Brown Hen, Smart Hen

Brown Hen

“Kitty Anne, Kitty Anne”, I sang,  then made those chicken sounds that get Brown Hen and White Hen to come to me too.  I was trying to call all four chickens away from the back porch and the cat food I just put out for Minnie and Flo.

It worked, they all followed me to the bird feeder, one of their favorite hangouts, where I dumped a handful of dried mealworms and birdseed on the ground.  That usually keeps them busy until the cats get to finish their food.

But I noticed that Brown Hen wasn’t joining in with the others.  She was standing apart from them, watching.

So I watched too, and with an armful of hay, I opened the barnyard gate to Fanny and Lulu’s low whine and the baas of the sheep.  With the clank of the metal gate, Brown Hen broke away from the other chickens and ran toward the back porch.

I watched as she hopped onto the porch, to the dismay of Minnie….

And headed straight to the bowl of cat food.

Smart, smart chicken I thought.

Brown Hen knew that once I went into the barnyard with the hay, I wouldn’t be comeing back out.  So I wouldn’t chase her away when she went after the cat food.  The other hens were still back at the feeder pecking on birdseed, but with Flo already napping after her fill and no challenge from Minnie, Brown Hen had a bowl of meaty cat food all to herself.

5 thoughts on “Brown Hen, Smart Hen

  1. And some say they are dumb, bah humbug.. Animal’s are not given enough credit, they are savvy creatures.

  2. Maria this is a wonderful funny sequence of animal smarts. I love the picture of determined Brown Hen heading for the porch. And the cats staying out of her way.

  3. In the first photo, she looks like a savvy model–not looking directly at the camera (although being a bird she might really be looking at the camera), pointing her toe closest to the camera and standing very straight. Such a smart bird who knows what she wants and how to plan to get it. Amazing!

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