photograph by Audrey Pavia
Gray bantam leghorn Baby Jo with her Mama Jo .
We never mean to have cock , but when two of the delivery “ pullets ” we adopt grow long wattles and course tail , we agnize thechickenlife on our urban farm would be different than what we had imagined .
Okay , we were going to have fecundate testis . That ’s not so big . They sell those for redundant in the wellness food store . We would be argus-eyed about taking the eggs off from the hens right away so they could n’t brood . No large deal . But then one of our gray bantamleghornhens disappear . At first I thought a Canis latrans or hawk had gotten her . I was surprised and relieve to see her out one morning a hebdomad or so later , scratching around with the flock . Later in the twenty-four hour period , she disappeared again . That ’s when I realized she was sitting on an egg somewhere . Randy and I hunted every day like it was Easter , search under bushes for that hidden egg . We did n’t give up until the delinquent Jo exhibit up one twenty-four hour period with a tiny gray doll at her side . Seems we had n’t think to look under the tack shed . So Billi Jo had hatch an bollock . Or was it her identical sister Betty Jo who had done it ? Or maybe her other identical sister , Bobbi Jo ? We ca n’t severalise the three babe hens aside , and refer to them jointly as “ The Jos ” . So the chick became — of trend — Baby Jo .
My first opinion was to becharm baby and momma and keep them confined for Baby Jo ’s safety machine . I managed to tree the tiny fuzz testicle against the service department threshold and placed her in the henhouse . or else of Mom going into the coop with her chick , she paced along the side , clucking encouragement to Baby Jo . on the face of it child chicks can forge chemise into feathered eels because within seconds , Baby Jo had squeezed through the 1 - column inch square wire mesh and was back outside the chicken coop .
I fretted for days about her safety — worried she ’d be taken by a hawk or a crow or who have it off what else . But I had underestimated Mama Jo . I have never seen such fierce paternal instinct . Mama Jo protected that chick like she was a grizzly bear . No one was safe . She chase after Foxy the cat around the yard if the poor unsuspecting felid thread too near the baby . She terrorise our Corgi , Nigel , because he dared to block and stare at the baby the first time he saw her . She even went after me when I made another attempt to capture the little peep .
Mama Jo was never more than a few inch away from Baby Jo , always clack to her and teaching her the ways of chickenhood . This doting lasted for many months , even after Baby Jo was almost fully grown . Every nighttime , Mama Jo would roost in the coop with her extension over her daughter , who was nearly the same size as she . Today , Baby Jo is a full - grown hen , lay her own eggs and try out to hatch them . She no longer has the tribute of her mom , which is too unfit , because her aunts constantly cue her that she is low biddy on the totem pole . But Baby Jo has an outlet for her frustrations . Find out what that is next workweek .
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