Black Bantam Chicken

I'd like to introduce you to this dear little black Bantam chicken.  About a month ago, Michael and I were at the grocery store and my daughter called.  She said, "You'll never BELIEVE what's out here by the bird feeder!"  I expected another stray cat (we've had tons as we are the place they love to come to!), or perhaps a stray dog, or maybe even one of the hawks I've been stalking all spring.  I never expected to hear the words "a chicken".  I mean after all, this is a suburban neighborhood.

My first thought was it escaped from down the street.  A neighbor who lives right by the edge of the woods has some chickens and a rooster.  I just knew it had to be hers.  After seeing the chicken, and after it roosted in a tree overnight, I contacted her and she came up.  She said something had broken into her coop, killed one of her chickens, and another was missing.  But as soon as she saw this chicken, she knew it wasn't hers.  She was going to take it though -- if she could catch it.  Well, that didn't happen.

Day after day, the chicken stayed.  We got some chicken food and threw it out for what we thought was a little boy, since after a few days, it had crowed every morning.  As I always do with stray critters, I started trying to make friends with this chicken.  I named "him" Buddy.  One night, Buddy didn't get into his roost in the tree.  He disappeared.  The next morning, he was still gone.  I panicked, thinking something drastic had happened to him.  Suddenly he showed up.  And then disappeared again.  This went on for a few days, before I finally figured out what was  happening.

I followed Buddy after he had been eating one afternoon.  I saw where he went - into my neighbor's circle of bushes, deep down into them.  Sitting.  I showed my neighbor.  The next morning, Buddy emerged from the bushes, and my neighbor took a peek into the bushes.  Low and behold, Buddy was not a "he" at all.  He was a she - and was sitting on 13 eggs!

Being that I know absolutely nothing about chickens and was learning on the fly during this situation, I was dumbfounded about what to do, if anything.  She seemed to be in a pretty safe place.  Research showed there was a possibility that Buddy (now renamed "Betty") could have been fertilized by a rooster before she arrived -- and perhaps these eggs were going to hatch into baby chicks.  We marked the day she started sitting on the calendar and were counting the days until birth time, if they were going to hatch.  We began planning to build a small coop, and we planned on keeping one or two of the chicks, and giving the rest away.

And last weekend, our plans all fell apart.  My neighbor called Saturday morning.  There was a problem.  A big one.  Buddy/Betty was missing, and 10 of the 13 eggs were gone.  We found 3 eggshells busted open in the yard.  We found some feathers, which appeared to be tail feathers. More research on my new favorite website - BackyardChickens.Com.   From what I read, it wasn't looking good.  We were thinking dog, raccoons, or a fox.  We don't have any stray dogs running this area right now.  Raccoons and foxes though, we have them.  They pass through. I haven't seen either since winter, and I actually had forget they even were around.  Another neighbor said it looked like fox behavior.  And that the fox probably carried the chicken away.  Since she hasn't returned, it's a good possibility.  And whoever the predator is, it came back and got the final 3 eggs the next night.

I really miss her.  This was my first experience having a chicken around, and even after the short amount of time she was here, I can see why people really love these birds.  I've always loved Bantam chickens, because they are a little smaller, and I love the black ones and the pretty colors in the feathers.  I captured several photos of Buddy/Betty while I was out for my regular bird photography sessions, and this is one of the best photos.  I really hope you all enjoy her - I know I sure did, and I catch myself looking for her to come out of the bushes several times a day.

--Jai

P.S.  This black Bantam Chicken Art is available here on the website as prints, cards, and on other gifts.  The art is also available in my Fine Art America store as canvas prints and framed/matted prints.  And it's also available in my Zazzle store.