We'll climb that roost

I think I mentioned the bantam hen that visited us one day in early summer. She must have decided she liked the way our backyard looked because she jumped the fence and she's been here ever since.

Zeus the Rooster tried to have his way with her early on, but she was too fast. One day while Jilda and I were on the back porch sipping tea, we watched him scratch, cluck, and wag his head. Normally that appeals to his regular hens, but the new game wasn't having any of it. She was fleet of foot so we decided to name her Roadie because she was as fast as a roadrunner.

Several days later, we watched as she began to venture closer and finally she decided he was the real thing and she became one of his love chicks.

A month or so ago, we missed Roadie. After a few days, we began to think that she'd moved on. We'd pretty much given up on her when she saw her blast through the yard pecking bugs, worms, and drinking water. A few minutes later she was gone again.

I realized she was setting.  My search began in the direction from which she came. I have an old pressure washer that's seen its better days, but I haven't taken it to the junkyard. When I looked under the old washer, there she was.

A week or so later we saw her in the yard with a baby chick the size of a cotton ball. It didn't look much bigger than a hummingbird. We tried to get pictures, but she was very protective. Jilda managed to get a few, but they were taken at a distance.

Fast forward to today. When I went for my afternoon walk, Roadie and cotton-ball were out by the fence. Cotton-ball, as my grandmother would say, "Is growing like a weed." The baby is now almost as big as his mother...and I fear it's a rooster.

We won't have to do anything right away, but by next summer we'll have to decide how to keep the young male separated from Zeus. Two roosters in a henhouse is problematic.

We'll climb that roost when we get there.