Life with Lucy

Every once in a blue moon, you get a twinkle in the eye of eternal blessings and are endowed with a Lucy Chicken.

Lucy Chicken is the reason I think chickens are intriguing. She comes when I call her (mostly). She doesn’t run when I want to hold her.  A mulch pile will keep her busy for an hour, and there is nothing more fun for her than picking out maggots and eating things I find fully offensive.

The day I bought Lucy, she was stuck in a small animal crate made unceremoniously of hog wire. She had four other Buff Orpington hens with her (I thought they were all hens; ha-ha).  They could not turn or move. I have no idea how long they had been in that crate but they could not even turn around in that thing. I bought the mess of them so they were away from the man who owned them. I also took the rest of his flock he was selling. This was a providential day for all of the birds.

Lucy was at first very reluctant to be touched or have anyone near her. I gave all the birds their space and allowed them to know they were in a better place and enjoy the time here.  Besides, it was good for me to learn their personality and who was the dominate and subordinates in their chicken world.

It was Lucy though that begun to shine though the crowd. She would see me walk out the door of the house and run to the chicken yard doorway to greet me (Or eat me. I never knew). I’d throw bread for the other girls and Lucy stood at my feet looking up at me gobbling like a turkey. I bent over and hand fed her and she spoiled me rotten for her company and her innocent face. Was she my gift for saving the hens? Likely…

Even now when I am out in the yard working, I’ll go grab Lucy to go with me so she can find her blessed Maggot Pile and go to town. She gets so engrossed munching she forgets I’m there. Suddenly she’ll remember and find herself alone and she’ll start to cluck her worried cluck and begin to look around the yard, here and there. Finally, when she sees me, I can watch her face relax into a calm. Then she goes back to pecking whatever she finds near her feet. As long as I’m within sight, all’s well with Lucy Chicken…