The Flock
My biggest inspiration will always be my own little critters and over the next year, I plan to work on and curate a collection of paintings of my chickens (and ducks!) in order to develop both a print series and greeting card pack. First, though, I’d like to introduce you to my flock…
Yellow
My husband’s favorite chicken & our Easter Egger. She was the inspiration behind my Coolest Chick birthday card.
Big Mama
This is our silver-laced Wyandotte. She was (and still is) the biggest of our chickens, hence I started referring to her as Big Mama when they were growing up and the name stuck.
Her favorite treat is bugs and she stands her ground, picking fights with our dogs when they get too close or our rooster when he tries to stand up to her.
Bert
Named for my husband’s grandma, Bert is our speckled Sussex. Although I got her for my husband, she would be my favorite if I had one (don’t tell).
She is adventurous and loves foraging, but also a sweetheart and likes to follow me around the yard.
Meredith
Although she was supposed to be an olive egger, Meredith lays beautiful brown-speckled tan eggs. Her favorite snack is actually peas and she even jumps for them!
She is inquisitive, dramatic, and hilarious to watch.
Stephen Hawking
We call our Silkies the “Stephens” because this one (called Little Grey for a while) came to us with Spraddle leg so we had to work on strengthening her legs for her to walk properly. Kind of like a reverse Stephen Hawking… don’t judge!
We were originally going to name all of our chickens after great scientists, but she is the only one that ended up with such a name.
Stephen King
To go with her aptly-named sister, we named this Stephen after one of my favorite authors. She is the smallest of our original six chickens, and although it took her a while to warm up to us, she is such a sweet bird. She also lays these tiny spotted eggs!
Peanut
So that our two silkies would have some more friends, we got some half-silkies a few weeks after our original chicks arrived. While it took them a while to be accepted by our original six, they are now a part of the flock.
Peanut, named for her size, is a soft splash bird who is bonded with our rooster since they came together.
Cashew
When we got “The Nutties”, they were still young and their gender unknown. My husband wanted this one, even though I said it would likely be a boy.
However, what a beautiful and dramatic boy he is! Although he can be quite skittish (and hilarious when he dances out of being surprised), I must admit Cashew has grown on me.
Einstein
Out of all the duck breeds, I wanted a Magpie the most. Einstein is my baby and keeps her eye on me whenever I’m around. However, she hates being touched or picked up (prey animal instinct) and prefers to be in control instead.
She always quacks for me to give her peas and generally leads the trio.
Kepler
Our blue Swedish duck is the one I picked out for my husband due to his family’s ancestry. While she was the shyest as a duckling, she has really come out of her shell.
Just the other day, her sisters chased her as she came running around the coops with a newt hanging out of her bill. A newt! We saved the poor little guy, but the occurrence was quite the spectacle.
Galileo
Gali is our lovely Cayuga and is the sweetest of our ducks. Unfortunately, she has a weak foot so she moves a bit slower than her sisters and needs to lay down to rest more often. She still has loads of energy and likes to stay back close to me sometimes in hopes that I give her extra peas (which I do).
