Meet the Ladies

Our neighbourhood discussed getting some chickens a couple months ago. Some neighbours got together and built a chicken coop, mostly from recycled, reused, and re-appropriated materials, as well as a small enclosure for daytime usage. The main coop is in my backyard, directly under my bedroom window.Another neighbour built a chicken tractor so that we could let the ladies visit other backyards during the day. While the coop is not finished entirely yet, the chickens arrived last week. They have already given us around 10 eggs, some big, some little, some blue, some brown. The ladies love to scrounge around the run and dig for bugs. While the coop is not 100% done yet, they have been quite cozy at night and safe from predators.

Allow me to introduce the ladies. The names are still in the works, so they may be updated to reflect the wishes of the people.



Here we have Pepita. Originally we thought she was the lowest on the pecking order, but it turned out we were wrong. She's about 4th out of the 5. She is an Araucana bird, a Chilean breed that lays greenish tinted eggs. Hers are nearly a green-blue-grey colour, quite beautiful. Pepita is Spanish for 'little seed', and she has the smallest comb out of all of our chickens.



This is Farrah. She's pretty high up on the pecking order, possibly one or two. She's almost always the first to go and try whatever is being fed, or explore what is new. Apparently she is also the escape artist out of the bunch. She's the smallest in physical size too, a dainty little one. She's the odd one out, and the easiest to tell apart, aside from Pepita and the other speckled hen.


This is Oprah. Why? She's big and bossy. She's the other candidate for 1st in the pecking order. She's occasionally the first to do everything, and likes to pick and peck on Pepita. She has a larger comb that the other black hen, and has more red around her head. They are absolutely beautiful in the sunshine, with a blue-brown-black shine on their feathers.


This one is nameless at the moment. I like Lorraine. She's pretty quiet and keeps to herself. She's not particularily exciting or unique. She's kind of like Seinfeld: the chicken about nothing.




There was talk about naming this one MJ or Michael, as this one is black and white speckled. That isn't confirmed yet though...
This is the one that is in the contest for lowest on the pecking order. It doesn't seem to pick on anyone, and is pretty chill.