Friday, December 16, 2011

Plymouth Rock Hen, Gloria

Here is what I have been working on today. I don't think it's finished yet, but I won't be working on it again for a couple weeks so you'll just have to wait to see the finished product :) Here is Gloria, a Plymouth Rock Hen:


AnimalsComeFirst, the farm where she lives, had a good long story about her and I am just going to post it here, word for word. From an email from Katie: 

 We don't really have a name for our farm, for we only have 2 chickens, 1 dog and 2 hamsters.  We did have three hens... Hazel died a month ago due to a tumor in her throat.  :(
They are both rescued hens; found in a 4 x 4 pen with 15 other chickens.  Their owner abandoned them; our friend rescued her and soon realized that Penny was partially blind in one eye and after she rescued Gloria her foot got stepped on by a horse, so she limped around the yard.   So, with a chicken with a broken foot, a partially blind chicken and a totally blind chicken (Hazel, R.I.P.) she knew that it would be a hard life on her farm of 4 dogs, 5 horses and over 20 chickens (2 roosters.)
She wanted to find them a home that could provide extra love and care and attention.  My friend also does riding lessons, and I ride at her place, so she asked my mom if she would be interested in opening a kind of disabled chicken farm, because we love animals so much.  We have a Rat terrier mix, Luna, who loves to *chase* squirrels, rabbits, chipmunks and crows.  We thought "Oh no, she'll attack the chickens!"
Nope!  She was a little weary at first, but now she enjoys to go out each morning and "let the girls out"!
Now here's the thing, at first, our friend only offered us Penny and Hazel, the 2 buff orpingtons.  When we went on vacation, we brought both of them back to our friends for a few days.  Gloria, the lonely outcast, became friends with them and protected and guarded them from the roosters and mean hens!  Michelle then offered Gloria, and how could we resist a adorable Barred Plymouth Rock?
Each morning i'll go out with my dog and let Gloria and Penny out of their (small, only fit for 3 - 4 chickens) coop.  The run (only 2 1/2 feet high, but covered with a net.) is across the yard, so I leave them out in the fenced in yard to walk over to their run eventually.  Their run does have shelter, a dog house filled with shavings.  In the summer, Gloria lays 1 egg a day... penny doesn't lay.  (If she does, its whenever she feels like it, i guess!)
Gloria comes up on our patio and likes to look in the glass door at the activity inside, and now she has taught Penny to do the same.  I don't like them up there because they go to the bathroom and its hard to clean up.

1 comment:

Elizabeth said...

That story is sweet...but the last sentence seems really out of place! Makes me laugh though! Nice Chicken!