The Girls

I'm sure you think I am a little "different" for posting about my chickens, but the truth is, I love them.

Like, a lot.

I know it's weird because Matt tells me.

Me- "I love my chickens."
Matty- "That's really weird, Babe."

See? It's true. Both the fact that I love my hens and that I'm odd for doing so.

Despite these facts, I am posting about "The Girls." They are each very cool with extremely different personalities.

Doris. My chubby chicken. She eats A LOT. Pretty much anything that falls in front of her. She is a great layer and extremely docile. It may just be that she weighs too much to run away...

Matt and I gawk a lot at her pretty chest plumage. Isn't it pretty?

Daisy Anne (Yes, my chickens have middle names. It's important to have full names when I yell at them for digging up my onions.)

She greets me every morning with a posture that I pretend is a "Good morning! Please pet me!" stance, when in reality its a "Please mate with me, I want babies" stance. 

She LOVES to bathe in the dirt. Its easy to tell when she has done so because her white feathers make a nice canvas for all the mud. When she shakes it all out, we laugh and call her "Pig Pen". 

Daisy lays a lovely white egg every morning at 9:30. She is very reliable :)

Daisy has pretty bangs, don't you agree? :)

And then we have Dotty. She's a pretty one all right, but has been a pain in the tail feathers from day one. She's always the first into the garden to eat my strawberries, she plucks the dog's hair when they are going potty and she chases the cat out of the yard. She's grouchy, aggressive and NOT LAYING EGGS. What good is a chicken, especially when they are mean, if they are not providing you with a fresh egg every morning? Well, I'll tell you, not much.

We have tried a few different things to get her to lay, but nothing has worked. I swore that if she didn't start laying by the spring, I would eat her. And honestly, I think I could do it.
(This is the face she made when I told her that.)

But alas! Yesterday while cleaning the coop, Dotty assumed the mating position (a sign that her hormones are heading in the right direction) and I was able to rub her back a bit to simulate mating. It's not as disturbing as it sounds.

Today she requested a "back rub" twice and started making lots of noises that I have never heard her make before, noises that I assume could only mean 1 thing. She's got an egg on the way.

Look at how happy she is.
I may be wrong, but I think she is on her way to becoming a real chicken!

Well, if you didn't think I was crazy before, you probably do now.

But, aren't my chickens fun!? They are good entertainment if anything. I could probably convince you of their awesomeness with a fresh from the coop omelet :)