This morning I put the chickens out to graze in their moveable pens. After everyone was settled I spent some time watching our 27 buff Orpington chicks ramble around in the grass. The buff Orpington is a dual-purpose chicken that is supposed to produce lots of brown eggs. Excess roosters should fatten up nicely for the table (nice euphemism there). They are also very attractive: largish, caramel-colored birds with bright red combs and wattles. Right now, at 4 weeks, they are in an awkward in-between stage somewhere between down and feathers, with scrawny necks and the tiniest nubby little combs. Chicken watching is an incredible consumer of time—even worse than Facebook. Blogging about it afterward consumes another chunk of time.
Buff Orpington chicks
One bird discovered an especially attractive tidbit on the ground. He (she?) grabbed it and ran, starting a veritable chicken stampede. Whatever it was, everybody wanted it. When the first chick dropped it, another grabbed it and ran. The object of desire was fumbled and recovered over and over, until it was either abandoned or shredded. What was this highly prized object? The best I could tell, it was a bit of dead leaf left over from last autumn, soggy from last night’s rain and desirable simply because someone else had it.
