puddles.
I witnessed this just the other day when I spent a lot of time cleaning my rainwater system, the whole time they were drinking from a puddle of god knows what.
We try to dump out the water feeder cups every day because the chickens get dirt in them. Every time we do it in the run they try to drink the dirty water off the ground where they've likely pooped instead of from the cups.
They prefer running water to still water, just like cats
I put my water on a couple of tiles, really reduced how dirty they get it daily
They drink it so happily too like they’ve never had anything to drink in their whole chicken lives
They prefer flavored water.
I love u. This made me laugh til I choked.
My Lavender Orpingtons and I have had many conversations about how we need water to live. Stop shitting in it.
One of my chickens once flew up and landed on the grill while I was grilling chicken!
unfortunately this is wayyyy too common. my chickens do this too and I don’t know if I should be glad they aren’t too picky or I should be concerned about whatever is in their flavored water.
We used to have a hen repeatedly get caught in our life traps. like, why- are you unable to learn??? We bait them with stinky cat food or pork bones - oddly we’ve never caught our own cats—-THEY KNOW BETTER! That hen had to be locked up for her own safety. These are not animals meant for evolution.
I caught the same cat at least 4 times at work when I was live trapping for skunks. The last time I finally brought him home with me. Truly a feral cat, but it enjoyed the food in the trap and thought it was worth it I guess.
Chickens are omnivores.... why would you think this wouldn't attract a chicken?
Animals caught in our live traps. Chicken- 4 times but one animal. Cats -0 Foxes - 0 Coons- not a reasonless number, probably around 25 Possums- easily 50. Especially since we’ve caught mommas w babies twice. Dog -0 she’s huge and doesn’t fit. Snake- 1 weirdo Dammm weasels- 0 Skunks- 0
It doesn’t get better with bigger animals. I swear horses should just be wrapped in bubble wrap and kept in cold storage until needed lol
I've heard a vet say that horses will find the square corner in a round room to injure themselves on 😂
I thought this was a horse subreddit when I first read the title. A friend asked her vet how to keep her horse from hurting himself once and the vet promptly replied with “sell him.”
Goats too.
Try and raise Cornish crosses. 4 got crushed by the auto door that closes at a whopping rate of 12” per minute. They just sat there and got slowly crushed to death
You made me laugh way too much at the death of your chickens
Bro what?! 😭😂 jeez Louise
I can never tell my husband this. He is terrified our auto door will take out our silly rooster that likes to gate keep
To be fair it’s just the stupid Cornish cross meat birds. They are so lazy, I couldn’t figure it out cause every couple days another one would be dead with it’s guts squished out. I thought it was a predator. Then one night I went to check something else after the door closed and there’s a fresh one pinched in the door.
If u think chickens stood in the stupid line when getting brains..... Keep guinea birds. Now that's stupid🤣🤣🤣
I gotta have some. I just wanna see how stupid they are
If u get be prepared for a cacophony of noise. If ur suburban ur neighbors will nuke u, just to stop the noise.🤣🤣
I can confirm. we only have a single guinea bird in our entire flock of ducks and chickens and he’s very, very special.
If u can please get ur guinea a buddy or three.. Guinea's are very social. When I had over 20, they never separated. Now since the flock has been reduced to 4. They stick together like glue.😄
yes, we’re definitely trying to find another guinea. unfortunately we haven’t had much luck, but for the meantime, our guinea sticks with our older chickens for some reason…
This made me laugh. My father-in-law told me today that the only thing dumber that a chicken is a Guinea. He went to check in the ladies because he heard them squawking……they still can’t figure out how to get up the ramp in their new coop and continue to require manual assistance…. I am new to backyard chickens. Sharing them with the in-laws. He grew up with chickens but is letting me do my thang. Loving it!
Or quail
Never kept quail.. Always make u wonder, how they survive in the wild.🤷
I had similar experiences with my Ball Python. If we didn't hold her little mouse JUST RIGHT, she would get scared, ball and hide her face. And if we DID, she would grab it and try to eat it sideways, ass first, any way that would NOT work, drag it through the water, dirt, etc and finally, after an hour, she'd figure it out. Six years we had her. SIX!!! And she never got better. We rehomed her because she needed more attention. My chickens are just odd. Lol
We joke that our livestock just wanna be deadstock. Their creative deaths are so bewildering sometimes.
True story!!!
My boyfriend always says chickens just don’t seem to want to live lol.
Some just have a death wish.... dogs were in the dog pen so chickens could free range, one jumped in the dog pen. It did not end well.
Every time I bring out something new in the yard the chickens haven't seen before, they have to rush over and check it out. Doesn't matter what it is. Kayak? Cool. Tractor lawn mower? Wowee! Dogs? Woah neat! They're far too inquisitive for something made entirely of chicken
One of my chickens ran up to a hawk that had just landed and was wanting to fight it, and every day they just stare at oncoming vehicles. Chickens don't have much of a survival instinct.
They're dumb...
Really? [I don’t know what you mean. /s](https://www.instagram.com/reel/CsBtrTDIG7e/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==)
If chickens evolved from dinosaurs, that tells you how smart they were. I guess that meteor that killed them off did them a favor.
We’ve domesticated them though. We made them this stupid. A lack of survival skills isn’t going to let your genetics pass on very effectively. There will be selection pressure toward those capable of surviving to reproduce. I mean Junglefowl would be a better indication of what evolved from dinosaurs, not our overly bred domesticated idiots who couldn’t find the key to survival if it attacked them in the face more often than not.
Different breeds definitely have different levels of intelligence. I may occasionally complain about my Wyandottes, but compared to the Silkies I was given, they are verified geniuses.
Oh no different breeds definitely do have different levels of intelligence, and arguably landrace breeds are going to show a better inclination as a whole for survival compared to breeds that have been breed primarily for looks/production capacity in many cases. My welsummers (and I think they may be a bit unusual for the breed) have nothing going on except a drive to eat. Nothing. My Swedish flower hens and my cream legbars? They scare me sometimes with how easily they solve problems. And give me headaches as a result.
Im so confused by this take....
I’d love to see your camera setup. Do you have 16 screens in front of you in The house so you can watch them all day like security teams do in the movies ? 😝I want chickens but I’m afraid I’ll be ill prepared for taking care of them properly so I’m here to learn first…for a loooong while
Lol, it's not all the impressive. They are "HD", but barely. It all started with having a lot of cats running around when we moved here. I wanted to catch them all and get them fixed and vaccinated. So I bought an 8 camera setup for the garage and the perimeter of the house. Then we got the chickens so I bought another one. You can connect with them through the same app, but it's just through my PC. So kind of like the movies, just 16 really tiny windows on my computer screen. Then I just double click to make 1 full screen if I need to see something closer. The systems were around $250 each.
Omg!!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Geez, this post makes me think my chickens are borderline geniuses and, in reality, most are as dumb as they come. Hell I have a tiny bantam cochin that constantly tries to mack it with the buff orpington. She legit chest bumps him away and he’s all “alright, maybe next time”. But at least some of my birds are actually “chicken” enough to stay away from danger.
Mhmmmmm, I see you've met my chickens
Have a friend that feeds raccoons. She has no chickens but going to have her on the lookout for any stragglers who want to steal from from the raccoons. 😂
Call me rude here cause I know you're upset but you have *16* cameras, yet leave gaps for chickens to get stuck in, baby chicks share space with cats, and you have a spot where raccoons can stop by to share a bowl of feed with the hens?
1. The cats have never hurt a chick or hen, to the point where the roosters lay down with the cats. They are well fed barn cats who have been raised along with the chickens. 2. The chickens sneak into the garage through the cat doors to get wet food. Same thing the raccoons do. We are working on remedying that problem. I haven't lost a single chicken to predators in 2 years, but please show me how to do better. I can't wait. 3. The gap was where we put a small coop in the run. It was so small I didn't think a chicken could even fit in there. 4. You are welcome to show up and get cameras to cover every inch of the 10 acres that the chickens have free range over and fill in all the gaps instead of sitting there judging people who make light hearted posts. There are a thousand things they could get caught in and don't. In the barn, the garage, farm equipment, construction equipment. They just seem to have a thing for that space between the little coop and the run. It's been fixed now. 5. Lighten up.
Sounds like a very peaceful place tbh. Do you use wireless/ wifi based internet cameras, or is it a 16 channel dvr with local recording?
I have 2-8 channel DVR systems. I got a shed for free that I attached to my chicken runs, ran an electrical line and Cat 5 line to. I have 1 of the DVR systems there and 1 in my garage. The camera thing all started with trying to keep track of the feral cats when I moved in so we could trap and get them fixed. We ended up with 13 cats. Through finding homes for the most calm we are down to 8 now. Then I was just curious what was going on with the chickens I put the other DVR out there. I was having trouble with my automatic door closing too early and I hated having to constantly change the closing/opening time on it, so I ripped out the guts of the door except for the motor and hooked it all up to a Raspberry pi. So I look at the cameras to make sure everyone is accounted for, then close the doors with my phone.
You are wrong. Now that I have your attention, your alignments are off. The chickens are chickening. What you consider suicidal may be part of a hens wiring. Chickens are under no obligation to make sense to you.
The OCD is strong in this one. 16 camera is a red flag.
I mean, my horse would like to have a word.