Thursday, December 1, 2011

Character



Lucy's toes remind me of this photo by Alfred Stieglitz,
of Georgia O'Keefe's hands.

So much character. 

And since "adversity builds character", 
I guess that's why Lucy is full of it.

Out in the coop, I was photographing Lucy's twisted toes

when Pigeon scampered over to see what all the fuss was about.
She took a good myopic look, 


and then she noticed that Lucy's head was above her own.
This, according to the Official Chicken Rule Book
is an extreme gesture of insubordination.

In defense of her position as Queen of the Coop, Pigeon raised her hackles and placed her beak beside Lucy's. 
Lucy remained calm and still, to assure Pigeon that she had no intention of overthrowing her regime.
Pigeon thought about that for a bit, while Lucy waited politely.
Then Pigeon turned toward me to see if treats might be in order.
Pigeon herself is not without her own adversity... you can see character in her toes, too.  She's not in pain, but these bent toes do tell a story of hardship that she endured before she came to live with us.  
Those days are forgotten -- but they certainly contributed to her character. 

Maybe that's why these two gals share a special bond.


...They're sharing a special dog house, too -- 
I've made some changes in the chicken yard. 
But that's another story!










18 comments:

  1. You are the best and your hens must love you. Those are the best toes I've seen...eat your heart out Black Swan!

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  2. Awww, they are like bestest friends! Overlooking the "Who rules the roost" so to speak...

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  3. I love this! I think chicken watching beats people watching most of the time. I have a Barred Rock named Elphie. I love her personality.

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  4. My two RIRs have messed up toes as well. I believe it was caused a problem with humidity when they were incubated. Both my girls get around okay although Beth has a slight limp.

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  5. I love that picture of them together! Your ladies still look so pretty. Mine are molting and look like they're ready for the stew pot!

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  6. They look adorable in the "dog" house!

    I bought some beautiful Silkie cross chickens at a Swap meet and they had terrible messed up toes. The vet said that it was probably from having lice as chicks???

    I always felt sorry for them.

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  7. The final photo is so special ;-)

    Beautifully observed and told.

    Celia

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  8. I love the photograph of them in the 'Dog House'. I will not take my chicken's toes for granted again! :)

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  9. I love that picture of Georgia O'Keefe's hands. Even better is how you made me look at my animals in a different way. Thanks for making me appreciate them even more :)

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  10. Can't wait for the story on why the ladies have a flat of their own!

    Am I greedy for wishing you would post more often? But I understand.

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  11. Gosh, you can't leave us hanging. I want to hear about the changes in the chicken yard. Ha ha

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  12. Your old girls can't be doing too badly if you don't have to give them nail trimmings. My old Eleanor can no longer scratch in the dirt and keep her nails short. I have to clip them. Perhaps we can offer a day spa for old hens?

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  13. I just wanted to say thank you! Thank you for your wonderful blog, fantastic illustrations and hilarious (some sad) stories. I just read back through your archives and couldn't stop. We recently got our own chooks and it's great reading all about yours!

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  14. I've got a chook with a toe that points straight down, so she limps. We bought her from a chook breeder so it wasn't a result of battery farming; just bad luck.
    Funny... I was with a blog-friend yesterday who told me of your blog, then today I hopped onto Facebook and a friend had a link here.
    Clearly, I was meant to come here and see the pics of the chooks who look like my Pudgy.

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  15. Awwwwwwwww they are gorgeous and so are you for sharing their stories with us!!

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  16. I'm visiting you from a blog called Rural Women Rock. It is an ongoing series of rural women being "featured" as a way to inspire and learn from each other. My partner, who is our webmaster, is a chicken lover. She has a small flock. She keeps wanting to feature a women who blogs about chickens. I just came across your blog this evening. I would love it if we could feature you on our site. You basically just tell your story with photos. We share all your links as a way to introduce our audience to you. It's really alot of fun. If this interests you at all, go nose around, and see what you think. Thank you! Love the blog!

    Kind Regards,
    Kasse D.

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