Betty

Betty has been very attentive lately. Not a sit on your lap kind of friendly, but every time I go in the back yard she seems to appear out of nowhere at my feet. Staring up at me as if to say “Where were you? Did you bring anything?”

Saturday she hung out with me on the patio for a good long time while I did chores. She hung out and preened and just watched what I was doing just in case a treat opportunity should present itself. She didn’t want to miss it.

 

Betty and Doris came to me from a home northwest of Boston. The woman who had them decided she wanted to focus more on breeding a different breed and was finding new homes for the rest of  her flock.

Betty is a Langshan/Sussex mix but, looks more Langshan than anything. She has the distinctive “U” shape and the beautiful black feathers with the green blue sheen. Her egg is a deep brown and she has feathered feet. Sometimes she looks a bit like an old lady with her silver feathers around her face and neck. I think that may be her only Sussex feature.

Since we restructured the flock in the spring, Betty has become the head hen and she likes to remind the others often. She doesn’t draw blood like Ginger the last lead hen did, but they know to expect a firm peck if they get out of line. They also know though, that she has their backs if a predator of some sort shows up. She is great at sighting birds soaring overhead, being a survivor of a hawk attack, she will herd them under the bushes at the sight of any kind of soaring bird, even seagulls and has been seen chasing the neighbors’ cat across the yard perceiving it a threat. She’s a great alpha hen and still gives us an egg everyday. Who needs a rooster?