I Do Too Much: Chickens

I’m gonna be honest with you guys. I was close to scrapping tonight’s blog. By 3:00 I’d done a little bit of everything and I was ready to get high with the chickens. While I was out there I decided to make a list of the things I’m grateful for that 2020 brought and the chickens were on it. Then I remembered that the chickens were also on my short list of things to dedicate a day to this week.

I decided that I wanted to raise chickens about two weeks before I ordered chickens. I’m not impulsive, just obsessive. I don’t take my time researching–I spend all of my time researching so that I can get what I already know I want sooner. I scoured six sources for every breed that interested me. I fell into rabbit holes about coops and food and feed. I spent a solid three days choosing a hatchery.

The kids and I named Edie, Effie, Phoenix, Lilac, and Veronica well before they had hatched. Allow me to introduce them to you now.

Edie (named after the kitten, Eddie, I was forced to give away who was named after Eddie Vedder, my high school soulmate) is the head hen. It’s always someone and we knew it was her as soon as she, and she alone, started breaking out of the brooder. Because of this, she’s the one who eats the most mealworms from my hand and has to suffer the consequence of me holding her.

Effie, I decided before she was born, is my favorite. Effie would have been Aubrey’s name had he not been born with a penis. It was my great great great grandmother’s name. Effie is strong and can do anything Edie can but knows how Edie likes to flex her muscles and she lets her.

Phoenix (named, of course, by Ella) is Edie’s right hand man and flock bodyguard. She’s usually the last in the coop and night and she’s the only one willing to face Quan. 

Lilac (named by Ella) is a fashionista (according to Ella.) Ella says she knows she’s into fashion because she always pecks and bright colors and sparkly things. Eventually, her theory was debunked as she noticed that all of the chickens peck at things. She’s the most maternal of the group and the one that Veronica most frequently snuggles under.

Veronica is a Silkie Bantam. All bantams are small but not all were born with two backwards facing feet like Veronica. Veronica is the reason we built stairs out of bricks to the food and water. For the first few  weeks in the coop, I had to climb in after dark, pick her up, and carry her to the roost to be with the rest of the flock. During that time, she learned to (cautiously) come when I called her. Sometimes she still lets me rock her to sleep.

Aubrey named Veronica and he has no idea why. I like to think it’s for Heathers.