This is Cream Puff, the heroine of a chicken love story.
Cream Puff is a Chanticleer hen. She was hatched here two summers ago from a clutch of eggs that were given to me and raised by one of my Silkie hens. She's a bit full of herself, and some of the other chickens might even think she's a bit of a b"+¢h. Her feathers are always perfect, she's a bit haughty - some chickens are just like that. I named her for her colouring.
This summer she went broody. Her sister from the same nest went broody on the exact same day and the two of them were my first full-sized hens to set eggs and see them through. I have Silkies that can't help themselves from sitting on eggs, but it was exciting to have my first big hens go broody, and two on the same day!
Perchick was serene about the life change (Suddenly I'm hot and feel like meditating and that's ok) but broodiness did not agree with Cream Puff. She was compelled to sit on the eggs, but she was anxious, angry, and apparently confused (I'm having hot flashes and an inexplicable attachment to eggs - What's wrong with me??!!!). Basically she entered a sustained state of seething ruffled indignance that lasted a month. Notice her glaring balefully at me from the nest. She's a broody pancake, but she's angry about it.
When I fed her in her broody box she would rush me, attacking and growling, and she earned a revision to her name: Cream Puff the Fierce.
Yay, her chicks hatched, and Perchick's, on the same day. A cute mixture of different breeds. Perchick was serene and Cream Puff was ruffled, puffed up like a turkey all the time. Ruffled on the nest-
Ruffled while eating.
Showing me her tail. Grrrr
She turned out to be a great mom. No one was surprised she was fiercely protective. Her feathers went down after about a week, when she got too busy teaching her chicks to scratch and groom and clean their beaks to keep her neck feathers ruffed up like Elizabeth I.
But between the two of them, I had 15 new chicks on deck, right when a friend asked me to sell her some chicks. Having observed the process, I think it's hugely important to have chicks raised by their mom if you want to get healthy smart free-range chickens, and I didn't want to break up the family.
It took me a few days to get the brainwave - I would loan Cream Puff to my friend along with the chicks, so the chicks would grow up where they would continue to live and be mothered, but Cream Puff, a valuable proven mother, would be returned to me when her chicks didn't need her anymore (which is an obvious stage of chick development).
The transfer went off well, considering we were catching my angriest chicken and the chicks she was ready to give her life for. * I'll beat you both apart! I'll take you both together!*
They all left in a box, and weeks passed. I got notified that the chicks were teens and they didn't need their Mom anymore - however -
"There's a problem. Cream Puff the Fierce... is 'Cream Puff in Love' now".
to be continued...