Animal Profiles: Chickens
Our chickens don’t have names, for the most part. Not only do have we quite a few of them, but a lot of them are virtually identical. Our rooster is Elmer Junior. Elmer Elevator (his dad) was our first rooster, until he became aggressive. He was perfectly well-behaved until the day I was gathering eggs a rogue hen had laid in a corner of the yard, and he kneecapped me from behind. I had bruises and scrapes on both legs from his spurs. At first, I was willing to give him another chance, but when he started attacking my 6 year old his fate was sealed. He made for a lovely rooster noodle soup.
I do have a funny story about Elmer Senior, from one of his first encounters with Mark. Mark had squatted down, and picked up 4 hens. He was petting and talking to them, when Elmer came strutting towards him, ready to show this interloper who was boss. I was watching from another part of the pasture, and Mark had not yet noticed Elmer coming up on him. In case you don’t know him, my husband is not a small man, but this was apparently news to Elmer. At this point, Mark stood up, cradling the hens in his arms. Elmer immediately and radically changed both his direction and his de- meanor. If a rooster could talk, he went from “Who does this guy think he is? Those are MY girls!” to “Oh wait a second, those are your girls (turns around) I was actually walking this way.”
Speaking of, the majority of our hens are called random “old lady names” like Blanche, Edith, Mabel, Beatrice, etc. Whatever name pops into my head when I’m calling them. It works well, since I already mix up everyone else’s names, human and animal alike.
I bought my first flock of 4 chickens years ago, when my daughter was still a baby, and we lived in the suburbs.
Technically, I wasn’t allowed to have chickens, but the neighbor that lived behind me was in a different town (Lynn Haven), where they were allowed. She always joked that if Animal Control came knocking, to say that they were her chickens, and had just flown over the fence. I love tolerant, laid-back neighbors! Over time, I added more chickens, and a handful of ducks. If I remember correctly, we had 6 chickens and 3 ducks in our little backyard flock.
When Hurricane Michael was forecast to hit us, and my house was placed under mandatory evacuation, I packed up all the animals to shelter in a safer place inland. That included the chickens and ducks, who were in two large dog crates. They rode out the storm in their crates, in my mom’s office bathroom. I sometimes joke that my chickens saved my grandma from the storm. Typically, we would have evacuated to her house for a hurricane, as we had done many times before. This time though, with all the chickens, rabbits, cats, dogs, turtles, and other critters in tow, it didn’t feel right to subject her to harboring the whole menagerie. Plans got switched around, and she ended up joining us, my parents, and my aunt and uncle at Mom’s office. Praise God she did, because her home was basically destroyed by Michael, while the office was spared major damage, unlike every other building around it. We were saved, because of the chickens forcing a change in venue. 😉
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Mofos.com
Great content! Keep up the good work!