They are pretty dumb, except as watchmen. Friendly enough unless you get around their nests or chicks, in which case they will fly at your face and scratch the heck out of you. They are lousy mothers. They are terrible about leading their chicks out into weeds wet from dew, where they get chilled and die. They don't seem to have the instincts of chickens to keep close track of their chicks. The pearl colored are the easiest to keep around here. The powder blue and white ones get eliminated by owls because they are easy to see roosting in trees. They will eat a lot of bugs and you won't have ticks with them around. My flock dwindled down to one lone male over the years and he took up with a flock of wild turkeys that drink out of my front pond. He stayed with them for 2 years but I didn't see him with them at all last year. I guess he either died or some critter got him.
