Jaegers Forge and Foundry Posted December 14, 2020 Share Posted December 14, 2020 So there's this one chicken sometimes two but for the most part it's the same chicken who hangs around me when I'm in the shop (I'd like to add that she doesn't go in there unless I'm there) usually she just kinda drinks from my water tank or jumps on the work bench, but today she jumped on to my anvil with red hot steel on it. only her talons touched it so she didn't get burned or anything but I don't want her to keep doing it I've asked around and people say that once she gets burned she wont do it again. but I don't think chickens are smart enough to do that. others have said to close the shop doors but I run a propane forge and that's not exactly smart. Does anyone else have this problem if so how did you deal with it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWISTEDWILLOW Posted December 14, 2020 Share Posted December 14, 2020 Never had one of my chickens do something like that but I had a young shop cat jump on the woodstove once but it never tried it agin. The only chicken problem I’ve had is them coming in the shop and pooping on stuff but I solved that buy pouring scratch grains all along the outer walls of the shop and it did two things one it got them out of the shop and two it took care of the weedeating because they tore out all the grass and weeds around the shop as they followed the walls digging at the scratch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted December 14, 2020 Share Posted December 14, 2020 I had a problem with collared doves in my shop; chicken wire fixed it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaegers Forge and Foundry Posted December 15, 2020 Author Share Posted December 15, 2020 2 hours ago, TWISTEDWILLOW said: Never had one of my chickens do something like that but I had a young shop cat jump on the woodstove once but it never tried it agin Thanks for the suggestion I'll try chicken feed and to Thomas if that fails I'll try that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irondragon Forge ClayWorks Posted December 15, 2020 Share Posted December 15, 2020 Stew pot comes to mind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted December 15, 2020 Share Posted December 15, 2020 I'd call a chicken following me around the shop, Delivery. Chickens are a lot smarter than people give them credit for, if it got burned on your anvil and she jumps up again it means she's figured out the difference between hot and cool steel. Birds will bond to you and chickens have been bred for thousands of years to stick around so there's no surprise you have a friendly hen. It occurred to me just now that, "The Friendly Hen Blacksmith shop," has a catchy ring for a shop name. The word Forge is so overused as to be a negative for a blacksmith shop name. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted December 15, 2020 Share Posted December 15, 2020 Worst I've had with a few hen's was them trying to roost in my shop when I'd leave the door open before dark, before I took away their free roaming privileges when they continually were hanging out on my house porch and laying goobers all over. My rooster Cogburn would come in but not past the threshold to inspect with hens hanging out behind him. Now the best look at my shop they get is through the window joining the coop I built off the side of the shop. They still have a run, but not the full property. Frosty, I debate if they are smart or conniving/ determined. If they get a taste for something or an idea it might be there there's about no stopping them. They surely are little feathered pig/dinosaurs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anvil Posted December 15, 2020 Share Posted December 15, 2020 Yup, chicken soup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted December 15, 2020 Share Posted December 15, 2020 Train it to peck off scale. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John B Posted December 15, 2020 Share Posted December 15, 2020 That's probably the origin of the chicken dance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaegers Forge and Foundry Posted December 16, 2020 Author Share Posted December 16, 2020 On 12/14/2020 at 9:16 PM, Frosty said: "The Friendly Hen Blacksmith shop," has a catchy ring for a shop name. Thanks for the shop name Idea I was thinking of something about a willow tree because there's a huge willow in my yard. like maybe willow brook farms Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SLAG Posted December 16, 2020 Share Posted December 16, 2020 Mr. H.M.J., How about "willow tree smith(s) " SLAG. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillyBones Posted December 16, 2020 Share Posted December 16, 2020 Desdemona Ironworks. Or maybe Ophelia's Forge? Somewhat vague but both are good examples of the legend of the willow tree. Desdemona sang the "Willow song" in Othello, and Ophelia fell from a willow tree to her death in Hamlet. The willow is said to represent sadness and loss. "To wear the green willow." would be today the same as wearing black while mourning. This is the reason, or at least what i have been told, that we call it a weeping willow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted December 16, 2020 Share Posted December 16, 2020 "Weeping" is a botanical habit where a plant's branches drape downwards. In addition to willows, there are other trees that can have this habit; "weeping beech" and "weeping crabapple" spring to mind. Weeping trees are popular for landscaping plantings, as they can provide a nice downward visual movement to contrast with the general upward visual of trees with more upright habits. Also, not all willows weep; my neighbor down the way has a windbreak of willows that are quite upright. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted December 16, 2020 Share Posted December 16, 2020 Weeping cherries are beautiful in the spring. (Of course all this discussion about willows brings to mind the song from the Mikado...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillyBones Posted December 16, 2020 Share Posted December 16, 2020 Guess i should have said that different. From what i have been told usually means what granny said. Folklore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ridgeway Forge Studio Posted January 8, 2021 Share Posted January 8, 2021 I was thinking of this post today when my roosters wandered in! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluerooster Posted January 9, 2021 Share Posted January 9, 2021 We had a hen that pretty much lived in the house. She'd go to the door and raise cain until someone let her out. Then she'd raise a ruckus to be let in. She made a nest in a pile of clothes in the kids bedroom, set, and hatched about 14 peepers. After a day or two, she carried her biddies out, and never came back in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted January 9, 2021 Share Posted January 9, 2021 On 12/14/2020 at 7:11 PM, Daswulf said: Frosty, I debate if they are smart or conniving/ determined. I didn't mean to imply they're particularly smart but they are smarter than folks think. Lb. for lb. birds tend to be smarter than mammals in general, some species are scary smart, the corvidae especially. Crows and Ravens are tool users and capable of abstract reasoning and problem solving. An example I heard recently was an experiment where a caged raven was given water in a flask it couldn't reach far enough into to drink. It methodically dropped pebbles in the flask until the water was within reach. It didn't try different things until it found something that worked, it looked around and picked pebbles to displace it's drinking water. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted January 9, 2021 Share Posted January 9, 2021 I have heard of some intelligence tests with crows or ravens. I mainly meant chickens. I guess some are smarter than others lol. Guess that's with all critters. I had a bunch of guinea fowl and they would go around the neighborhood. Neighbor across the street had about a 3 or 4' high fence for their dog. The guineas would all fly in and when the group decided to leave all but one remembered they could fly. The others would all be on the other side of the road calling to the one that would just run back and forth along the fence trying to find a way out. A couple times it went on so long that I went over and had to chace it around till it remembered it could fly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillyBones Posted January 9, 2021 Share Posted January 9, 2021 Crows can remember you. If you hurt one they will show their dislike for you for a long time. We have turkey vultures here, i do not know about others, but they can judge speed, time and distance. If they are in the middle of the road have a tasty well tenderized racoon and a car comes, they can tell the speed of the car then judge how long they have to get out of the way before they become a tasty well tenderized snack themselves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted January 10, 2021 Share Posted January 10, 2021 Injure or wrong one crow or raven and ALL the of them will shun you or worse and they'll pass the word to the next generations. Yeah, chickens and other domesticated birds tend to be at the bottom of the bell curve. Humans are clever, they selectively breed for stock that is dependent and will hang around. Oh yeah, all birds are excellent judges of speed, time and spatial positioning or they'd fly into things a lot more often. I love watching the Goshawks flying through the trees at about 30mph. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shabumi Posted January 10, 2021 Share Posted January 10, 2021 We've had a juvenile coopers hawk hanging around our front yard the last few weeks. He's not afraid of us at all, I got 5 ft from him today. He's been munching on our finch, tit and starling population. We will hear a commotion in a bush next to us and out he pops with a bird in hand. I love having guinea fowl around. Watching a car stop to let them cross the road, only for a guinea to take offense that the car stopped and start screaming at it. Its even better when the person driving starts honking to get them to move. It becomes a battle of stubborn stupidity that the human usually wins. I remember some time ago a study that had ravens ahead of chimps when solving multi step problems. IIRC the chimps could consistently figure out 4 steps to conclusion while the ravens would consistently get 6 step conclusions. Something like push open a drawer with a big stick inside, that can be used to release a rope, which is pulled to get a little stick, that fits in a hole to press a button that opens a door with a treat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.