Currently, I have five chickens: Minerva (an Easter Egger hen who lays blue eggs), Beaker (a Golden Polish hen who lays white eggs), Louise (a Brown Leghorn hen who lays white eggs), Shadow (an Olive Egger hen who lays green eggs), and Hildegarde (a Silver-Laced Wyandotte hen who lays brown eggs.) Here’s a photo of them in my garden, from left to right: Minerva (looking grumpy), Beaker (with the fluffy head feathers), Louise (hiding behind Shadow by the gate, with her tail sticking up), Shadow (hiding behind a pole), and Hildegarde (watching the camera suspiciously).
Below that is a photo of Shadow and Hildegarde’s eggs in their nest box too.
Researching how to take care of my own chickens inspired me to write the Unusual Chickens stories. And observing them every day gave me even more ideas! Like, what would that bossy, grumpy chicken do if she had a superpower? Or that chicken who likes to grab slugs and run off into the corner to eat them before the other chickens can grab them? Or the chicken who got scared by a dog and hid under a bush, and was so quiet and so still I couldn’t find her for four hours?