New Girl Name Game

The New Girl Hen was the prettiest one in the chicken house, so I chose her to come and be number four at TheThreeChickenFarm. She has beautiful slender black and white pinstripe feathers diagonally swirled around her head and neck. Her ample body is covered with dark rust brown feathers decorated with faint white spots and silver edging. Her fluffy hen butt is a lovely mix of charcoal and chalk gray feathers. Next time you have a chance, check out a fluffy hen butt. It is fluffy-full of the softest feathers. They must be for cushioning eggs in the nest. Her strong legs and four long claw-tipped toes are pewter gray. Her wattle (the hangey down under-the-chin-stuff) is red. Her small, narrow red comb is perched a bit forward touching the beginning of her rather large beak. Large? It says ‘Vicious- keep your fingers away.’ It has a long, pointed hook, definitely a recessive Eagle gene in her DNA. It emphasizes her eyes that look at you with ‘I can see a mouse at 2 miles and swallow it before it reaches the safety of its hole.’ I scrolled through some chicken picture sites on the Internet. Her closest resemblance is to a hen whose mother was a Golden Phoenix. Wow! Apparently New Girl’s father had flown in on an afternoon breeze from some mysterious island. AND New Girl lays blue eggs. She has not completely fit in with the other three hens but is holding her own. They try to intimidate her because that is what chickens do, but it rarely works. She often stays atop the run overlooking her hen pen sisters, Lacey, Rosie and Goldilocks, probably imagining them as distance mice. If you are inspired to offer a name for this lovely hen, please add your suggestion in the ‘Comments’.

Baby goat boy at the farm

One of the perks of visiting the farm in Calhan is petting the many goats. This recent visit included holding, petting, kissing and cooing over a 5 day old baby goat….OK, a kid. He is glossy black with a few white hairs on the back of his ears. He had no name because he might not stay and they did not want to become more attached to him than they were. It’s hard to look at him without getting attached. He is soooooo cute! As we walked around looking at the chickens and big goats, he and Dreamer (my little Pomeranian) played around at our feet. They were the exact same height. Little goat boy thought Dreamer must be another little goat so he lowered his head and butted. Time and again he walked around in front of Dreamer and ‘Bonk!’. Dreamer would look questioningly at me but did not ‘butt’ back. After a while little goat boy stopped taking time to get in front of Dreamer to butt him. He would stand along side, lean his head to the side and ‘Bonk!’. Sorry, no true photos. We were so engaged with the animals I could not pull away to get the camera.

[The photo shown is NOT goat boy. I added it because I felt I owed you a goat picture. I don't know who it is.]

The Newest Girl

Here she is! Hopefully future photos will better show her lovely feathers. She is dressed in an interesting costume. Her crown is a narrow red comb. Slender black and white feathers swirl around her head, neck and shoulders. Her body is covered with silver tipped 'partridge-like' brown feathers. (The red and white to her immediate left is a plastic waterer.)

As typical in chicken life she has had to fight for acceptance into her new home. Goldilocks, the teenage smart aleck, was the first to challenge the New Girl, and after a couple of pecks ran off singing a song of acceptance. Rosie was subdued almost as fast. Then there was Lacey. Remember Lacey...she came from the farm a few months ago where too many roosters were 'using' her. Consequently she is a real scrapper...."I don't take nuthin' off nobody!" They fought a few rounds, wings flapping, feet raised and clawing, beaks trying to draw blood. New Girl ran into the hen house for a breather. At that time I remembered to get the Rescue Remedy to spray a bit on everyone, including myself first. After a direct spray into Rosie's mouth, she walked past New Girl with an exprssion that said 'I know I had something to tell you but I forgot what it was.' After the homeopathic wore off Lacey started bullying again but less seriously. When darkness arrived they all went into the henhouse and slept overnight together. The following morning New Girl strategically kept her distance from Lacey, so everything is going fine according to typical chicken time.

Umar returns to the farm

Big Umar....all 15 pounds of him returned to the farm. He looked very much at home just seconds after he was put over the fence into the big corral full of chickens, other roosters and lots of goats. He was not confounded by the mix. He challenged another rooster who backed down. It felt OK to leave him. On the way home we stopped for ice cream to celebrate. Umar will be missed, but early morning cock-a-doodle-dooing will not be missed. Fortunately the neighbors gave us a pass for a few weeks but there was no denying his presence.