The chickens had a nice day today.
S. brought them up her watermelon rinds. She told me that chickens love them.
Turns out she's right, they have been batting them around for hours, stabbing them to death eating little bits at a time. It's like chicken croquet or something.
But that's not what I'm here to talk about.
I'm here to introduce the last chicken of the troupe.
Here she is...
When she came to live with me, along with poor Miss Jane, she had been rather savaged by the rooster.
She had an open sore on her neck where all the feathers had been plucked out.
I kept an eye on it, which wasn't hard, because she is the most naturally friendly hen of the bunch and let me pick her up often to examine it.
After several days, I did not like the way her wound was taking so long to heal. I decided to treat it with something called Blu-Kote, which is a concoction with gentian violet and is antibiotic and anti-fungal. It has the added feature of concealing the redness of a wound which is tempting for the other birds to peck at. Thankfully, the girls were leaving her alone.
As you can imagine, it's pretty hard to put a highly staining liquid onto an unpredictable chicken. I did the best I could with the little dauber that comes in the container, but as you see, it went sort of all over the place, and stained her feathers violet. They are rather pretty really. The sun is fading them quite a bit already. They were violently violet at the beginning!
The good news is after two applications, her wound is all healed up. Though I suspect there will be an area there that never has feathers again.
Anyway, one day as I was watching her peck around in the pen, I said, "My goodness, you look like you have been to the tattoo parlor!"…. which of course reminded me of this...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHXZA_5XMJ4
I haven't been able to get that song, or the appropriateness of the name out of my head.
So I give you...
Miss Lydia.
Did someone call me?
As the photographer, I must apologize, because just before I went out to take pictures, she, and the rest of the girls had been enjoying a very vigorous and satisfying dust bath. So she's not really looking her best.
For many reasons.
But she's a lovely chicken.
On the inside.
When she came to live with me, along with poor Miss Jane, she had been rather savaged by the rooster.
She had an open sore on her neck where all the feathers had been plucked out.
I kept an eye on it, which wasn't hard, because she is the most naturally friendly hen of the bunch and let me pick her up often to examine it.
After several days, I did not like the way her wound was taking so long to heal. I decided to treat it with something called Blu-Kote, which is a concoction with gentian violet and is antibiotic and anti-fungal. It has the added feature of concealing the redness of a wound which is tempting for the other birds to peck at. Thankfully, the girls were leaving her alone.
As you can imagine, it's pretty hard to put a highly staining liquid onto an unpredictable chicken. I did the best I could with the little dauber that comes in the container, but as you see, it went sort of all over the place, and stained her feathers violet. They are rather pretty really. The sun is fading them quite a bit already. They were violently violet at the beginning!
The good news is after two applications, her wound is all healed up. Though I suspect there will be an area there that never has feathers again.
Anyway, one day as I was watching her peck around in the pen, I said, "My goodness, you look like you have been to the tattoo parlor!"…. which of course reminded me of this...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHXZA_5XMJ4
I haven't been able to get that song, or the appropriateness of the name out of my head.
So I give you...
Miss Lydia.
Did someone call me?
As the photographer, I must apologize, because just before I went out to take pictures, she, and the rest of the girls had been enjoying a very vigorous and satisfying dust bath. So she's not really looking her best.
For many reasons.
But she's a lovely chicken.
On the inside.