They Grow Up So Fast!

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Do you remember this fluffy penguin?

Who was a bit of an awkward teenager?

She's now known as Harriet, the little friend in Jane Austen's novel Emma.  We seem to be naming the hens after the lesser female characters in Jane Austen novels.  We've got Harriet, who is sweet and somewhat unassuming.

We've got Isabella, the selfish friend from Northanger Abbey.  She's pushy and a bit of a pain.

We've got Lydia, who my friend Star called "most likely to run off to London."  She's pretty damn stupid.  Seriously, she hasn't discovered that there is food, other than chicken crumbles.  The other hens eat all sorts of garden greens, and chopped up vegetable, and Lydia hasn't figured it out, yet.  She might wade into the feeding frenzy and lay her beak on whatever everyone else is pecking at, but she just hasn't make the connection between what all the other hens are doing, and actual food. 

We called this little one "the songbird" when we got her.

We've been working with the chickens, to get them used to being handled.  Part of this has to do with being able to examine them, so see if they are healthy.  But mostly, this is about Chicken Cuddles.   (I like Chicken Cuddles much more than the hens do.)

We keep meaning to do another Chicken Photo Shoot, but we don't really have a space that has decent light and is escape-proof.  The garage is a huge mess, and our yard doesn't have a proper fence.  Chickens are not invited into the house, which anyway lacks a photo studio.

This hen needs a name.  She's a nice girl, reasonably intelligent, not a meanie, and in the middle of the pecking order.

She's going to be our Glamour Chicken.

I don't have current photos of Isabella and Lydia.  Isabella is an Escape Artist, and Lydia is terrified of everything, so they did not get to sit on our laps, and eat cherries.