Lesson 381 – Members of our photogenic flock

Recently a friend of mine, Em (the very same one who gave me the Geeky gal chicken) came to visit so that she could take some photos of our chickens. She spent about an hour communing with the birds out back and ended up taking some amazing shots of our girls.

Photo Credit: Emily Bersin

This is Jerry – yeah I know, she’s a girl with a boy’s name but she was also part of a pair named (of course) Tom and Jerry. Tom turned out to be a rooster who got re-farmed (Sunday Dinner) leaving us with this our lone Light Brahma.

Jerry wears the most amazing black feathered cloak that is truly worthy of any Harry Potter story. She’s a cautious but gentle bird who prefers to situate herself neither in the front nor in the back of the flock but instead right in the middle where she can scratch and reflectively peck with no one bothering her.

Photo Credit: Emily Bersin

This is Zelda, the undisputed leader of the flock. We bought Zelda when she was already 2 years old. The biggest and badest of our bunch, she became the alpha of the flock when we finally got rid of our rooster Betty (yes, sigh, this time a male with a girl’s name, so we’re not the best at this name game) who was also re-farmed (Sunday Dinner) when some of our neighbors threatened to take care of our rooster problem for us.

Zelda’s the man, figuratively speaking, of course. She can see the wings of a blackfly as it lands on a blade of grass. If you go out to the chickens, most of them will shy away until they recognize that you do not pose a threat. Not Zelda though, she steps with weight forward, assessing the situation. Wow be to those who don’t belong, Zelda challenges and threatens by shaking out her tremendously impressive neck feathers. A golden mantle worthy of the warrior that is Zelda.

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