Chickens Are Funny

"Why are you waking us up?"
"We were sleeping."
"What is the bright light?"

Okay, so they are not so funny at 10 p.m. I was very late locking the pen today...okay, tonight. They are walking around, murmuring little, soft noises, confused by my flashlight, initially. I am sure they were quite alarmed at the flash of the camera.

 

If you have not seen my hens' abode, here it is: a Rubbermaid box. They lay inside and insist on sleeping on top. When there were two, stacked, they slept in the top one and left the bottom one to lay eggs. Even in the dead of winter, they sleep on top of the box. They have a tarp over their heads.

 

Now, here is the funny part of the hens lately. 

One day, I walked silently around the house to the chicken pen. Thelma and Lucy were standing on the rock ledge of a basement window that is a few inches off the ground. Both were peering into the window. I wondered what could be in a basement that would interest chickens. That window is the only window without a white curtain at the moment. You can see one of the windows in the photo above, not the one they like to look into. Exbf opined that they must have been looking at themselves.


Maybe

I may put a mirror outside and see if they are interested in looking at their beautiful selves. I have seen dogs and cats show interest--curiosity and fear--in mirrors and their reflections in other objects, but never chickens.

Today

Exbf was here, helping me. He said that Lucy was standing on the rock facing/ledge. This is not a ledge that is so high that it would be of interest in surveying their domain.  I would love to know what chickens think.

By the way
The pine straw (dried fallen pine needles) keeps them from sitting in poop after the first night. It also makes cleaning the top easier. The brick is because the whole thing kept blowing over. Exbf thought the brick would help. He puts so much fresh pine straw in their nest that sometimes I find an egg sort of buried.

Your turn
Have you ever had chickens that showed an interest at looking in anything that reflected their images? Do you think the dark basement and no white curtain made it where they could see their reflection?