Chickens in our garage. Ducks in our extra bedroom. Guinea hens roaming our orchard. Yep, my family kind of knows birds. Auracanas, Gold Stars, Barred Rocks, Buff Orpingtons, Rhode Island Reds, and other chickens have roamed our apple orchards (and for a couple weeks, a peahen!). This is my list of my five most favorite barnyard birds, all special for different reasons. This is the story of my five best feathered fowl.
Penny
My first favorite chicken, Penny was in our first group. A glossy gold star, her life was undeniably short, ended by a rather hungry and messy goshawk (which I mistook for a mangy owl) I said, oblivious,(we were going up the driveway in our car) "Hey mom, look at the owl in our orchard!" My mom slammed on the brakes, leaped out of the car, and ran into the orchard. The goshawk tried to take off, couldn't bear the weight of another bird, dropped a rather bloody and dead Penny, and flew away. We made a cross for her and buried her under a tree. It was a good send off.
Zero Degrees
Don't ask what I was thinking naming a chicken zero degrees in the spring/ summer. Fondly called "Zero", this was a very special bird. She took Penny's place as my favorite after Penny's unfortunate demise. She was a dark brown Auracana with white and faintly greenish flecks. A rather "poofy" chicken, Zero layed green eggs, a source of delight for a few families with small children we gave eggs to. Zero's was a loner, rather low in the pecking order, but fast, she was never bullied by the other chickens. We gave Zero to a family when we decided to take a break from chickens. She was a lovely chicken.
Peahen
Never christened, peahen was only a temporary owned fowl. An escapee from a neighbor's flock of barnyard bird's, we woke up one morning to a screechy, raw cry, emitted from a scrawny peahen. We kept her for a week, maybe two and a half at the most, before locating her frantic owner through a sign at the end of our road. When, I was at school, the owner arrived. I was gone when the next part happened, and will recount it as it was told to me. The peahen’s happy owner recounted how a few months ago this peahen had escaped her yard with her mate and eagerly asked us if we "had the male one too". The peahen's blissful owner ran into our orchard and ran after their peahen, who just plain refused to be caught. She asked my parents if there was any chance they could catch her for her. My parents agreed, and the owner left. One morning, my parents shut the door to the chicken run while she was sleeping and trapped her in a dog kennel. They proceeded to deliver her to her happy owner.
Carrot, Rod, Isabelle, and Rose
Lively ducks, Carrot, Rose, Isabelle, and Rod (named after a construction worker who was working on our new house at the time) were half mallards half some type of white duck. They especially liked swimming in my blue plastic kiddie pool. Isabelle turned out to be a boy, but I didn't want to change his named so he was half rechristened; Isabilly (don't ask). Carrot, Rod, and Rose were all eaten and for Isabilly's sake, we moved him to our friends house who had chickens (we did not at he time) for company. Unfortunately, he was eaten by our friends sled dog.
Guenuia Hens
We had three, but we only named one. Annie Oakley and the others had beautiful feathers (black with white dots) and happy lives. They roamed our property happily, and one of their favorite activities were going over to our messy neighbor's house and pooping on their heavy equipment. Due to our neighbor's prickly feelings to these fowl, we were pressured to give these birds away, and eventually we did.
My very first memory of these birds is when I was 6, and I was begging my mom to please let me check the guest room one more time before bed to see if any more ducks had hatched, and being rewarded with a cute bedraggeled duckling. All in all, I can only say, having birds has greatly enriched my life.
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