Today's Update

OK, so weekly is not really going to work out for me. One of my friends has already admonished me for being a little bit behind on my updating habits. So, as I am not ready to post the article I'm "working" on, I will write a bit about the antics of my chickens.

You've read where I got the hen/rooster safely delivered to my cousin's and a new hen deposited in my little flock. A few days after I made The Switch, I noticed two of my chickens had awfully conspicuous tail feathers. Long and flowing and very pretty. Then, later I noticed how these two chickens had larger combs and wattles than any self respecting hen would sport. Shortly thereafter, I heard a crow and knew that, in fact, I had two real roosters on my hands.

One of them is mostly a Rhode Island Red--we'll go ahead and call him Red for short. He's "mostly" RIR becuase he has green tail feathers. RIR's are true to their name and are red all over, certainly they are never green. The other rooster is an Americauna--we'll call him Bob for want of any more suitable name. Bob is beautiful--he isn't really very smart, though. Of course, it is difficult to tell if he is any less smart than the average chicken. Chickens have little pea-chicken brains and those brains work about as good as a pea.

One Saturday a few weeks ago, the whole flock (two hens and Bob and Red) escaped the confines of their cozy yard and ran free in the backyard. They were quite proud of themselves having taken advantage of the gate coming open. I let my dog Maxine out to do what dogs do when they need to go out and Red took exception to her intrusion into his paradise.

Red circled the other three, packing them into a tight group and left Bob in charge of the girls while he stood guard between them and the Monster Dog. When Red felt Maxine had come too close to his flock, he charged at Maxine then did a little war dance--he stretched one wing down to the ground then circled around it, daring Maxine to come closer, I guess.

Finally, he'd had enough and decided just to chase Maxine off. There's really nothing more funny than watching a chicken run, except perhaps watching a chicken running after a dog three times its size. Maxine was unaware that Red was courageously sending her on her way until she spotted him out of the corner of her eye and turned around to face him down. Red sensed that he'd met his match cowered down and backed off, until Maxine abandoned her temporary curiousity about him and ran off. At that moment Red decided to claim the victory, and did his little war dance again. I'm sure that in their little hearts, the hens were swooning over his bravery. Bob was still there just hiding behind the girls.