The New Flock

We went to Wooly Egg Ranch in Mill Valley, out in Tennessee Valley, and saw the most beautiful chickens, and a few soggy sheep.  We showed up, prepared to buy a couple of Barred Plymouth Rock pullets (young laying hens), and ended up getting an hour tour of the farm.  The Wooly Egg Ranch sells chickens, chicken coops, lamb meat and the wool, and they make bio diesel.  There are about 300 chickens that we watched cruising around the joint and 8 sheep walking around as well.  We bought the last two Barred Rocks, beautiful little black and white chickens who are around 15 weeks old.  They are as big as our Red Sex-link sisters were when we brought them home a month ago.  We named the smaller one Sweet-Pea and her bigger sister Alice.  We then fell in love with the most amazing Ameraucana;  she is Tiger-striped and looks like a hawk.  She looks so much like a bird of prey, that we named her after LadyHawke, the movie, Isabeau.  All three girls have super sweet dispositions and are not scared of Taylor and I.  The other chickens are not too happy about the new additions and they spend much of the time chasing the little ones around.  I am worried the most about Isabeau, who is not only getting picked on and pecked upon by the four older ladies, but the two new little Barred Rocks are also showing her who is boss.  They are hen pecking her pope's nose area and the feathers are pecked off.  We are watching carefully, but we understand that this is a natural process in the chicken world and they will sort it out.  Pictures to come.