Life in the coop

They always look like they’re posing for band photos.

With the weather moderating, and more personality appearing the older they get, it feels like the right time for another check-in on the chickens. Plus we’ve got some exciting news: eggs!

Pepper, my demure little girl, laid the first egg! It was so perfectly gorgeous and tiny. Y’all, Bantam eggs are small. After a slow start, she’s now laying a little egg daily, and experimenting with which nesting box to use. I keep asking the big girls when they’re going to join the club. My prediction is Pippin will be next, and Penguin will just keep following her own whimsical timeline.

The most perfect first egg. I’m so proud of Pepper!
The most adorable tiny duo.
Oh my sweet, ditzy Penguin …

The boys are having more personality development as well. While Popcorn started off as the snuggliest chick, he now wants nothing to do with cuddles. He’s also, quite honestly, too big for me to handle. I managed to pick him up a few weeks ago, and it was all I could do. That rooster is solid. Thankfully, as big as he is, so far we’ve seen so sign of aggression or meanness – but he is a little bit of a twerp sometimes. He likes to step on the other chickens. Literally. Like a 3-year old playing dinosaur: you can see him decide “I’m gonna step on them” and he lifts one foot and steps. He also isn’t quite sure how to “rooster” in general, but he sure is a looker!

He probably should have been named Elvis.

Pecan on the other hand has turned into a Momma’s boy for sure, ha. He wing dances for me regularly, and demands attention {and does not like to share that attention}. He is happiest when I’ve got him tucked under my arm, carrying him around with me while I check for eggs and walk around the fence. The newest trick is flying up to my shoulder; I’m trying to teach him to land on my forearm, and only when asked, but that’s going to be a long term training I think.

Surprisingly {or maybe not, considering how bossy a chick he was}, Pecan appears to be the alpha rooster, and knows no fear. He was ready to take on the tractor, and sounded all the alerts before charging the fence when Bambi was in the nearest field. He may be tiny, but he means business.

This “coop report” is a few weeks old now, but it’s a good snapshot of the personalities in my little flock. Fingers crossed having two roosters continues to go smoothly.

I didn’t realize having tiny feathered dinosaurs could be so much fun, but I am already planning for expansion next year! This winter will likely find us building a slightly larger mobile coop, and I anticipate more Bantams in my future.

12 comments

    • He’s a sweet little thing! Except for when he flies over the fence to get to me 😑🤣 I haven’t used the egg yet, but now I have enough to do something with so I will be trying soon!

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    • Isn’t it just the CUTEST THING EVER??? 😍😍😍
      I’ve got a tiny collection of them now {she’s laid one every day for the past week}, and they’re almost too cute to use 😂

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  1. Now that you’ve made the band photo comparison for that first picture I can’t unsee it 😂😂 im glad you’ve had some eggs now and hope the others decide to join in soon too. I feel sorry for the girls getting stepped on a lot and think it’s very sweet that Pecan has learnt to fly onto your shoulder. I can’t believe how different both of your roosters sound. Poor Pippin getting stuck in the fence too.

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    • Right?? They’re totally gonna cut an album and achieve musical stardom 😂 Pecan is a sweetheart ❤ And Pippin is a giant fluffball, and apparently more fluff than not to have even managed to get partway through the fence, lol… That was fun. The two roosters sound SO different – but I was recently chicken sitting for the cousin neighbors, and Pecan sounds (and looks) *just like* his daddy: Gravy 😂😂😂

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        • Something startled them and for some reason, after she ran the full circle of the fence like a racehorse, she decided to just go THROUGH it … and got halfway through and then panicked. It’s an electric-netting fence (and it was OFF, since I was in the enclosure with them), so she was fine. Just embarrassed, lol
          Chicken genetics are weird, so you really never know exactly what you’ll end up with, but Pecan and Gravy are definitely a matched set.🤣

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          • Oh wow I’m glad the fence was off at the time. Although I imagine if it had been on she’d have stopped and not tried to barrel on through. Its funny how you can tell when an animals embarrassed but you so can, they look so sheepish lol

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