New Kids

Tonight after work we went to pick up Olivia’s new friend at the vet’s office. The vet said that they have received quite a few dumped hens and roosters this year. It’s an unfortunate side effect of the increase in “urban farming.” People get chickens but then aren’t prepared to help them when they get sick and need medical care. Some try to get help for the hens, but just can’t afford long-term care. Others wait too long to get medical treatment for their animals, and then they face a long recovery. That was the black chicken’s problem. She had severe pneumonia but has now recovered, once she was surrendered to the veterinarian for long-term care.

Anyway, we went to pick up the beautiful black chicken named Olly Astro, and this is what we found.

Wait a minute. One… two chickens? It turns out that Olly Astro has a friend. They have spent weeks together and are pretty good buddies.

The friend has recurring prolapse problems, and that’s too much trouble for her other home to deal with. So Olly Astro asked if she could bring her friend with her. It’s not like we’re adopting two chickens. We’re just adopting Olly Astro, and Olly Astro brought a friend with her. Got it?

Olly Astro’s friend was boxed up to go and joined us on the way home. She looks pretty ready to me.

Once home, the beautiful Miss Olly Astro began hunting for bugs and taking dust baths.

Her pretty friend thought that was a great idea, and the two of them enjoyed hours of bug hunting and dust bathing while I got their new aviary space and night pen ready for them.

Olivia voiced her opinion about the new girls while they played in the aviary for a bit. Olivia is not too sure about these new friends yet.

She stood outside their area and gave them the business.

After a while, I decided to just move Olivia’s night pen over by her duck buddies Chewy & Flapper so the new girls could have their own night pen. Olivia seemed to accept those terms… for now. But she reserves the right to protest more in the future.

Olly Astro and her friend settled in to a little more dust bathing and some eating, and then got ready for bed.

Bedtime was hilarious, as Olly Astro and friend were not so sure about their new routine. I tried to get them to settle down and nest, but they wanted to roost. So they flew up to my shoulders and sat on my shoulders and told me to hold still. That wasn’t going to work all night, so I repositioned a perch for them and placed them on it. They reluctantly accepted those terms and are now roosting in their night pen comfortably.

Tomorrow they will have their own section of the aviary and their own breakfast treats of peas and romaine lettuce. We haven’t settled on a forever name for Olly Astro’s friend yet, but as soon as she tells us what she wants to be called, we’ll share it with everyone.

Good night chickens. Good night ducks. Good night moon. Good night people.