Introduction to the Feathered Friends Community: “Blogging for Birdseed” – Why Can’t I have Chickens Anyway?

“It’s raining… Why can’t we come inside?... OH, HELLO CATS!”

Hello everyone at the “Feathered Friends” Community. I am @juliadick, otherwise known as “Blogging for Birdseed”! I am a brand new HIVER writing to you from Cape Town in South Africa. My husband, @jasperdick, has been on HIVE since April 2022, and has convinced me that there are all sorts of communities that I will enjoy, so finally, here I am!

Something you should know about me, is I’m very passionate about certain things that I really want (but can’t necessarily have yet).

I own a training manual for my favourite breed of Dog, it covers everything from specific behaviour traits to how to know if you own a champion. I’ve already chosen at least five names - there is Pansy, Popkin, Poppy, Petunia and Pugsley, and of course these future beasts would all the Chinese Emperor’s favourite breed of dog - The Pug. A lawyer friend once offered to draft a “pug-nup” for me and my then-fiance @jasperdick in case we ever got a pug and then split up.

Now… getting back to the chickens. After hours spent watching YouTube videos on chicken coop building, finding chicken-specific websites and reading up on the vast amount of different types of chickens, I now possess strange insider knowledge about these magnificent birds:
•for a healthy flock its five hens to one rooster, just as you should have seven ducks to one drake…
•I know that if you remove the rooster from the flock the alpha hen will take on the characteristics of the missing rooster- she will grow a comb, spurs and start crowing…
•and I know that’s it’s possible to “crate train” a rooster to only crow later in the morning by putting it in a box!

I have seen enough to know my favourite chicken types include the tiny but decorative Sebrights, the broody and beautiful bantams, and those white and fluffy footed silkies... but… I currently own 0 chickens because I live in an area where they would not be welcomed. Chickens are currently just a dream…

Luckily for me, multiple flocks of wild Helmeted Guineafowl roam my area, and I have claimed them as my own!

The Guineafowl need bird seed. These gorgeous, blue-headed, fluffy-headed fools are the sounds I wake up to and fall asleep to. They tap on the window if the breakfast delivery is late, they provide endless entertainment for my tiny person and my house cats, as well as a free pest control service to the garden. Some of my earned HBD will definitely be used to keep my “wild chickens” happy and visiting the seed feeder!

If it weren’t for Bunny (white cat) and Mr Pickles (brown cat), I probably would have let the “wild chickens” into our house by now!