My Chickens

By Alyse Troyer

Chickens. All of us should have at least four. We got our chickens from Tractor Supply when they were about 2 or 3 days old, and we got 2 of each kind that they had– Buff Orpington, Rhode Island Red, and Isa Brown. When they were little, they didn’t mind being picked up, but now they hate it and won’t let anyone touch them. Every day after school, either my sister or I go out into our backyard and feed them. They live in a metal run, which has a pink chicken coop in the middle. We didn’t mean for it to be pink, but Home Depot gave us the wrong color of paint, and since it was good sun-protectant paint, we ended up using it. Our chickens are all about 1 ½ years old.

Meet the chickens!!!

Bruce- We thought we got all hens, but one of our Buff Orpingtons ended up being a rooster; once he got older, he grew more and more aggressive and started attacking my family, so my dad shot him. His original name was Buttercup, but then I thought of calling him Bruce because it was similar to his old name. He was a very beautiful Buff Orpington rooster.

Opal- She’s also a Buff Orpington, and she’s always been the fattest out of all our chickens. After Bruce died, she went to the bottom of the pecking order, and now the chickens pick on her whenever she tries to eat food. Because of this, she’s now our fastest chicken and will always grab the snacks first whenever we throw them in.

Ginger- Ginger is a Rhode Island Red, and she grew up as the favorite, but after Bruce died she started picking on Opal. She became the head hen and will hardly let Opal eat any chicken feed because she’ll scare her away. Other than that though, she’s a sweet chicken and will usually let you pet her back while she eats. You’ll recognize her by her flopped over comb and cute hops that she does all over the run.

Maple- Maple is a Rhode Island Red along with Ginger, and she grew up as my favorite. She’s one of our calmest chickens. While Ginger and Maple are hard to tell apart, we can usually tell the difference by looking at their beaks and combs. Ginger has a flopped-over comb, and Maple has a split top beak. We’re still not sure why she has a split in her beak, but we guess it’s from pecking something too hard when she was a chick.

Molly- She’s an Isa Brown, and to this day they’re our best egg layers. We’ve always gotten at least 2 eggs every day, and it’s because of their good breed and the fact that they eat a lot of nutrients. Molly also had the most attitude growing up, and if it weren’t for Ginger, Molly would definitely be the head hen. She was also the only chicken who hated being picked up as a chick.

Maisy- This is our last chicken we have. She’s an Isa Brown like Molly, and also a great egg layer. Maisy and Molly were definitely the hardest to tell apart when they were growing up. Because of this, we most likely switched their names around a few times. Alas, we ended up deeming the lighter of the two Maisy, and the darker one Molly. Maisy is also by far our quietest and most calm chicken we own.