Piki Part 2

I have been trying to introduce Piki to the flock but it hasn't been going well.  When I include her in the pen foraging she sort of faints.  She falls to the ground and lays there with her mouth open, wings outstretch and panting hard. It isn't hot , maybe she gets so flusterred it raises her blood pressure? I thought she was ill when this happened the first time and quickly removed her. She recovered instantly and went off to forage on her own.  When it happened again I thought maybe she was preparing for a dust bath but nothing ever came of it. Again I released her and she was fine. The girls left her alone both times leading me to think that maybe it's a defense mechanism I have not yet read about. It dawned on me last night in the middle of a play on Molly Ivins that she might be going weak in the "knees" and perhaps she is even fainting in that way that only a chicken can faint. Poor Piki.

This afternoon I once again placed her with the flock and not one but all four overwhelmed her with their pecking. The pecking is less brutal but still a painful scene to watch so I quickly put and end to it by removing Piki. Her heart was racing, mouth open, wings outstretched.  She followed me around the yard for awhile before finding a spot to stand and ponder chicken thoughts. She didn't peck at the ground, no scratching, just stood there and took in the world around her. What goes on in Piki's head I wonder.  Does she even know she is a chicken? I am starting to have my doubts.

I guess I should sneak Piki in at night and have her wake up to the confusing brutality that is the pecking order and just turn my head? That is very hard to do. It is also hard to watch the girls, I thought were complete sweethearts, show me their violent, gang girl side. I'm reminded of girl fights in high school and my own middle school trials that included scratching, hair pulling and getting in a few punches. The whole situation is ugly so I am willing to take my time to avoid  bloody feathers.

Once when I was six or seven I went into my Grandparent's chicken coop and found a hen balled up in a corner with most of her feathers gone and a bloody comb and torn wattles. She was the new girl. It was a terrible sight and I ran out of the coop crying and shouting for my Grandfather to come and rescue the poor thing. He did but it was too late, she was dying. She had  been there a week or so without injury.  The beating had occurred only in the last few hours. I remember how sad my Grandfather looked and said it was all his fault. He was so sorry.  My Grandmother came out and said she knew that would happen because the new hen was just too pretty. She was beautiful with iridescent blue and green feathers. My Grandmother said the hens eventually became jealous and ganged up on her.  This is what I am tyring so hard to avoid.

Meet Piki

Last week my co-worker came up to me and asked if I wanted a pullet. The story was her granddaughter wanted a baby chick really bad so she bought her this baby chick at Callahan's (our awesome general store). The grandchildren name it Piki and loved it for several weeks. Piki then outgrew her fluffy cuteness and turned into a chicken and started to scare the children. That is when the granddaughter asked her grandmother when they would eat Piki. EEK!

So I picked up Piki just before we had a cold blast. There was little time to get acquainted because the cold front was literally blowing in at that moment. I used an old rabbit cage to hold her until I could figure things out. However there was time to drop by the coop and really quickly introduce Piki. The girls gathered around her and I was prepared to block any pecking. Instead they all moved to a corner of the coop and began to talk about Piki. It was totally obvious. Piki had spent the last formative weeks in the hands of a four and ten year old. She didn't seem to know she was a chicken. That was that and all of two minutes and off Piki went to her new home in a rabbit cage in my studio. 

Now Piki is either a brown Leghorn or a Welsummer. Either way she/he will be rather large, much larger than my Silkies. In a few weeks she'll be big enough to defend herself. At the moment she is no larger than the Silkies and Astrud who is a smaller Lakenvelder. Just wait guys!

In the meantime Piki likes to follow me around and stands between my legs. She/he loves to be carried and melts my heart with her/his little chick noises. I hope Piki is a female and I look forward to her spectacular eggs. They will be extraordinary because they will either be uber large or a dark chocolate color.

One thing I have realized is that in the future my flock will turn brown. I couldn't always see Piki right away because she blended in with the privacy fence, mulch, dead leaves and fallen branches in the yard. I thought of the hawks and how maybe, just maybe, light brown to dark brown hens might be a tiny bit safer.

I was very impressed with Piki's manners. She sat in a box through the entire car ride and would stare up at me from time to time cocking her graceful neck and acting very much like the Audrey Hepburn of chickens. If Piki is not female, well...then he is a very elegant rooster. Roosters should be more Bryan Ferry and less Mick Jagger.

The cold has past and we have had warmer afternoons so I bring out Piki to be seen by the flock. Only Elvis is interested in asserting herself and tries to peck wildly at Piki. I hate the brutality of the pecking order. I am always so disappointed with the girl who starts it. Poor Piki, she just wears her humility so obviously, there just isn't a need to peck, she wants to be last.

Chicken Snow

It snowed. I have spent three days trying to keep the coop warm enough to prevent the watere from freezing while I am at work. I have been successful. Today, snow.