What the Flock??

Yesterday, The Big Guy made this nifty-swifty door under the coop and added some fencing in between the fruit trees and the garden so the chooks could have more room to roam. They were going to need it because we were expecting our Animal Control Officer friend, Dennis, to be bringing us six more hens and a rooster. The coop was plenty big inside for that many already, but our three girls had decided just the night before to start using the roost instead of sleeping atop the nesting boxes -- of course they did. Dennis came after sundown since that is the best time to introduce new chickens. The theory is that because the chickens are all dopey and sleepy at night, you just put the newcomers into the roost, and when they wake up in the morning, they're not really sure if they've all been there all along or not. I think that's hysterically funny. But I digress... Dennis arrived with his big box o' chickens, I held the flashlight, and The Big Guy put them in one by one. There was only a small bit of fluffing and clucking, then calm. (side note: Dennis brought us 8 hens & a Roo instead of 6, and in the dark we weren't even quite sure what we got.) I could hardly sleep last night worried that we'd sleep in too long and they'd wake up fighting, so after only a few restless hours, I woke up The Big Guy at 0530 with the promise of bacon, and out to the coop we went. Pretty quiet. Good. He opened the sandbox door by the roost, while I opened the ramp door. Our three Rocks really wanted out. One was close to the ramp and came out right away, but the other two were on the top roost rung, and this was between them and freedom:

Argalus! He's a partridge Cochin cockerel. Dennis assured us he is very docile and friendly, although the Rocks weren't convinced of that. They sat above him, pecking at his head and back, trying to get him to move. While he didn't seem at all interested in fighting with them, he was also uninterested in moving. So they eventually leap-frogged him and raced out the door. The newcomers were less eager to greet the day, but finally this pretty girl got brave:

Agnes, a Golden-laced Wyandotte! She was a surprise, but a very pretty one. My Pop had told me his favorite chicken breed is the Wyandotte, and he thought I should name one of the newbies "Eggness." *yukkity-yuk-yuk* The name Agnes was already on my list, so when this girl showed herself, it was a no-brainer as to what her name would be. The Rocks didn't care what we called her, they wanted to call her gone, and wouldn't share their space nicely. Using the aforementioned nifty-swifty door, I shooed them into the new yard, closed the door, and soon all the others made their way into the coop pen.

Here is Hazel. She is an Easter Egger. That's not an official breed, but it's what they call an Araucana mix. Easter Eggers lay blue-green eggs. I am insanely excited about that.

Betty. Big Betty. Big, brown-eyed Betty. Betty is a Jersey Giant. She's big. And she takes no crap from anyone. Luella tried to give Betty some crap. Betty gave Luella this:

See at the very top of her comb? That dark horizontal line? That's a nice scratch from Big Betty's big claws. I felt a little bad for Luella, but I kinda dig Big Bad Betty.

Another Easter Egger named Clara. She is sweet and let me pet her a little bit.

Gladys. Or Edith. There are two Australorps or maybe it's three Jersey Giants. They have black eyes (Australorp) and they have black legs (either) but it's hard to tell if the bottoms of their feet are yellow (Jerseys) or pinkish (Australorp.) They're pretty, though, especially in the sun which brings out the green irridesence in their feathers.

Edith. Or Gladys.Marigold, the third Easter Egger. This picture does not do her plummage justice. She is a beautiful blue-egged blonde.

All-white birds are not my favorites, so when this one showed up I was initially only glad that she's a fourth EE and will make pretty eggs. But I had the name Opal on my list, and she really is pretty when she's not taking a dirt bath. (that dark spot on her chest is nice, fresh dirt)

I could write forever about all the funny and naughty things the flock did today, but I'll save some for future entries. Except for one last thing Betty wanted me to share with you:

Big beautiful brown-eyed Betty laid a big beautiful brown egg! And when I say big, I mean:

BIG.