He/She/It...

We have this chicken - we think it is a hen - who is our very favorite. She was the first to be friendly and remains so; one of us is always picking her up and carrying her around under our arm. She is half again as large as any of the other hens and she has REALLY big feet for a hen. She also has a larger comb and longer wattles and... last Fall she began to grow spurs on her legs like roosters do. They are not as long as rooster spurs, but definitely are MUCH longer than any hens have, actually hens don't have any. Her name is Goldie because of her beautiful coloring.

When Paul and Regena were her a couple of weeks ago, Goldie took to crowing...not exactly 'Err-errr-err-errr-errrrrr'...more of a truncated errrrrrrr. Paul pronounced her a rooster because of her build and size and roostery look; and because he is quite experienced with chickens. Dad and I talked about putting him in the stew pot because we have too many chickens - but Dad just could bring himself to do it. I know he loves that chicken.

Then, two weeks ago, Goldie, our 'rooster', laid an egg! It was a grotesquely large and unevenly colored thing; but it was an egg. Inside it was like every other egg we've ever seen. This bird has laid about 1 every 2-4 days since then; we call them Rooster Eggs!