It was August, we’d been living in our little Seattle house for 2 months, and I had chickens on the brain. I’d just gotten anxiously-awaited permission from our landlord to keep them (“We love chickens! Go ahead.”). I had read 2 whole books on chickens. I had a pile of wood pallets I felt relatively confident I could turn into a coop somehow. Time for the Craigslist! I knew I wouldn’t have much choice in second-hand chickens, but I had two criteria. I wanted big ones… and didn’t want them all to be white. After scanning the farm+garden area for days, I spotted the ideal ad:
$30! Three different colors! Very friendlies! Perfect.
I arranged to go pick them up from the nice hispanic lady who’d raised them, tucked them into a big cardboard box and drove them home. I had no idea how much avian personality and mischief I’d just inherited. When Matt came home that day from work, he was stunned. “I’m looking at a rainbow of chickens.”
After a few days, we (re)named them.
Battlehen
Flapping, running, squawking and escaping. She’s the youngest and feistiest, a gift to the original owner’s daughter for – I’m pretty sure I heard this right – prom. She laid an egg in the yard that first day. And then every single day for a few months afterwards, until the dark winter days slowed her down.
Biscuit
Big, fat, lumpy and sassy. She’s the bossy head lady of the bunch. She’s also the friendliest. Or most fearless? She comes right up to me no matter what I’m doing in the yard, buuuk-ing and sticking her beak right into my business. Food? Food? Buuuuuk? She’s the only one I can pet or pick up without any chicken drama.
Lady Speckles
Finally there’s Speckles. Aloof. Prissy. Either very smart and independent… or very, very dumb. She won’t come within 5 feet of me unless I stand still for a few minutes, even if there’s food involved. She’s the only chicken I know the breed of, because she’s so striking: Silver Laced Wyandotte. Based on that, I’ve concluded that Biscuit is a Wyandotte as well. Battlehen, we have no idea, but we guess part dinosaur, part viking.
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