So, about these chickens...

I have always had a romantic fantasy about living off the land and having my own chickens; but this has been a real education for me! I will not say anything about the 'meat' birds right now - that was a little traumatic. Suffice it to say that our freezer is now well stocked for the winter....

The 'other' chickens, the egg layers are really cute and fun little birds to have - so far. There are 17 birds - 5 of which have gorgeous orange and black and brown feathers, very beautiful birds called Araucanas. They are a little skittish ad I could not get any pictures of them, but they have soft and protruding black facial feathers which look like fluffy beards, making them resemble little old Quaker men. Dave has named one of them Deacon and one of them 'Lambchop'.

There are 5 brown and white feathered friends called 'golden sex link' (don't ask me what that means) - they are also pretty birds, much tamer than Araucanas, and quite curious.

And there are 5 white leghorn hens. That leaves...two white leghorns which have developed red combs and red wattles. These two 'girls' turned out to be roosters! These young roosters frequently square off with one another, lower their heads, a bit like bulls, and try to stare each other out. The one who stares the longest earns the right to stalk around flapping his wings. It is very comical. Surely this is the origin of the game humans call 'playing chicken', only we seem to play the game in cars. At least that is how 'they' do it in the movies!

We call adolescent roosters 'Foghorn' and 'Altadore'. Three mornings ago, about 4:30 a.m. we heard this soft 'woo woo' amidst all the other morning bird sounds. I said sleepily 'what is that?' Dave murmured 'I think it is a little rooster'. It was really nothing much to hear and we fell back to sleep. The next morning the little rooster had made significant progress in maturing and his call sounded like a young child playing a kazoo 'doo to doo'. Dave thought it sounded like a bath toy of some sort. We lay in bed giggling over the sound of it and again fell back to sleep.

Yesterday morning Dave and I arose at 4:00 and were on our way to Canada to visit friends, before Altador and Foghorn could begin, although I thought it strange they hadn't started practicing their crows, since that was their usual time. I phoned my Dad that evening after we arrived and he told me when he went out at 7:00 a.m., to feed the chickens that Altadore was crowing away inside the hen house, apparently thinking it was still dark. We all know how confusing adolescence can be! He said it was a definite ER -er -ER sounding crow.

We can be certain that these two roosters will only continue to grow in confidence and volume
and, as the henhouse is located about 40 feet from our cottage bedroom window, we can also be certain that in another week or two Foghorn and Altdore will be christened 'Dumpling' and 'Stew'!