Saturday 15 December 2012

Is 'she' a 'he' ?

We have a little hen. Actually she is not that little. In fact she is the biggest of the lot. And she has just started crowing. We think, therefore, that she is not a she but that she is a he. So what to do. We already have a young cockerel, and he is the son of Orpy, our 'recently departed into the skies above' cockerel.  We kept his son instead of either slaying or rehoming him, because of our loyalty to the memory of Orpy. But now we have this giant of a hen who is more likely to be a cockerel, so do we keep her / him or do we slay / rehome the son of Orpy. 

Here 'she' is, the grey one........


..... and here 'she' is again, with the son of Orpy beside 'her'.....



...... and here is the son of Orpy in person...



....still looking gangly, but coming along nevertheless. The grey is behind him. 

So we are going to do nothing for the time being. They are not fighting yet. Hopefully they will remain respectful towards each other so they can both stay here. If not, the Son of Orpy will have to go. His blood lines are already in the flock. To keep the flock healthy there needs to be new blood, and the grey will be the provider of this new blood. Of course, she / he might still be a she, and the problem will solve itself. 

But just in case......Anyone want a cockerel? Don't have a mind to put Son of Orpy in the freezer!

4 comments:

John Going Gently said...

I would vera but I already have five of the buggers... and gawd knows just how many miniature cocks I have amongst the new frizzels

Vera said...

John, ah well, not to worry! Forgot that we also have loads of little cockerels coming along amongst our ten chicks we hatched out at the end of the summer!

rusty duck said...

Ooh la la.

The ladies of the species are so much easier to accommodate are they not?

Vera said...

Jessica, the grey is indeed a 'ooh la la' hen / cockerel! She swings her hips and bum like the best of hens, and has the most cutest undercarriage of fluffiness. In certain attitudes she is henny,but in others not! As for hens being easier to accommodate ..I am not so sure about that, or it might be the nature of our girls here that they can be quite demanding!