What’s Happening to My Body: A Post for Pullets.
Or, Mr. Klassy’s farm adventure ends.

It’s time that we had a very important talk. I haven’t noticed any of the other farm/chicken bloggers I read talking about this, though of course I may have missed it, but I think it’s very important to have open communication with each other about certain topics, and to be willing to educate others.

When a young pullet is growing up and becoming a hen, her body sends her lots of confusing signals. Especially when she is isolated from young boy chickens, like many of our laying flocks are, sometimes her body will betray her into responding in ways she didn’t intend, to things that you & I might not consider appropriate. For example, when you go to pick her up to say hello, or if you lean over her to fill the feeder or to open the nest box, her confused pubescent body and teeny-tiny brain may interpret this as an amorously dominant gesture, to which she should respond.

Her instinctive response to this, then, is to crouch down, stick her butt up in the air (for easy access, you know), and hold her wings a little bit away from her body (to give you an easy way to grab on and stay on). It’s quite thoughtful of her, really, to be so accommodating of you, though it can also be somewhat awkward.

In any case, this sort of behavior is how you know that your little girls are all grown up, and, however confused they may be about your role in their lives, they are now aware of their role as layers.

It’s also how you finally know, for sure, that Mr. Klassy is not a rooster. The not-crowing was a clue; the tiny eggs were a questionable clue but could have been from a duck unhappy with the cold weather; the fact that the hens didn’t ever accept him as lord and master was a huge clue. But as soon as I saw Klassy crouch and stick her butt in the air, I sighed, and went inside to email SJ. She & kids came out yesterday, and we had a delicious lunch and a walk to the beach, and now Klassy has gone back from whence he came. We have plenty of room for a tiny hen here, of course, but since the only reason he left Seattle was noise regulations, and since all the other hens here pick on her, and since she is pretty social with people, I think she will be happier with some kids to cuddle with, and a flock that will actually let her get some food occasionally without having to sneak around.

I forgot to take a video, but here is someone else’s video of another little Polish hen making what are apparently standard Polish hen noises, like Klassy makes — tiny little cooing chuckles. Klassy is a very sweet little bird and we will miss her, but I bet she will not miss our flock of hoodlums.

Mr. Klassy is ready for his closeup, originally uploaded by laurenipsum.

So long, little Klassy! We wish you a long life with many kale stems.