Page 22 - ALG Issue 4 2021

chickens
The Personality of a Chicken
We inherited our chickens from a fellow plotholder, whose unfortunate ill-health meant he could no longer look after them. What started purely as a ‘looking after them’ exercise in reaping the benefit of fresh eggs soon transpired into noticing qualities that set one apart from the other – and naming them.
Our inherited chickens gained the names: Karen, Ginger and Bunty who are French Marans and a black bantam called Phyllis.
The most notable chicken of the bunch was instantly Phyllis and, though by far the smallest (with a gammy eye that sometimes needed tending to and with a few toes missing to boot) she turned out to be the feistiest. It became obvious that she loathed Ginger after she was seen grabbing her throat several times, and if she didn’t get her spot on the perch in their run then chaos would ensue. Sometimes she would sulk in the laying box too – in theory just so no one else could use it. When she looked at us, you could get the impression
she was narrowing her eyes in a kind of glare. That was when we introduced Jimmy, the Rooster, to keep order... although he always seemed more interested in trying to attack my dad’s allotment boots than keeping any real peace.
A year or so later, and in 2020 we hatched a little chick at home, temporarily acquiring one of our neighbour’s chickens to mother the youngling in our garden, away from the allotment bunch. This new addition we called Chuck. Watching Chuck grow from a fluffy little puff ball, into a leggy awkward stage, and finally into
a full-grown chicken (who still seems to be growing over a year later!) has
been fascinating. Not only that, but she has grown into her own personality: inquisitive and funny as she prances about the run at full-speed like roadrunner. She even makes a ‘quaking’ sound rather than the usual ‘clucking’ and ‘talks’ to us when we get nearby!
When the time finally came for Chuck’s adoptive mother to go home, we moved the feisty Phyllis to be her new friend, simultaneously giving Chuck company and cancelling out the ongoing bickering at the allotment coop.
So: how did Phyllis react to her new companion? She seems to have had somewhat of a personality change.
Chuck is very greedy – the number of fought-over worms and flies are unbelievable, and her beak is like a
... she has grown into her own personality: inquisitive and funny as she prances about the run at full- speed like roadrunner.
hoover. Not only that, but she barges little old Phyllis out of the way as she dashes from one end of the run to
the other in her excitement to see us passing. But Phyllis is tolerant in a way she never was before. We wonder if, at only a year and a half old, Chuck is still a ‘baby’ to her despite the comparative difference in size between them. Yes, sometimes Chuck gets the odd ‘telling off’ from her senior, but otherwise they seem content together... and the allotment chickens are a lot more settled now that the troublemaker
has moved away. Phyllis even has her own perch now, but never bothers with it (perhaps due to the lack of competition?); instead, she frequently falls into a standing doze wherever she is, her black feathers turning blueish- green in the sun.
The two often hunker down beside each other and watch the world go by, and
if one is in the nest box for a while too long there can be sounds of distress and panic – as if the other thinks she has been abandoned. That is how close they have become.
After having the pair in the garden for so long, we don’t think we will be able to integrate them into the allotment crew now, without ruffling some feathers. They would make a formidable pair...
Jodie Neely
22 Allotment and Leisure Gardener