Thursday, April 26, 2012

Chickens Abound!

The family increased by four today. Four chickens, that is. Angel, Roxy, Andy, and Rocky. My daughter assures me that they can readily be identified, but to me they are identical. And with a couple of names like Roxy and Rocky, I'll never keep 'em straight. This is in addition to the two dogs, two cats, turtle and three lizard like things. (I bought the turtle some fresh lettuce yesterday that he absolutely wallowed in. I've never seen a turtle wallow.)

We had guineas last summer but they got eaten by various creatures (owls, coyotes) during the winter because the "bird brained" critters wouldn't go in their little hen house (that I built, thank you very much). They were very skittish and though we did try, we couldn't catch them. However, they did have gang tendencies, often using terrorist torture tactics. My room has a cement patio off of it accessed through a sliding glass door. The guinea gang would come to the sliding glass door, beat on it with their beaks and scream at me. Loudly. Now, you wouldn't think that so terrible, but like that drip torture technique, it wears on you until you can't stand it anymore! Needless to say, I wasn't overwhelmed with grief with they got eaten. Although, I did feel sorry for the very last one left alive. I think it went a little mad being on its own at the very end, finally committing suicide by coyote.

So now we have chickens. My daughter is ecstatic because they seem to love her. They are very calm and friendly, even sitting in her lap. Someone told me that they would even follow you around and when I told my daughter her response was a giggle and, "I hope they don't try to get on the bus with me!"

Hopefully these birds have enough sense to return to the hen house. But perhaps I should mention that they're called "pan fryers."

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