Whenever I watch a human baby, I often think, "That's just like puppy Chewy!" Like when the baby does something and everyone goes "Good girl/boy!" or when they start gnawing on everything they can get their hands on. Then when I got baby chicks, I started to think they were like puppy Chewy, too. I guess all babies are pretty similar, no matter what the species!
Below are some examples of the puppy-chick equivalency.
1. They use their dishes as pillows.
Puppy Chewy would often nap with his chin resting on his bowl, or even with a foot in the water. Baby chicks do the same thing, as they can fall asleep at anytime and anywhere. That is why it's important to have marbles in their water dish so they don't accidentally drown. Here, baby Waffles has settled in for a nap using the brick under the water dish as a pillow.
2. They travel in a box.
Puppy Chewy rode in the car in his travel crate. This kept any puppy messes contained, since he was not yet housebroken. It also kept him safe by preventing him from tumbling all over the car.
My chickens travel around in a big cardboard box. Baby chicks need to eat a lot to grow, and since chickens have fast metabolisms, they are real poop machines! The box contains any in-transit droppings, allows me to move all 6 of them at the same time, and protects them from the hungry jaws of Chewy.
3. They are prone to escape attempts:
Puppy Chewy had a playpen to keep him out of trouble when we weren't nearby, but sometimes he really wanted to play outside of it. He would climb up the sides with a toy in his mouth, all while making whining puppy noises. Don't worry, it was sturdy enough not to topple over under his weight, so no injuries occurred because of this naughty puppy behavior.
Baby chicks like to test their wings and perch on things, so I would often find them sitting on top of their ~30" tall cardboard enclosure. At first they were timid and did not want to stray from the rest of the flock, but eventually some of them started regularly jumping out and exploring.
4. They love shoelaces!
When Chewy was a puppy, he chewed on the strings of one of each of my pairs of shoes with laces. You could tell which one had been chewed on because the laces would be grey instead of white, and the ends would be a little frayed.
The chicks were fascinated by my shoelaces, as well. Since they are a contrasting color to my shoes, they kept pecking at them, trying to figure out if they were food or not.
I never would have thought that chickens could be such entertaining creatures, but they certainly make me laugh everyday!
