Kristins Chickens Betty

Well, the title is supposed to be 'Kristin's Chickens: Betty'. Not sure why it removed the punctuation, but I guess that's that.




Betty was a cute little yellow Easter-egger chick with a blotch of orange on her forehead and some of the fluffiest little cheeks I’d ever seen. From the beginning, she was adorable (though who could deny any day-old chick its cuteness?), and she never really grew out of that.
She has always been energetic, making picture-taking quite difficult in her early days.
At least, until I got a brand-new camera for my birthday at the end of July! That camera opened up a world of possibilities with my birds, and I definitely took advantage of that!
Betty has always been a character. She does everything her own way.
Take this for example: I found Betty jammed sideways (that is, on her side) behind the nest box unit in the coop sometime in December, 2011. In order to rescue her, I had to move the entire structure out about a foot so that I could reach her (and that thing is NOT light). I pulled her out and helped her to drink a little, but it was dark and she was ready to roost, in spite of her wooziness. So I let her do what she wanted, and instead started to move the nest boxes back to their proper place.
But lo and behold, a reason for her temporary insanity! There, in the old straw that had fallen back there over the past two years, was one pretty little turquoise egg, covered in (unfortunately) a lot of poo.
Since then, Betty has pretty reliably laid the same gorgeous color of egg, but in a much more practical spot; a nest box.
Here’s one of her pretty eggs (with some paler Easter-egger eggs and one olive egg for contrast in a white egg carton):
Betty has a personality that is hard not to like. Like I said earlier, she has lots of energy and she’s always darting around, on to her next adventure.
She has a sort of raspy cluck that sounds to me like ‘dook-dook-dook’. She’s always willing to talk, but rarely sticks around for long. Often times, you’ll just hear her ‘dook-dook-dook’ as she runs by.

She doesn’t seem to mind being picked up, but she will let you know her feelings about the whole situation. ‘Dook-a-dook-dook!’
Speaking of being picked up, I frequently bring in the ladies for visits, especially in the evening as everyone’s settling in to roost. Normally, the chosen visitor will just hunch down in my arms and sit there as she’s cooed to and petted.
Obviously, Betty is different.
When brought inside, Betty perks up immediately. With a ‘dook-a-dook-dook’, she looks around almost excitedly. This could be a new adventure, exploring the mysterious inside world!
...Maybe another time, dear. After a brief chat with the people inside, it’s back off to bed with Betty.


name: Betty
sex: female
age: 2 years old (born May 11, 2011)
breed: Easter-egger
egg color: Pale turquoise