First, I have to say that the division of labor mentioned in the last post has been working swimmingly. I work harder and end up happier, and I have a lot to show for every day. This new arrangement might actually be the best thing that’s happened to my art and writing in years. I’m part way through a new story that I’m pretty excited about.

Now, on to the chickens… I wake up in the morning and lay in bed, looking out the window at the chickens. They generally have a busy tranquility which I find meditative to watch. However, not everything is tranquil in Chicken World. My alpha rooster, Paco, has begun to take himself just a bit too seriously. He’s a bantam Cochin, the black one on the right in the photo. He’s fine when I’m around, but when Bob comes out in the yard, Paco puffs himself all up and attacks Bob’s ankles with pretty serious ambitions. It cracks me up every time, but Bob is understandably less amused. Also, Paco pecks the hens’ feet when they’re trying to roost, and he crows (as a form of challenge, perhaps) everytime we come outside, even if we’re just coming onto the porch. Tomorrow evening, Paco will be handed over to a neighbor who actually wants a rooster — and he’ll be trucked up the mountain in a cat carrier. His harem will be reduced from our 10 hens to the neighbor’s 1 hen. Poor Paco.

And our rooster-in-waiting, Teddy Bear, (not in photo) will now get to move into prime time. He’s been too timid to even try crowing, even though he’s about three times Paco’s size. The buff-colored chicken in the photo is a Minorca. Minorcas are particularly bred for laying, and they are small and quick so that the farmer doesn’t have to invest in as much feed per egg. Our two minorcas arrived here after being gone for 4 months in a chicken swap with a neighbor up the road. Our other hens treat the minorcas as second class citizens, chasing them and generally being rude to them just because they’re immigrants. Fortunately, the graceful Minorcas can outrun and outmaneuver all the other chickens, so they don’t actually get pecked. They’re skittish about coming into their yard at the end of the day, but all the chickens like their new house so much that they march into it even before sundown, and the minorcas have learned to go along with the flock. It’s interesting to see how differently shaped they are from dual-purpose birds such as the Wyandotte on the left.