Catching up on Chicken News

I've been remiss. There has been news on the chicken front, and I've been frivolously posting about Christmas shipments and other silly things. So, here are some items of interest from the Chicken Chronicles.

When last we discussed poultry, our family had three hens and one rooster. This would be Gorgeous and Handsome, our original pair, plus Angela and Squeaker. Sadly, both Angela and Squeaker met untimely ends in the jaws of our disobedient and unrepentent canines.

However, since that sad day, we were given another rooster, who was originally named Pincher because when he eats dried corn from your hand, he isn't as gentle as he might be. His name has gradually morphed into the more respectful Mr. Pincher. As you can (barely) see in the photo below, he has some nice "whiskers," which make him look quite distinguished, like an old college professor.


However, the arrival of the very masculine Mr Pincher brought problems into the idyllic existence of Gorgeous and Handsome. Handsome was not willing to welcome another rooster into the roost, and so he was spending all day chasing Mr Pincher around and pecking at him. It wasn't pretty.

Kirstin came up with a brilliant solution. Our neighbors have a very large number of chickens (as well as turkeys) in their yard. Many of these fowl wandered in off the street and stayed, so the neighbors don't even know which chickens are theirs and which are not. Kirstin suggested that perhaps our neighbors would be willing to trade the mature and ready-to-eat Mr. Pincher for a soft and fluffy, too-small-to-eat hen. That would be a good trade for them, and should bring some tranquility back to our coop.

However, our very generous neighbors (who have so many chickens they don't know what to do, and who don't want another rooster in their yard) decided to give us a hen, but not take our rooster. Thus we acquired Nameless. I think the recent loss of life amongst our chickens has caused some family members to be a bit cautious in the naming of new chickens.

Poor little Nameless has had a hard life. She was quite obviously at the bottom of the pecking order in the neighbor's yard, as most of the feathers on her neck have been pecked right off. Because of this she resembles a small vulture. This isn't pretty, either.

With the addition of Nameless to our fowl family, we have achieved some balance. Nameless and Mr. Pincher, together, roost upon the lowest rung of our poultry society. They hang out together, trying to avoid offending Handsome and Gorgeous, who constitute a despotic dual dictatorship.

I have just one other bit of interesting chicken news to report. Yesterday, the same neighbors were preparing to eat one of their chickens, and they invited Russell to help them. Russell learned some new skills, and he is now ready at a moment's notice to turn our chickens into tough stringy meat. I imagine our poultry will all behave themselves just a bit better in the future, don't you think?