Winnowing Woman: Crazy Chicken Lady

Before I get busy on the have-nots, a fast post.

Ma Luffin Mayun found out I got inside the chickens' run yesterday just to take their pictures. He asked me if he needed to be concerned, was I becoming the crazy chicken lady? Uh, maybe. Definitely crazy. Often chicken. Hopefully a lady. Crazy-chicken-lady. So now that we've gotten that all settled let's meet the ol' birds.

(I know, I know. What is this blog coming to? Please don't leave me...)

We did the unthinkable: we named the chickens. We couldn't resist ("we" being me and the kids).

This is Ladybird.

None of the others look anything like her. She got her name first and early on because she tends to be a regal gal and somewhat the alpha female. So far I've never seen her abuse her authority. She's a benevolent dictator.
Here's her impression of a hawk. It's pretty good, I think...

This is Coral looking longingly out of the fence. She got her name early, too, because her beak is the bright coral and she has the most orange coloring of the four Gold-Laced Wyandottes. She's usually super sociable, but I couldn't pay her for a good photo yesterday. Maybe she's rethinking captivity.

These are "the twins". The poor gals haven't gotten their names yet. They're both pretty chill and keep to themselves.

This is Fawn in the foreground. Brilliant Beauty ignored my suggestion to wait on naming the birds until they had outgrown the chick stage because what they looked like as chicks would likely not be what they look like as full-grown chickens. Fawn got her name because as a chick her coloring was just like a baby deer's, a fawn. She is our smallest chicken and a sweet girl. Check out her green legs...

Behind Fawn in the picture above is Ruth. Ruth seems the most diligent at pecking and scratching, working the same spot until she's convinced there's nothing else to get from it. She's a gleaner, so she is Ruth. She is one of two of our birds that looks like she will have muffs on the sides of her face and a pretty full looking mane on her head. I like her. Here's another picture of her...

This is Weaver. Brilliant Beauty thought that the pattern of the gold, black, and white on her feathers looks like basket-weave, so that's how she got her name.

I saved for last the little gal that surprised us the most. She was our "runt". She was COMPLETELY brown for a couple of months and so tiny. She is no longer the smallest and has grown white feathers. This is Little Bit.

She's a pretty brazen little thing; not mean, just bold and curious. She's been known to nibble a toe or finger that ventures too close to the fence. While I was in the run with them yesterday she kept nibbling at my wedding ring. My theory is "diamonds are a girl's best friend" stands to reason even among poultry. Here she is giving me the stink-eye when I refused to hand over my ring.