The Biggest Little Rooster -- grandchickies on the way!!

[wildorchid053]

can you believe i just found this story?.. i was up till 2 am reading laughing and crying about biggest little rooster.. then i was happy he had babies hatch.. i am now caught up but i need more. it was great not having to wait for the next chapter.. they had all been written...plz we need pics and more story.. we are all addicts of the "As The Legacy Continues" ... great story by the way.. linda

 

[specklesmom]

So glad you are "taking up the story" again!! It must be a lot of work, but your writing is wonderful and your story is just addictive!! I think I now understand everyone who was so impatient to get the next book in the Harry Potter series. Only I'm stuck on the Biggest Little Rooster/Legacy Continues series!! Thanks for your writing and photos.

 

[LilBizzy]

While losing his sisters was quite horrible, what happened in the next few weeks made it become the worst time in Hardy's life. It rained. It rained, and rained, and rained. The chickens had worn down sections of the run, which made it flood. It flooded the most in the area where the two runs met.
The babies were smart. They ran out their pop door, realized it was raining, and went right back into the coop. They have a roof over part of their run, but the rain was coming down hard and almost sideways. So the babies were smart enough to stay inside out of the rain.
The teens also had a covered porch, but it was not dry. They didn't mind the rain too much. Beebee complained a lot, but Beebee would find things to complain about even on a perfectly sunny day. Laurel and Essie still escaped every day. The humanlady started to just leave the gate open so Beebee could get out with them.
They had plenty of places to find cover from the rain. But they didn't. They wandered around the yards. Laurel and Essie tolerated the rain without too much of a thought. Beebee whined about it.
Hardy and the big girls did not like the rain. They weren't smart enough to stay inside. They did not have any covered area except for their covered feeder. Most of the big girls, and Hardy stood around the feeder with their heads covered. The feeder was barely big enough to keep their heads covered. Their poor fluffybutts stuck out in the rain. They all stood around sadly, letting the rain drench their tails.
In between rains, the ground was puddled, soggy, muddy and cold. Some of the big girls liked to go wading through the puddles, but Hardy preferred drier ground. The teens were out and about every day- their run had no dry ground, so the humans kept the gate open all the time. The teens would walk past Hardy, and barely stop to talk. He was somewhat insulted. It had to be that they were just going through a snobbish stage. But even Laurel, his hatchmate and bestest buddy, hardly spoke to him. Hardy thought it must be that they were jealous of the big girls. Eventually he would learn it was because he wasn't a gentleman.
On the rare day the sun would shine, all their spirits would perk up a bit. The babies still stayed inside, because their run was so flooded they needed a raft or life jackets to cross to the muddy area. There was no dry areas in their run.
The humanguy put a pump in to get the water out. It worked to get the water down a little bit. He also built a little gazebo for the big girls. It's a common misconception that chickens are just stupid animals, and that is actually wrong. However, they do have their silly moments. It took the big girls and Hardy a full day of sticking their heads under the covered feeder getting their butts wet before they realized they all fit comfortably under the gazebo.
Before the rain stopped- it started to get cold.

 

[lcw]

I can't wait to hear the story about how Hardy figures out hes not a gentlemen. Sounds like a good one! Keep up the good work!!!

 

[LilBizzy]

Because of their flooded run, the humanlady kept the teens gate open at all times. This made it easier on everyone. The teens could find their way back into their coop at night.
When the gate was closed and they were just hopping the fence, they could never seem to get back over the fence at dusk. The humanlady didn't get home from work until after it had been dark for a while.
The first few times, the girls sat next to their coop huddled together. Then they started following the big girls to their coop. There were a few big girls who escaped their run every day also. One didn't know how to get back in, and would huddle by the human door of their coop.
One night, the humanlady came home and saw the 4 chickens huddled together. She picked Laurel up and carried her into her coop. Then she got BeeBee, and took her home.
When she returned to the other 2 and shone the flashlight on them.. she wasn't sure which one was Essie. They both looked alike. She looked close, and one's tail was a little more ragged looking, so she figured that must be the big girl.
She picked the other one up and took her to the coop. She set the girl on the floor by the feeder. Laurel took one look at the girl, and pecked her in the middle of the head. Oops, the humanlady grabbed the big girl, not Essie. Another trip through the deep mud, and all the girls were safe and snug in the proper places.
The girls didn't have a problem wandering around in the rain:

But then, it started to get cold.. and they minded that a little bit.
The girls had free range of the yards, and there were plenty of places to go for cover. They always walked past the big girls and Hardy, which meant walking through icy puddles. Their little feet would get bright red from cold, but they just HAD to walk past the big girls. They taunted the big girls by saying "neener neener neener- we are free!!" If Hardy was nearby, they would talk to him for a few minutes.
Laurel gave Hardy some sisterly advice. She told him to watch little rooster Barney, and learn from him. Hardy wasn't sure what he could learn from some little pipsqueak rooster. He did trust Laurel, though, and figured there had to be a reason she told him to watch Barney. So he did.
Barney was an absolute perfect little gentleman. When he found food, he would shout for the girls. If any did not come running, Barney would go get her and bring her to the food. Then Barney would circle around them all, making sure they eat. If one of the baby grls got bossy, Barney would put her in her place.
Barney also was very observant, and sharply alerted the baby girls to run inside whenever he thought there was a threat. He always rounded them up, and counted them to make sure there was no one in danger.
"Big deal" thought Hardy. He used to alert the big girls to food, but they were very independant. The big girls didn't need a protector. Besides which, Barney screamed at the girls to run and hide when the squirrels were on the coop. Hardy knew squirrels weren't threatening. The kitty always chased the squirrels away,too. Barney screamed when he saw the kitty.
Barney also came to the fence and tried to challenge him. That was insane, in Hardy's mind. Barney was only a third Hardy's size. Hardy could squash him like a bug.
Hardy got tired of watching Barney. It was hard to do anyway since Barney and the little girls would spend most of their time inside now that it had gotten so cold out. He couldn't learn anything from that little pipsqueak. Hardy forgot about Barney and went back to huddling under the gazebo with a few of the big girls.

 

[4 Love of Baby Chickens]

Oh Hardy. I see why Laurel told you to watch Barney. You have to learn to be a gentleman. You just don't want to watch a rooster 1/3 of your size. Silly boy.

 

[LilBizzy]

The days passed and the weather was getting very cold. On one particular night, it was supposed to snow overnight. The humanlady got home from work and went to lock everyone in. She locked up the babies, and the big girls. When she opened the door to the girls coop, she found it empty.
She went around the yard calling them. She walked in to the neighbors yard and called them. They did not answer. It was just too dark, and there was no way to figure out exactly where they were if they were asleep and wouldn't answer her.
When humans are missing a chicken(or 3) and it is dark out, there really isn't much that can be done. Chickens can hide just about anywhere- and most times they find places you'd never think they could get into. The only thing you can do is wait until morning.
The humanlady was not overly worried. She had an idea on why it was they didn't come home, and could only hope they found a warm place to huddle together.
In the morning, as soon as she woke, the humanlady went outside. She saw several inches of snow. And at the very far back of the yard, behind the neighbors fence, she saw 3 chickens pacing back and forth. All three of them were squawking loudly. The night before, the humanlady had figured out that they must have been in the Lefthand neighbor 4's yard. They were most likely led by Beebee- who had the adventurous spirit of her father. Laurel could have easly jumped the fence ( she was a pro at that), but she didn't want to leave her sisters in the cold.

As a reminder of how it is set up- The Map:

The humanlady ran back and opened the gate to let the girls in. They immediately all ran across the snow in to their coop. Because it was early, and she hadn't had her coffee yet, the humanlady didn't think to try to follow chicken tracks to see where they might have been sleeping. It would have been good to know, in case it happened again.
After making sure everyone had food and water, the humanlady realized she had not seen the girls. She peeked into the coop, and ran to get the camera. All 3 girls were in the nest box. By the time the camera warmed up, Essie (who was pretty much sitting on top of Laurel and Beebee) had fallen out.

Sometimes, chickens are so silly!!

 

[WriterofWords]

LOL I love the wet hens,, the headless one in the nest box???

 

[LilBizzy]

The next time it snowed, the girls stayed in their coop. They wandered out to the back porch for a few minutes, then went back in.
Poor Beebee was in a moult. Typically, after their first winter, chickens will lose their feathers, and grow new ones in. It happens a little at a time, but normally the moult would happen in the fall.
Here it was January, and Beebee was less than a year old. At first, it didn't seem too bad. If it weren't for the pile of feathers that came off her when she shook, the humanlady may not have noticed.

But within two days, she had lost her pretty green tail feathers.

Then her neck started:

And a few days later, when the temperatures hovered around 20 degrees, her neck was about completely featherless.

The humanlady couldn't imagine how uncomfortable it must have been to have hard quills growing and it being so cold.
On the other side of the yard, the big girls didn't want to come out in the snow. The humanlady made oatmeal with apples and blueberries, and put 2 bowls of it just outside the door to the coop. One of the girls hopped right out of the coop and proceeded to pig out. The others just looked out the window. Hardy was not giving up his warm spot surrounded by the big girls. Especially not to go out intothat scary white stuff.

After a few minutes, the humanlady called in to the chickens to tell them there was treats outside. Six more girls hesitantly stepped in the snow to partake in the yummy feast. Hardy stayed inside and crowed, because now he was left with only 2 girls, and that was not enough to keep him warm.

The big girls ran right back in to the coop when they were finished the oatmeal. Only 2 of them remained outside. They wandered over to their little "gazebo" and hung out there. Unfortunately, as they stood there waiting for the snow to stop, it was building up. The humanlady was getting to where she thought she would have to rescue them, then noticed they had made it back in to the coop. They had to have flown because at that point, the snow was up to their chests.

Hardy did not take one step outside the coop. He even turned away from the window, because all that cold white stuff was scaring him. Luckily, though, he had finally taken Laurels advice, and watched Barney. It took a while, but he finally understood what Laurel was trying to get him to see.
Barney was very gentle with his girls. They were not missing feathers off their backs, and Barney didnt bite the back of their heads. He danced for the girls, and if they did not respond, Barney respected that. He would just try again later. None of Barney's girls ever screamed or ran away from him. Every once in a while, one of the babies would bite Barney to show she wasn't in the mood.
Hardy realized that Barney only got bit when he had persisted too far. Other than that though, Barney seemed very happy, and his girls seemed very happy too.
So now that Hardy was stuck in the coop with the big girls, he tried to practice being more considerate of the girls feelings. He knew he had to be more like his father. He also knew it would take some time of him behaving like a gentleman before the big girls would respect him again. as he huddled with them t keep them warm, he figured it was a good start.

 

[LilBizzy]

Quote:
That was our Hardy Boy..( I called him a her the first day.)

Then 2 hours later came Laurel:

Quote:
And that was Laurel.