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.

Here We Go Again

Pictured: Lacey (bl&wht Brahma hen), Rosie, UMAR (Brahma rooster), Goldilocks. ************************ Here we go again... Umar formerly, Uma, until the recent crowing brought me running to the kitchen window. He/she is a monstrous-sized hen. I fantasized 'her' as just overly plump and exceedingly tall. Is this the 2nd or 3rd round of keeping a supposed hen, only to have her reveal her true self? Rather than just a gender switch, why not a species switch. What if she showed herself to be a penguin? She's big enough. What about morphing into a llama. That would shock Mr. Fox! I've always wanted a goat. Why didn't she become one? The rest of her 'hen' deception is in play. She is truly hen-pecked by the other three. At a mere side-long glance from Rosie, Umar will retreat from a food morsel. He/she runs off whispering apologies for the intrusion....bowing and scraping in utter sincerity for even considering taking food before Rosie or Goldie or Lacey. Lacey can merely appear from around the corner to make Uma/r take leave. Soon after the crowing incident, Goldie walked up and pecked Umar's wattle. Umar backed up and ran behind the henhouse. Umar is really a beauty and a sweetheart who brings out my sympathy. If I return her to the farm she will join the other roosters at the auction house and end up as someone's Christmas dinner. So, until she becomes a rooster-nuisance or eats us out of house and home, she can stay to keep the ThreeChickenFarm an unbalanced foursome.