Ugly Joey
Three years ago a friend of mine offered me hatching eggs from her flock in exchange for some of the chicks. Her flock consisted of silkie hens with a silkie rooster and a frizzled cochin rooster. I already had a couple of silkies, but I thought it'd be fun to have a sizzle, so I kept 2 of the chicks and gave the rest to her.
One chick grew to be a beautiful dark blue silkie hen, but the other chick grew up to be Joey. Joey is beautiful in her own special way.
The few feathers Joey has are frizzled silkie fluff and she always looks like she's molting. She has been this way all of her life. During the summer months, she is almost completely naked.
When people come to visit, they often exclaim, "What is that thing?" and I simply answer, that's Joey.
One day I noticed that Joey had different colored feathers on her back. I sat and watched as she walked around the coop picking up feathers and placing them on her back. She seemed to know exactly what she was missing and she wanted to fix it. I felt bad for her, but she never let it get her down. Of all the bantam hens, she is by far the most dominant.
Anyways, when temperatures dropped to - 20 degrees, I decided to bring her into the garage. Since it's winter, she has more feathers than usual. I took some pictures and I thought I'd share.
Three years ago a friend of mine offered me hatching eggs from her flock in exchange for some of the chicks. Her flock consisted of silkie hens with a silkie rooster and a frizzled cochin rooster. I already had a couple of silkies, but I thought it'd be fun to have a sizzle, so I kept 2 of the chicks and gave the rest to her.
One chick grew to be a beautiful dark blue silkie hen, but the other chick grew up to be Joey. Joey is beautiful in her own special way.
The few feathers Joey has are frizzled silkie fluff and she always looks like she's molting. She has been this way all of her life. During the summer months, she is almost completely naked.
When people come to visit, they often exclaim, "What is that thing?" and I simply answer, that's Joey.
One day I noticed that Joey had different colored feathers on her back. I sat and watched as she walked around the coop picking up feathers and placing them on her back. She seemed to know exactly what she was missing and she wanted to fix it. I felt bad for her, but she never let it get her down. Of all the bantam hens, she is by far the most dominant.
Anyways, when temperatures dropped to - 20 degrees, I decided to bring her into the garage. Since it's winter, she has more feathers than usual. I took some pictures and I thought I'd share.
