That's Jelly, my sweet clumsy loving little awkward girl. She had questionable parentage, but I'm sure she was a broadbreasted bronze (folks we got her from tried to tell us she was a blue slate, which is just obviously so very wrong, and she weighed nearly 20 lbs!). We adopted her last October: I had a flock of six or so birds to pick from, and she's the one that wandered right up to me when I offered a treat and calmly let me put my arm around her. She was always thundering around making a racket, but she was gentle and friendly and extremely popular with our flock of chickens. I think she had a little crush on me, she was always nice with everyone but lately whenever I would get close to her she'd sort of quiver and puff out her wings and lower herself to the ground like she was expecting... something. *Ahem* Anyway, a couple days ago she just started laying her first eggs. She was so proud of them, following my girlfriend around and making happy burbles when we found her little treasures. Long story short... we loved her.
Unfortunately, a fox got her last night. Earlier that day we got some good quality time in with her, helping her spruce up her nest she'd picked out in the woods, but it still hit us both pretty hard, she was taken from us too soon.
We're talking about getting a few new poults to fill the void this spring... Jelly was unbelieveably sweet, but I'm hoping to find a breed that's a little more surviveable, able to at least get off the ground if trouble comes calling. I've always liked the idea of Narragansetts, but I'm open to other breeds as well, probably it'll just come down to whatever I can find in the coming weeks (the options are a little limited for a small order to Alaska). Anyway, that's Jelly! She was something special!
