Wandering Chickens

28 05, 2021

Visiting Chicken

By |2021-05-27T10:35:20-05:00May 28th, 2021|Friday on the Miller Farm, Miller Farm Friday|1 Comment

A Blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara


Last week the 7th grade students discovered a chicken on the playground at school.  It was much larger than the chicks we had hatched so they knew it was not one of ours. One of the girls brought it to the front office.  I wish I could have been there to see their reaction!

Since there was already a coop put together for the chicks, the principal moved it into the courtyard and put the visiting chicken in it.

Eventually, they moved all the chicks in with the bigger hen and everyone seemed happy.

Until feeding time, that is.

Apparently, the larger hen had not been eating well out in the wild and was quite insistent on getting more than her share of the food.  Once she realized she would be fed on a regular basis, she calmed down.

No one knows where she belongs. Maybe she heard that our school was a safe place for chickens and decided to join us. We don’t mind.

The little flock has been temporarily moved to a home in the country.  The kids are gone for the summer and one of the teachers was concerned the chicks would not be safe without a hundred little eyes watching them.

I assured her that chickens are quite accustomed to being on their own. Nevertheless, there was not a place for them to live all summer at school and no one is sure when the secure chicken pen will be finished.

Being a chicken wrangler, I volunteered to keep the chickens on Miller Farm if they wore out their welcome in their current home.

After all, we will hardly notice 6 more chickens on our farm.

22 01, 2021

Wandering Chickens

By |2021-01-21T19:52:36-06:00January 22nd, 2021|Uncategorized|2 Comments

A Blog by Chicken Wrangler Sara


We hosted Christmas Eve on Miller Farm this year.  My nephew was quite enthralled.  When he asked how the dogs and chickens got along, I explained all was well if everybody stayed on their side of the fence.

When he looked out the window a little later and saw a chicken walking along the fence, he was most concerned and went out to convince the chicken to return to the safe side of the fence.  He could move in and stay quite busy keeping the chickens safe on Miller Farm, but I think he has higher aspirations that involve the University of Houston.

Life is really interesting when the chickens decide to venture onto the side of the fence that is not in our yard at all.

Most often they visit the neighbor with Connor – the old Great Dane.  I’m not sure Conor would hurt the chickens, but the owners always work to make sure the chickens make it back to safety.  Sometimes I get a text saying, “there is a chicken in our yard,” and I help bring it home.

Recently I got a text from the neighbor on the other side saying, “Rosie (their dog) found a chicken in our yard.  It’s been saved and it’s now hiding behind the rain barrels.”  This was puzzling as there is not only our chain link fence but a privacy fence between our houses as well. That chicken was glad to be back in its own yard and has not gone back to play with Rosie.

I discovered there are some boards missing in the privacy fence leaving just enough room for a curious chicken to explore the neighbor’s yard.  The grass may be greener on that side of the fence but it is guarded by a chicken-loving dog so it is not worth it for the chickens to go there.

Instead they wander along the path between the fences.  When we had the snow storm, one chicken walked further than ever before.

Max was fascinated.  The chicken was quite brave with a fence between her and the dog.

I was fretting over the chickens being between the fences but not enough to climb over and get them. I have torn too many pair of pants doing that in the past.

The chickens eventually make it back.  I think they go there to get away from over amorous roosters.

I figure they’ll work out a pecking order.  They are chickens after all.

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