Yesterday we got a rooster and two hens from Meg at Gardenworks ( a wonderful local farm where you can pick berries, buy flowers and local cheese and veggies and see some art in the Gallery in the upstairs of the barn). She doesn’t sell chickens, but had a rooster that needed a home and well, we didn’t want him to be alone, so we got him a couple of hens for company.
We named the rooster Winston III and the hens Meg (the Rhode Island Red after Meg at Gardenworks) and Alice (grey like Winston, after Alice on the Honeymooners).
I got them to eat dried mealworms (yuk!) out of my hand, but Winston kept going for my fingers instead. Meg is the most adventurous one, the first to check things out.
When I was in school, the first paintings I did were of my duck. (a white Long Island duck) He wasn’t the most friendly duck, he used to peck at my feet when ever I walked into the yard, but I got used to having him around. And there was something about his shape that interested me. I don’t think they were very good, but I did many paintings and prints using that shape.
Of course the chickens have a similar shape, and I’m looking forward to sitting in the barn with them and a sketch pad and seeing what I come up with. I think they’d be great to do with the sewing machine. I’m imagining chicken potholders, it seems a natural.
Love this video. Especially Mother (Minnie?) checking it all out and having a little sample of the grain. And I adore chickens, so PLEASE make some chicken potholders and put my name on your list for sure. I have some vintagey chicken items in the kitchen and one of your potholders… well, just gotta have one.
Thanks for the encouragement Sally, It’s Minnie in the video, much more social than Mother.
Chicken potholders would probably sell quite well, in addition to being fun to do. I was recently inspired to do some pen and ink chicken sketches after reading of a British woman who was selling potato printed hen paintings – and she was doing very well thank you. Of course her prints were quick little suggestive blobs and I ended up spending hours on feather details and such. Have to work on that… 🙂 We have a Barred Plymouth Rock rooster as well. No BPR hens though. They are beautiful birds. Enjoy!
I don’t know my hens and roosters very well, but I’m learning and enjoying watching them. Your comment will remind me to keep my drawing simple.
Seeing Mother/Minnie? in this film…I’m in AWE! Why can’t people get along like this???
It’s Minnie, Sandra. And she’s a sweet cat always trying to snuggle up with the other animals. It doesn’t always work though.
I too had wondered if the cats and the chickens could co-exist, but it seems the chickens are at least as large as any cat and could probably hold their own if need be. Animals constantly amaze. Thanks for the video.
The other chickens used chase the cats away and eat their food. I used to tell the cat the chickens were only big birds, but it didn’t seem to matter.
How sweet that you had a duck as a pet! My mother had a duck for many years, growing up in an Idaho neighborhood with a large yard where my grandmother grew championship roses in about 1/3 of it, but there was enough lawn to put a wading pool out for the duck, whose name was Puddles. He was still around when I was little and I vaguely remember chasing him under the rhubarb plot near the garage and him going under the plants and then around the corner of the garage to elude me. I could not understand why he didn’t want to hold still and let me pet him. He was smart to stay away from a pre-schooler!
Anyway,it’s sweet that you, too had a white duck as a pet. Perhaps that was what started you on the road to connecting so well with animals. My mom, too, always had a way with critters; she was not a real calm person, but looking back I remember that she was more so when with animals, and she unflinchingly handled our deceased aquarium fish and even the occasional passed-over parakeet. This was greatly undervalued by us kids at the time but I appreciate it so much now!
I wonder where your mother’s duck came from Annie. I worked at an animal hospital, so I often brought home the ducks and chickens that no one else wanted. I loved having them around.
I think the idea of chicken potholders is brilliant! Who wouldn’t want one of those in their kitchen…can’t wait to see them!
Hi, Maria,
I think Puddles the duck came along as an Easter present and stayed — this was in a small town in Idaho in the 1950’s and many folks kept ducks and chickens on their property, so when the easter ducks and chicks grew up they usually went back to these semi-rural flocks; this one happened to stay and end up as a pet. Probably because my mother was old enough to know he would end up as someone’s dinner, and couldn’t stand it, and my grandmother always gave Mom almost everything she wanted. They weren’t cat or dog people for whatever reason, but had enough yard to keep the duck, and really enjoyed and loved him for years. What a silly story, eh?
The more odd connection into the present is that two of my nieces (my two brother’s daughters) both have a great affinity for birds; one is entering veterinary school with ambitions of specializing in avian practice; the other is a certified tech in pet bird care and works part-time in an exotic-bird shop (a high-quality one) in California. Very creative young women as well; the first is an excellent amateur photographer and the second has her own small business making beaded jewelry. They are both very drawn to birds, more than dogs and cats.
I think it’s natural for creative people to have soft hearts and affinity for animals; it’s part of seeing the connection in everything, don’t you think? Glad you’re having so much fun with the chickens. I LOVE the Labrador quilt; Gretchen is quite the Renaissance woman, it seems, another creative/animal person. So cute the way Lenore “chats” with her in the video.