This is Primitivo. She is a Light Brahma and has lived in our backyard since July 2007 when she was six weeks old. We bought her and her sister Zinfandel (RIP) after being inspired to keep chickens by two sources: a) Barbara Kingsolver's book Animal Vegetable Miracle and b) Francisca, a beautiful and elegant Chilean woman who lives near our friends Mike and Jenn in the Madrona neighbourhood of Seattle, and keeps a small flock there. Rara was seven when she got to collect eggs from Francisca's chickens for the first time and, despite a small catastrophe (one dropped and broke), the experience of collecting, then cooking and eating eggs was so fun for her, we thought we'd try our hand at small-time poultry raising.
We chose a pair of Light Brahmas as our first chickens because of their hardiness (they have feathers on their legs and feet) and their beauty. We were also told they were good layers. Now that I have seen two breeds without feathers on their legs and feet survive cold temperatures and in light of Primitivo's paltry egg production, I would not buy this breed again. They sure are pretty though. At The Company Formerly Known As My Place of Work, Zinfandel came in second in the annual pet photo contest, in the "Other" division. She was slightly more beautiful than Primitivo. Alas, she died suddenly one morning a few months ago. Tobias said she did us a favour, since her egg production was so poor, but we mourned her nonetheless.
(The way that we used to be able to tell Zinfandel and Primitivo apart was their tail feathers. Zinfandel always had a couple long ones that stood straight up in a chicken version of a cowlick.)
Rara chose the name Zinfandel on the way home from the farm. We had some boxes from the liquor store in the van and she read the word along the side of it. When it came to choosing Zinfandel's sister's name, Tobias and I suggested Primitivo because of the story of the two long-lost grape varietal siblings.
When Zinfandel was alive, she was El Jefe of the coop, and I assumed that after her death, Primitivo would take over the role. But she has instead become a sort of Queen Mum, still respected and feared by the younger ones, but without real authority. The leadership role instead fell to Renata, who is now the most aggressive and roosterish hen in the yard.
That's not a hen you would want to mess with, is it? Renata and her sister Big Ann joined the flock two years ago, but Big Ann died from a nasty infection. Renata somehow resisted it. It's hard to believe that when she and Big Ann arrived, they were picked on and bullied by Zinfandel and Primitivo relentlessly. I even put Zinfandel in solitary confinement, just to make sure that Renata and Big Ann could get enough to eat. Now Renata rules the roost. Even the cat is afraid of her. She's an excellent layer, also, and has given us the most eggs of any chicken thus far.
Renata is named for Rara's oldest friend, who was with us when we got her.
Baldanders has the distinction of being our most boring chicken. She has a boyish name, poor thing. She is a Rhode Island Red and hence not beautiful like the Light Brahmas or the Barred Rocks. And she isn't powerful like Renata, our other Rhode Island. But she lays, and lays consistently, so I love her.
Her nerdy name comes from the writings of Gene Wolfe, and Tobias gave it to her after he took the children out to the ostrich and Christmas tree Farm to buy her in July 2010. She is the only chicken that we have ever bought that wasn't half of a pair of sisters, so I was concerned that she might be an outsider in the flock, but she and Eve and Astronaut have remained a threesome since the day we first brought them home, and I don't think the two sisters have yet noticed that one of these things is not like the other. Every night since we got them they have all slept together in a feathery heap, atop the nesting boxes. Initially, this location protected them from the bullying of the old dames, Primitivo and Renata. Now, that they no longer really need this nocturnal protection, and their bodies are way too large for the space they've chosen, they continue to do it out of habit.
Here is Rara holding Eve, just a few days after we got her in July 2010. Eve and her sister Astronaut are of the Barred Rock breed. Despite them being the same age, they are vastly different in size, which only results in a very small difference in the size of the eggs they lay. When Eve first arrived, Rara was very cuddly with her, and unlike any of our other chickens, she didn't seem to mind it.
Here are Eve and Astro taking a stroll together. Deetman named Astronaut, and would prefer that you use the male pronoun when discussing him. He knows that males don't lay eggs, but that doesn't mean that he's particularly happy about that fact. I think Astro and Eve are the chickens that best meet my personal poultry standards in that they are pretty to look at and good layers, and have survived a few cold snaps without any complaint. So I'll probably buy Barred Rocks again, maybe Rhode Islands, and definitely not Light Brahmas.
Every day when I arrive home, I come in with my bike through the back gate, and the entire flock rushes to greet me, Renata running out in front with her crazy side-to-side gait. I greet them, saying "Hi you monkeys. What are you up to?", and we chat as I put my bike away. If Deetman is with me, it will be a short chat, since his favourite thing to do with chickens is chase them. If he's not, I'll count them, one two three four five, and be soothed, and calmed, and let the worries of my day melt away from me. My flock is the perfect antidote to the things on the other side of the backyard gate. Things like software development, business, money, negotiations, and being tough. They really think all of that is a bunch of nonsense, and just want to know if we're going to remember to lock the coop against racoons and fill the water dish. Aside from the delicious breakfasts, this is the best thing about them.
