My Nephew the Chicken Whisperer

Yesterday my brother paid us an impromptu visit.  This doesn't happen very often.  He brought one of my nephews with him this time.  It's the first time any of his younger kids have been here since we got the chickens in October of last year.

Nephew had to stop and say hello to the cats, his mom was a cat hoarder before moving in with my brother so he has lots for kitties.  Then it was immediately, "I want to see the chickens."

We headed outside.  They'd already been on their walk for the day (what we call letting them out to roam free for awhile) but I opted to let them out again so he could really see them at their best.  The chickens were confused but delighted at their second chance for freedom.  They immediately came out and began exploring, offering nephew plenty of chances to interact.

It was fun watching him play with them.  He's older so there wasn't much chasing.  But he would mimic their sounds and they would return them.  After herding them back in the coop, the adults stood around talking about boring stuff like gardens and solar panels.  When we looked back, nephew had sat in front of the coop and had all the chicken's attention.

He was squawking at them and they were squawking back, it was a very entertaining sight.

It strikes me how naturally in tune with nature this kid was.  I never told him how to interact with the chickens, he just started doing it in his own way, and it worked well.