The Chickens Need Water

Featuring my sweet little hens, vicious villainous rooster, and my attempt at building better boundaries. Loretta Lynn and Scarlett O’Hara are the sweetest little hens that you ever did see. Why Loretta and Scarlett? My grandmother absolutely loved Loretta Lynn’s life story. I wanted a daily reminder not of only my grandmother but Loretta Lynn as well. They are both strong, fiercely independent women. Scarlett O’Hara from Gone With the Wind is another person favorite strong independent woman.

That’s how I know that Loretta and Scarlett are actually sweet hens because they had the same start. If you’ve ever raised baby chicks, you know picking them up frequently makes them more approachable as grown hens.  We loved on these girls everyday even when they got to their awkward teenage phase.  What we didn’t know at the time was that these 8 girls, were actually 2 girls and 6 boys.  

My daughter desperately wanted baby chicks again, so we got the only ones the store had, unsexed Rhode Island Red chicks. This means that we bought 8 baby chicks without knowing if they would be laying hens or roosters.  We said to ourselves, if we get a rooster, it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.  A rooster could protect the hens from predators and keep the flock safe, ultimately building better boundaries for them. Unbeknownst to us, we ended up with 6 roosters, one aptly named by my husband Mother Clucker.

The Rooster Decision

6 roosters to 2 hens is not a safe combination for the hens. If you don’t know why, read up on the appropriate hen to rooster ratio. Brace yourself for what can happen when there are too many roosters. Lucky for us a friend’s neighbor has a large flock and agreed to “rehome” them for us. After some discussion we decided to rehome the 5 most vicious roosters, Mother Clucker included. We kept the “nice” one to protect Loretta Lynn and Scarlet O’Hara. The girls decided to name the docile rooster Hei Hei because his coloring and disposition matched his namesake from Moana. 

Flash forward to weeks after having 5 less roosters and Hei Hei is not the dopey, loveable chicken we thought he was. He is a vicious attack bird who launches himself at anything that moves in his direction. If you’ve ever seen a live chicken up close, you would think its beak would be its greatest weapon. The wounds on my legs are here to tell you it’s not. We quickly learned that a rooster’s most powerful weapons are the spurs on the back of his legs. During one attempted feeding, his spurs went right through my leggings and left not only a blood trail, but bruises as well. 3 months later, I still have a slight mark on my leg from his attack. 

My Mistake

My mistake that day was going into the coop unprotected and without a shield(read weapon), even though the chickens were out of the coop free-ranging. Because we have so much land, we frequently let our chickens free range for bugs and worms. After learning more about this breed of chickens, we discovered that Rhode Island Reds love to free range. Providing this kind of stimulation and freedom could actually help make roosters less aggressive. I quickly learned that this sage wisdom has not tamped down Hei Hei’s aggression at all. I know this now because while I was lovingly providing fresh food and water for the flock, Hei Hei came into the coop and launched himself at me. 

Given this history, I hope you understand now that giving the chickens fresh food and water is indeed a MESS. Don’t bite the hand that feeds you is clearly not a caveat that has ever been relayed to any rooster ever, especially not Rhode Island Reds. After purchasing these chicks, we did some research and discovered that Rhode Island Red roosters are “one of the more aggressive breeds” of chickens. Note to self-build better boundaries and never buy baby chicks out of desperation; if you do fall into that blunder, make your husband feed and water the chickens. 

The Mess

That is how they have been surviving. What was once a fun family project has now been divided into specific jobs for everyone. The girls gather the eggs from nesting boxes accessible by an outside door; I wash and store the eggs; and my husband braves Hei Hei’s wrath to feed and water them. Great jobs for all of us and a good synergy to caring for the family homestead pets. It works seamlessly because the girls love to see how many eggs the hens have laid and I love to cook with the farm fresh goodies. My husband doesn’t put up with any of Hei Hei’s shit and never gets attacked. 

Unfortunately on this particular weekend, my husband was working a 36 hour shift at the firehouse. He normally works 24 hours on and 72 hours off. This particular Sunday he picked up 12 hours of overtime. Currently there is a shortage of firefighters where he works, so if he doesn’t pick up the overtime someone else will be forced to work mandatory overtime. It was Hei Hei’s incessantly crowing that caught my attention and made me look outside the window to the coop.

The Rooster’s Wrath

There he was in all of this glory, standing on top of the riser for the water jug. A riser is a necessity because chickens are mindless creatures. They will poop in their own water if the container is at the same level of their butts. Dogs they are not. Whether the water container fell over or Hei Hei knocked it over remains to be seen, but I have a strong inkling that it was the latter. He lives to assert his dominance and prove that he is king of coop. 

Mindful of the scar on my leg due to the puncture wound suffered from Hei Hei’s spurs 3 months earlier, I armed myself with a garden rake. Not a whimsical leaf rake. A wooden handled, metal headed garden rake. This thing could do some damage if I needed it to, not that I would ever hurt a living creature. I wouldn’t say I was scared of Hei Hei, but I would say that I have a healthy fear of letting him get the upper hand. Rake in hand I cautiously opened the coop and held Hei Hei at bay while I grabbed the knocked over water container. 

The Messy Reality

After refilling the 5 gallon jug from the outdoor spigot, I lugged it back over to the coop door. I set it down to pick up my rake. Stealthily snatching the empty water jug was easy. The added 5 gallons of water made placing it on the riser difficult. I carefully opened the wire door and immediately held out the rake to ward off unwanted attacks.  With one eye on Hei Hei’s ruffling feathers and my shaky out-stretched arm holding the rake, I hoisted the water jug onto the riser. 

The weight of the rake, the distrust of Hei Hei, and the jitters in my hands caused me, not Hei Hei, to knock the 5 gallon jug off the riser and spill cold water into my leather sandals. Leather sandals and not my XTRATUF boots. Boots I bought for chicken-cooping that I didn’t put on because I mistakenly thought this would be an easy task. With a squishy pair of shoes and a bruised hand from trying to correct my blunder, I cursed that darn rooster. 

The Fix

Seriously Hei-Hei, I thought to myself. We have to get rid of this mother-clucking rooster. This is not the first time I’ve muttered something to this effect. If I’m being honest with myself though, my pain wasn’t actually his fault this time. 

It was my overzealous need to protect myself from harm that ultimately caused me to get hurt. 

Avoidable? Yes. Should I have put down the rake and trusted that Hei Hei wouldn’t attack while I supplied for his basic needs? CLUCK no!  Dude is a brutal attack rooster. I saw him down a whole plastic wrapper from the ground yesterday. Why? because it moved with the wind (and no he didn’t die from it if you’re wondering). 

I could have enticed him into the inner coop with treats and blocked him off from the lower level. This would have kept him and me safe from the threatening altercation. I would have saved myself the bruise and saved Hei Hei from the trauma of thinking the crazy human woman was coming to attack his hens again. Setting up a physical boundary, greater than a rake, between me and Hei Hei would have solved all of our problems.  

Who are you trying to hold a rake up to right now in your life?

It could be your friend or co-worker who always manages to slip in a snide comment cushioned with compliments. Maybe it is a family member lashing out with their harsh tongue. Perhaps it is your own subconscious guilting you for an inadequacy. Every interaction with them you find yourself shakily holding up your rake to fend off their negativity and trying to hoist yourself onto the riser that is your life.

Is it worth causing yourself that self-inflicted pain like I did with Hei Hei? You might be wondering why we still have the darned rooster at all. If he causes that much pain, why have we not just gotten rid of him? While he is my arch nemesis, he is the hens’ greatest protector and their family. He may be a terrible, aggressive pet, but he does keep the hens safe from predators. He also alerts me to girls’ problems with his crowing (who ever said roosters only cock-a-doodle-doo at sunrise lied to you). 

Build a Better Boundary

So, while a simple solution might be to get rid of Hei Hei, whoever your Hei Hei might be, it is not always possible, especially if your Hei Hei is also a member of your family. I give you this idea instead, how could you build a better boundary so you don’t find yourself holding a rake? 

You teach other people how to treat you based on the interactions you have with them. Take the time to identify your values and core beliefs.  If you’ve never done this before, I recommend checking checking out this website that explains establishing healthy boundaries. 

Now, write them down, then practice implementing them into your daily life. I do this through daily affirmations. Everyday, I write down 10 things I hold to be true in my life. 

The Why

Why do I write them down everyday if they are my own values and beliefs, shouldn’t those things be inherent in my life? They should, but life gets messy and we often react to what is happening around us instead of being intentional.   I know this to be true because today I still found myself shakily holding the rake and replacing the 5 gallon water jug because my husband is at work on his shift and Hei Hei was crowing up a storm. 

I did not implement my healthy boundary with Hei Hei, but I did have my girls with me for backup and support. They helped me open the wire gate and kept an eye on Hei Hei so I could place the jug on the riser without fearing a sneak attack. 

Today’s mess reminded me to protect my hens, build better boundaries for my rooster, and guard my mind from self-inflicted wounds of worry.  So, wonderful woman, how can you create better boundaries in your life and who can you call on to help? 

Leave a comment below if this sparked any ideas for you.