Eggs for Hatching

Yesterday I found this clutch of ten eggs out in the brush. The three blue ones are from my Americauna hen or one of her pullet offspring. For a week or more Princess has been acting very broody--staying on the nest long after she has laid an egg, and all the other features of broodiness. I've made a few half-hearted attempts to break the broodiness. Last night, as I have for several nights, I removed her from the nest when it was time to roost. I have been blocking nest entrance overnight. Then I thought of those eggs out in the brush, put them in a basket, and took them to he coop. I laid them all out in the nest, then placed Princess on the eggs. Immediately she looked pleased. The eggs were laid in a larger circle than she could cover, so she looked them over, then, with her beak, ootched one of them on under her warm body. She picked another and moved it, until she had them all in place. Then she eased down over them with a most content motherly look in her eyes. She is happy, and within three weeks or so, we will again be playing "baby chicks."

Would You Eat Black Chicken Meat?

How about that? The Black Sumatra--Cemani--chicken is a rare bird, on the endangered poultry list. The chicken has black feathers, black skin, and has black meat and bones. Although somewhat rare, they are sold in meat markets in several Pacific Rim countries. One or two hatcheries in the United States have them available. Supposedly, they taste just like ordinary chicken, but some believe they have extraordinary health benefits. The rooster is a graceful-looking bird with long flowing tail. For most of us, this will remain in the chicken trivia category. [I learned that the previous image, that of a "dressed" chicken, prepared for the market, was considered "gross" by some. As a result, an image of the live bird has been substituted.]

Gender Identity Problems

First, as you have read, there was Celie, the crowing hen. Celie no longer crows because, as again you have read, she hid out on me one night and the community 'coon had chicken for his midnight meal. The accompanying image, taken back in June, is of Joe as a young cockerel. He is now a sexually mature and active young rooster. But. Lately, after watching the pullets and hens on the nests where they lay their eggs, he has gotten it in his head to attempt the same. We sometimes hear the hens singing in cacophonous complaint because they want to lay an egg, but Joe is on their nest. Why can't my chickens be content with their gender? Maybe if I knew the answer to that question, I would know the answer to a lot of other questions. But I am clueless.

Obituary: The Rest of the Story

I awakened In the middle of the night last night, and for some reason, reached both arms out wide and stretched. My right hand caught a glass of water on the night stand and dumped it on my pillow and mattress. After dealing with the problem, I couldn’t go back to sleep, so at 2:45 I got out of bed and began writing. Around 4:30 I heard, just outside my window--chicken coop location–the sound of something being knocked around. I was writing intensely, paused briefly, and continued writing. From time to time I heard momentary, but unusual sounds from the same area. A little after 5:00, I began to hear what sounded almost like chicken chirps. I knew they were locked up securely, so I kept writing. About 5:30 I got a complete thought down in writing, so, having heard chickens and other sounds, decided I should check to see what was going on. When I opened a curtain and looked out into the lighted backyard, I saw a large raccoon carefully examining, it seemed, every square foot of the yard. Instantly, I knew what he had eaten for his midnight meal on the previous night.

Obituary

Yesterday I buried Celie, the favorite of a daughter and granddaughter–and if I believed in favorites, she might have been mine. I wait until all the chickens have gone to roost before I lock them against predators. Celie was always the last to roost, and she always roosted close to the gate. If she was on the roost when I arrived to shut them in, she would hop down and come over to the gate. A brief time of personal communion. A couple of nights ago, it was well after dark when I went to secure them for the night. I didn’t notice Celie in her usual place, but remembered she sometimes took up a different position. Dark as it was, I assumed all were on the nest, so I locked them in. Next morning when I went to release them, Celie met me at the back door. I didn’t think there was a way she could have gotten out, and examination proved that to be so. She had roosted somewhere outside. And was safe and sound. I felt good. Maybe the varied predators are gone and I can let all of them roost in the trees, wisteria, and honeysuckle vines. By evening I had forgotten Celie’s night out. Again it was late. It was dark. Again I assumed Celie was in, although I didn’t notice her. The next morning, yesterday, she had been disemboweled on one porch, and all the white meat had been consumed on another bloody porch. There was no joy in Mudville when mighty Casey struck out; there was no joy in our home when Celie–Chicken Little–was struck down. She had been the most sprightly, the most curious, friendliest yet most like a wild fowl. The smallest–chicken little. Quirky. At the top of the pecking order, but did not flaunt it like Sally does. For months when we were without a rooster, she crowed like a rooster. She was a Silver-laced Sebright bantam, one of the few true bantam breeds. She arrived here from the Ideal Hatchery when she was two days old. Somewhere I have pictures of her on top of my head. Now she is gone, and life moves on, but I felt like writing this memorial obituary in honor of the joys she brought into our family–and not a few diminutive eggs.

Pullet Eggs

The younger generation recently has begun to lay a few eggs. Brownie, pictured above, laid her first today: bantam eggs are small, pullet eggs are always small, Brownie’s egg was baby-sized, pale tan, and elongated with a pointed, almost ice-cream cone shape. Her papa could be any of two or three roos. From one of these she got her iridescent black/green color. From her white, fluffy Cochin mother, Princess, she got her downright short legs (of course, Lincoln, commenting on leg length, noted that they need only to be long enough to reach the ground). Our gorgeous young rooster, Joe, her stepbrother, reminds me of Ted Baxter–handsome, colorful, good voice, but a little slow in “getting it.” When kitchen scraps are thrown to the chickens, someone else will steal his chosen tidbit before he can pick it up. But it makes no difference to little Brownie whether he has picked it up or not. Her low-down legs are so fast that–several times a day--she will grab food right out of Joe’s beak as she races by. There are plenty of sharp little ladies around who can make a fool out of a big, good-looking male before he has any idea what has happened, leaving him with a Joe, the rooster, blank look on his face. “Hey, what happened?”

Foghorn Leghorn, the Original

Everyone knows Bugs Bunny, Yosemite Sam, and Foghorn Leghorn. They think. Now, meet the real foghorn of a chicken. The Ayam Bekisar is a male hybrid between Green Junglefowl (Gallus varius) roosters and domestic bankivoid game hens. Ayam Bekisars were used as the original Foghorn Leghorn by boat cultures who used the vociferous hybrids to literally stay in vocal distance from one another when separated by the frequent tropical squalls that one experiences in these seas. To this day one finds Bekisars in Java and Komodo contentedly perched in their bamboo cages hoisted above the fishing boats crowing or rather roaring their terribly long songs And now you know the rest of the story.