Little Gray........and Other Odd Birds.......

This is Little Gray

Little Gray is a Banty hen and she is desperate for motherhood.  Every night when I go to get the eggs she is sitting on a clutch of around 9-12 eggs.  She isn't sitting on banty eggs either, oh no.  She's sitting on full sized eggs and it's all she can do to get herself spread out over them!  She is also a very protective mama and tries to peck holes in the back of my hand every time I reach under her to get eggs.  I'm very gentle and suffer her pecks.  I know what it's like to be a mama.  I'd peck holes in anybody who tried to take my chick too!  The Man however isn't blessed with that maternal instinct.  If he happens to be in the hen house getting the eggs I will invariably hear loud squawks and flapping of wings as he grabs her and tosses her out of the nest.  He has no patience for peckish hens! 

This ridiculous creature is

Stella

  Stella is no longer with us but she was also desperate to be a mother.  These silly little banty chicks were hatched by another hen.  That hen wasn't so crazy about motherhood and as soon as the chicks had all their feathers and could roost she said to heck with you and abandoned her mothering duties all together.  In stepped Stella.  Stella took chicken motherhood to a new level.  As you can see, those banty chicks are pretty close to full grown and yet Stella is protectively squatted over them the best that she can be.  Thank goodness there were only two of them or I think I'd see poor Stella perched atop a pile of full grown chickens!

Waldo

 

This beautiful bird is Waldo.  I should say was Waldo because he's been dispatched.  Please don't for one second let Waldo's beautiful face mislead you.  This bird was a stone cold killer.  He used to ambush me.  This bird would hide around the corner of the barn where I couldn't see him and patiently wait for me to come out the barn door.  Unaware of the danger I would jauntily leave the barn and as soon as the side of the barn was out of my peripheral vision Waldo would make his move.  I don't know how many times this stupid evil bird flogged me, but the last time was one time too many.  I had left the barn and The Youngun was down by the corner of the fence.  I heard her shout......MAMA HE'S COMIN'....and the next thing I knew there was a feathered ball of fangs and fury attacking me.  He flogged me from my hip to my knee.  By the time I got him off me and looked down my pants leg was soaked with blood.  To say that I was mad wouldn't do justice to the way that I felt.  I collected my child, stomped to the house, called The Man and told him that 5 minutes after he got home there had better be a dead rooster in the barnyard!  I didn't even want to eat him, he was so evil.  The Man and The Youngun went down and dispatched my attacker and that was the end of Waldo.  I knew never to trust a pretty face, and that little adventure led to me winding up at the doctor's office the next day for an examination, a tetnaus shot, and the doctor asking me how in the world he was supposed to code rooster attack on my medical chart!

Till next time............GOD BLESS FROM GOODWIFE FARM!