Masterpieces from our friend Jim Seymour. We all seem to have a little extra time on our hands right now, but Jim is spending his time better than most!
From top then clockwise:
Fluffy - the half blind almost 8 year old rooster rooler of the front yard special needs chickens
Lucky - our incredibly spoiled, toe missing, first house chicken, addicted to cheese doodles and gin
Bunny - another front yard special needs chicken that is no longer special needs, the most indignant and entitled hen you could ever meet, one hell of a garden buddy with no tolerance for the dogs' shenanigans
and of course our magnificent goatie girl, Morgan Marie
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| Hector, the Good Boy |
Our chicker peckers free range on most nice days. They're usually very good at staying close to home. There is, however, a small inner-flock gang of delinquent hens that does like to wander down to the road. The road has the allure of winter's snowplow debris build up that makes for a delightful dust bath. Our road has been a little busier than usual with bored people out for a Sunday drive, of course on a Tuesday afternoon. I get it, they want to get out of the house and ride around. We do the same thing. The difference is that we go slowly and are respectful. Unfortunately, the fools tooling around on our our dead end road fly by kicking up the dirt and dust, and probably wouldn't have time to stop for lounging chickens. So, because of this, I try my best to keep our girls out of the road. When I notice them lollygagging around chitting about goodness only knows what, I let loose my signature call of 'snacker-doodle-do!' They come running. They usually come running. Almost all of them usually come running. But, one hen in particular has been deaf to my pleas this Spring, the allure of a good dust bath obviously more important than following the flock. I call and the good girls come running followed by their dutiful roosters... except for Blondie Mama. Blondie Mama, I could see, was busily preening all by herself in the road near the end of the driveway. I called again, just for her. Nothing. I looked at our newest flock member, a beautiful large white yearling rooster, Hector, and asked him to go get her. I'm thinking to myself, yup... I've lost it, asking my boy to go retrieve his girl. What happened even surprised me! Instead of coming to the porch stairs to have a snack with the rest of the fluff-butts, Hector makes his way to the end of the driveway and scoots the stubborn hen all the way back up! "What a good boy, Hector! I cannot believe you just did that!" I exclaim as I try to give a reward snack just to him. He kept his distance, keeping a watchful eye on the girls as they scratched and pecked for the last of the seed treat I tossed for them. What a good boy, Hector, you belong with this flock.
