Free Bird

So we saw an ad on Craigslist the same day Henny Penny died.

Free chicken to a good home.

We asked if it was a hen and then went on our way. Not knowing my way around all chicken breeds, I was struck by the chicken's huge tail feathers. "Are you sure this isn't a rooster?" I whispered to Aaron as he and I tried to catch it in the dark coop.

"He said it was a hen."

"I think it's a rooster."

We brought it home anyway, posted the below picture to a chicken keeping forum and quickly found out that it's a Brown Leghorn and indeed a hen. It is a flighty little beast. It has gotten out twice already and catching that thing is nearly impossible (we keep thinking that this quality might make it a good free-range bird). So far we have had to keep it in a pen next to the coop. After a few days of that, we did try gradually introducing them, but Sally seems a bit confrontational. And not your normal setting the pecking order stuff. This poor bird spent two days upstairs in the coop because Sally wouldn't let her downstairs at all (even when Sally herself was upstairs in the nest box). Oh boy.

I think we should get rid of the chickens sooner rather than later. However, we thought Sally needed a mate for the time being. Maybe not?