Friday, April 24, 2009

Our flock is complete

I feel like the Mia Farrow of chicks. Fortunately, I'm required by county code to stop or I probably wouldn't. It's not so much that they're cute -- the ones we got a week ago have already ceased to be cute; they're almost reptilian -- but they bring out the collecting instinct, which can be a problem. See subtitle of blog.

I'd been planning to get two more chicks to fill out of the boring all-Buff Orpington flock, and had learned that a feed store "near" my grandmother's house had Marans and Ameraucanas. So she and I made a pleasant 2-hour field trip yesterday afternoon. It turns out that the store had sold out of Marans, but had brought in all these other intriguing varieties, including white-crested black Polishes (above), silver crested Polishes, and Barred Rocks. The Polishes are spectacularly strange looking when they grow up and I decided to get two even though (maybe because) I'd read they are often bullied on account of the dopy top knots that make it hard for them to see. Poor girls! We left the store with five new chicks. Mark was not delighted.

Watching the new babies integrate with the older chicks you can see that "pecking order" is no empty cliche. It does not appear to be strictly a matter of age and size. The tiny Ameraucana is pushing all the big Buff Orpingtons around; she rushes right at them and they step nervously aside. The Barred Rock (below), on the other hand, seems to be extremely timid. 


6 comments:

  1. I'm so jealous that you can buy Marans in a store! I had to search forever to find mine.

    And did you know that The Kitchn is pimping your Slate piece? Soon you will take over the world!

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  2. So awesome! They have a flock of Polishes at the faux-working-farm near us and I just love watching them run around like a 60s girl group or Lawrence Welk sister act with their "hair."
    Have fun with the flock. And "pecking order" is no empty thing, is it? Our birdfeeder this winter taught our boys that.
    Can't wait to see how the birds and the bees get along. Thanks (and I'm sure even bigger thanks from my husband) for documenting life in my fantasy world!
    PS--did your husband give you my husband's message? How 8th grade, but there it is.

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  3. Layne -- I fibbed about our flock being complete. There is still one more slot open if I "happen" to come across a Maran.

    MemeGRL -- NO! What message? I will pursue.

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  4. now, of course, we all want to know what "the message" is.
    it's a mystery blog.

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  5. have you considered that the pushy araucana is not a "she" but a "he"?

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  6. btw, i love love love Silkies but maybe not sturdy enough for your set-up?

    (& i assume you've been checking Bar Ale down by the river in Petaluma?)

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