Monday, August 31, 2009

She's Definitely a Cockerel


We've studied, observed, and contemplated and have come to the conclusion that Angela is not a lesbian hen but a slow-to-develop Ameracauna cockerel. Cockerels are roosters less than a year old. She is a he. Why is this so mind-bending for me? I just don't get it. She, I mean he, is just a chicken. Dwight was so different and we thought we only had one rooster, so we based all our assumptions on those facts. If Dwight is an Ameracauna chicken, he has recessive Ameracauna traits. He doesn't have the slate blue legs of an Americauna and he doesn't have the red ear lobes of an Americauna. He doesn't have the small comb on an Americauna. He has yellow legs, yellow ear lobes, and a big comb. What sealed Angela's masculinity for me was the spurs she, I mean he, has on the back of his legs. None of the hens have those spurs. From the first month we knew Angela was different. She was larger and more of a leader. When she started mounting other chickens, we thought she had gender issues. We thought she might be a lesbian chicken. Now we know she is a beautiful cockerel with silver and black feathers. This brings up more decisions to make. Do we continue to call her Angela or should we call her Angelo? Or, should we stick to the names from the television show, "The Office?" In that case, Angela could be Creed, Jim, Michael, Kevin, Stanley, Andy Bernard, or Ryan. Offspring #2 have discussed this at length but have not come up with any final decisions. Do we keep two roosters for only four hens? That would be wasting more than one third of our chicken feed and space for two eggless creatures. They're not pets, just chickens, right? Do we keep any roosters at all? Will two roosters keep my hens sexually exhausted? Or will two roosters better protect them from stray dogs, foxes and weasels? These chickens have brought us a fun, educational, and interesting past-time this summer. We've spent hours bonding and observing the chickens. It's been a hoot! Maybe next year I'll get one of those miniature cows. Then, like Bart Simpson, I can have a cow, man!

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