Chickens for scale
I told you this rose was about to explode (here it is in color.
Positively the last chicken post of the week. Have a good weekend!
June 5, 2026 — 5:55 pm
Comments: 7
Simple answer
I tease Uncle B that he has an advanced degree in Edwardian lesbians. It started innocently enough with an interest in Vita Sackville-West, because of her fabulous garden, but he soon stumbled over Vita’s longtime love interest Violet Trefusis.
Which, Violet being no better than she should have been, led to an entire network of rich Edwardian lesbians, including Winneretta Singer, heir to the Singer sewing machine fortune. Not directly connected but of the same ilk was Dolly Wilde, Oscar Wilde’s niece.
So the answer is, many of my hens are named for Edwardian lesbian socialites – including Vita and Violet, Colette and Winneretta and Dolly. But not Spoon or Popo.
I asked ChatGPT to give me an image of Edwardian lesbians, and it created an image then said, “We’re so sorry, but the image we created may violate our content policies. If you think we got it wrong, please retry or edit your prompt.” I told it I didn’t want anything sexual, and it gave me this.
Which makes me wonder what the first image was.
June 4, 2026 — 5:12 pm
Comments: 1
And the other one
And this is Dolly – my first ever silkie! Silkies are so called because – well, just look at her! I’ve never seen anything so poofy and pettable in my life.
Google tells me they’re famously friendly chickens – like, lap chickens – but she’s still new and scared. She’s a buff color.
Silkies have lovely ‘fur’ and black or very dark flesh, bones and meat. Their ears are blue. They have an extra toe on each foot that you have to keep an eye on. I have to watch her in the rain – their feathers don’t repel moisture, so they get wet and cold.
She’s definitely the odd chicken out. She get along with the others fine, but often trails behind. The internet tells me that’s pretty normal for a silkie, but it probably would have been kinder to get two pekins or two silkies. Chickens are desperately racist.
June 3, 2026 — 4:50 pm
Comments: 3
Sam’s new lady
Meet Winnaretta, Sam’s new love interest. They hit it off instantly (they both get along with the other chicken, too, but we’ll talk about her tomorrow).
This is my absolute favorite color of bantam – gold partridge. I’ve only had one before, Vita chicken, and she was a gorgeous beast, but luckless. The only time my flock has had a bird at the very bottom of the pecking order. They all picked on her something awful. I tried to help her, but she was even scareder of me.
Vita’s sister won Best in Show that year. But poor Vita was all kinds of loser.
I once referred to her as a beautiful chicken and got cruelly laughed at. But just look at this lovely creature!
What surprises me is that Winnaretta is a bold little bird with an occasional attack of the zoomies. Quite the opposite of poor plump sad Vita.
June 2, 2026 — 4:45 pm
Comments: 4
I couldn’t take it any more
Now that Albert is gone, Sam is a loose end. They were frenemies, but at least it was company. Sam has been pecking around the garden calling out to a flock that is no more. He’s a very sociable bird and probably has a year left in him.
I had meant to take a break from chicken keeping, but I couldn’t take this. I phoned around until I found a chicken keeper I knew would have birds. Expensive birds, but birds nonetheless. I bought two.
We were barely out of the car before Sam ran up to the carrier in a state of great excitement. Why yes, I am going to tease the chicken reveal for days.
June 1, 2026 — 6:54 pm
Comments: 6