New hen

Meet the newest, unexpected, member of our small chicken flock:

Yesterday afternoon, I received a call from the Backyard Farmer, a small, local, farm store in our town. "We finally caught the lost hen in that woman's backyard," Bill told me. He was referring to a woman who had called him to help her capture a hen that had been lost and wandered into her yard. It was starving. It took a few days, but they managed to coax the bird into a cat carrier and shut the door! Success! Bill knew I was on the hunt to get a Buff Orpington. Even though my flock was planned for the year, I couldn't turn down a free hen! And an approximately 5-month-old hen at that!

She's settled in fairly well. Baby's still at the bottom of the pecking order, with Fluffbutt and the newbie tied for second, with KFC as the queen of the roost. I'm happy though. The pecking order has been friendly, and the newbie has been eating.

We've clipped one wing because we don't need her escaping again. I'll keep the entire flock in their coop/run for about two weeks, just for the newbie to get acquainted and tied to the group. I also want to fatten her up a bit. Then we'll try all of them in the yard, once the newbie realizes that the coop is where she needs to go at night.


I think she's awfully pretty with those gold feathers. If Bailey befriends her, we'll not be able to tell where the fur ends and the feathers begin!