back to chickens

For those of you who stop by expecting to hear about chickens, food, or my family, stick around. The next few posts will be all about chickens.

In case you're just joining me, here's a recap of the initial purpose of this blog. Raising chickens on a city lot in the city.

I've had chickens (hens only, no roosters allowed in the city) for four years now. Some of my girls are four years old and still laying eggs.

Let's meet them.


Gidget. Feisty chicken extraordinaire. She's a banty Araucana or Easter Egger. She lays small, beautiful green eggs.



She rules the roost. Gidget never thinks twice about bossing even the largest hens around the coop. She's as mean as a snake and as cruel as a cat.


Nelly. Our sweetest and smallest chicken. She's a banty buff sebright. A petite little thing. No fluffy butt here.



Nelly is as sweet as pie. Unlike Gidget, she never gets her feathers in a bind when a new coop mate moves in. She just carries on. She loves to wander into the kitchen uninvited or peek at me while perched on the windowsill. She was featured in the Backyard Chicken calendar. Miss January 2009. Although they're like night and day, Nelly and Gidget are BFFs.


Lucy and Ethel. Barred Rocks. These two are living up to their namesakes. Ethel is slightly larger than Lucy. I can't really tell them apart, but my daughter says she can. They both lay large brown eggs every day. One of them lays speckled eggs, although I have no idea which one.





Together these girls get themselves into more trouble than... well... Lucy and Ethel. You can read about a few of their antics here.


Wynonna. A golden-laced wyandotte and our most beautiful chicken. She's never laid an egg in the three years we've had her. We keep her around because she's a supermodel.



Here she is in oil...



Painting by Bruce Anderson

Here she is in flight...

You might be thinking, “but chickens don’t fly.” Here’s proof they do. This shot of Wynonna was taken by my amazing animal photographer friend, Carli Davidson. You can see more of her work at carlidavidson.photoshelter.com.


Next: the coop