TUFlock (semi)Unexpected Part Deux: Sammo and Bolo

as a dear friend put it, we "tripped and fell" into two more chickens!

now, the original goals of this Totally Urban Farm project specified keeping up to 4 chickens in our coop and run.  between pearl and ninja and twitter and tumblr, we were already getting beautiful eggs on a regular basis while watching the littles grow quickly and awkwardly into bigs.

then last monday happened.  another lovely friend calls to tell me that HER friend must rehome his flock, as he was making an unexpected move out of state.  bleeding heart, cue bleeding!  i tried to stop myself.  but i heard me say, "oh yeah, we could probably take 2 more chickens," and then i watched myself text message the guy to arrange for a chicken pick up.  i didn't hear from him, so i thought the gig was off.  and so much the better, said i to myself.

that night, i dreamt of chickens.  i was walking down some strange garden path lined with plants that looked like chicken combs sticking out of the ground like carrot tops.  i reached down for one of the carrot combs, and pulled up an enormous black chicken.  she fell in behind me like a puppy.  delighted, i continued down the path, pulling up more and more huge chickens until i had an army of beautiful adoring chickens following me.  they were so black their feathers were greenly purply irridescent, and so big it took two arms to hold them.  it was a nice dream.

the next day i did hear from the man with the flock--the gig NOT off!--and went out to choose two of his beautiful hens to add to our TUFlock. (i laughed at myself a little, ha HA!) as i walked into his coop, the first chicken i see is THIS CHICKEN:

the EXACT chicken that was in my dream!  i couldn't believe it.  he told me she is a cochin, one of the largest breeds of chicken around, with origins in china and victorian england.  she has spectacular pantaloons, and the softest, shiniest, purply-green blackiest feathers.  when i pick her up, i can't believe the volume of her feathers!  it helps that she immediately proved to be quite sweet and tame, even seeking out strokes and scratches.  i found my dream chicken. literally.

the second chicken i noticed had amazing cheek feathers and a fluffy beard!  she was splashed with red and gold, and had slate gray feet.  the flockmaster said she was an araucauna, the predecessor to the ameraucana, with origins in south america.  to my obvious and desperately hopeful  next question...."araucauna....does she lay green eggs?" he casually replied, "oh sure!  she lays easter eggs." !!!!!

another TUF reverie come true!  tumblr, we think, is also destined to lay green or blue eggs...but to come into an easter-egg laying chicken 6 months before schedule?  *faint*

she is not as big nor as fluffysoft as the cochin...her feathers are sleeker, with the exception of that almost impossibly fluffy face fuzz.  tumbler, as an ameraucauna herself, also shows signs of impressive cheek feathers.  so one day soon we will have TWO beautiful blue-green egg layers!

they have adjusted well to our backyard set up, and i was pleasantly surprised at how quickly and gently the new pecking order was established.  the two new ladies definitely have the size advantage on the silkies and chicks, but after only a little while and a few pecks and runabouts, who is who was established. and so, we needed names.

the golden araucauna has been dubbed Sammo, and the black cochin christened Bolo.  Pearl and Ninja came with their  names, of course, but when the chicks came around we decided to go with a particular theme for naming--hence Twitter and Tumblr.  due to the fact that we acquired these two lovelies later, and they are HUGE in comparison to our OCs (Original Chickens), i chose a new theme: my favorite kung fu movie bad guy actors. Sammo Hung (jowly!) and Bolo Yeung (GINORMOUS).

welcome yogurt party

they haven't started laying quite yet, but that's to be expected as they settle into their new environs.  which they seem to be doing really well.  it appears that sammo is in charge of everyone at the moment, though i think her reign will be challenged by tumblr in the future. i wonder!

dustbath hunker!

twitter knows how to party.

poulet des rêves

pearl, sammo and bolo

yin yang OCs

an amusing develoment in coop politics: it appears that the enormous bolo and the dimunitive ninja have hit it off.  my theory is that when one looks at the other, she sees herself............

i think this makes pearl a little tiny bit lonely, for she has been especially cuddly lately.  and indeed, all chickens are cuddly in the evening, it would seem...at least these six. and i pet each of them before chicken-bedtime every night.  i'm so glad the new ladies seem to like their new digs, avian colleagues...and me!

(and hopefully i will not contract poison ivy secondary to chicken cuddling again. dan has warned me. we shall see.)