Friday, April 6, 2007

The Muppett -- Our Little "Manx" Chicken






Figured it was time to introduce the chickens. The first picture is them staring down the barrel of a near-naked man in a purple bathrobe shoving a digital camera in their face.

The second picture is one of our favorite


chickens, she's new to us. We don't really have names for them anymore -- that stopped about 3 years ago -- but this one we do call The Muppett. She is a fine Polish cross, and we love her so.

In the third picture you can see that she looks like a Manx chicken, but she is not. She was attacked by a possum one night, and since they are horribly ineffective predators (dam generalist omnivores, get some jaw muscles would ya?) he only got her tail feathers before we ran out there with torches and pitchforks to run him off.

And the last picture is today's haul of multi-colored eggs. We have chickens that lay green colored eggs, tan, and creme. We have Blue Andalusians, as well as a gold-laced Wyandotte and some banties (miniatures) -- which don't really count as chickens, they're more like little couch pigeons. The banties and The Muppett are quite mouthy and will follow you around the straw yard while you are doing your chores and Tell You All About It.

It's a drag that we have to lock them up at night lately, as I haven't caught the latest (which would be the.... 12th or 13th) possum that has decided our back yard is Nirvana. When that does happen, there will be photos and explanations, because just saying I release all possums caught on my property at a local Bible College won't quite make sense without some more background.