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Henny Penny

She's a striking bird with bright white feathers. She is fairly flighty and is probably the most difficult of the bunch to catch but she is still relatively easy to catch when in a confined area. This bird prefers to roost in a group, often trying to burrow under the other hens' legs.

After five days here we have seen the rooster mount this hen for one breeding. He hopped on her in a brief moment after she had jumped down from a roost into a tub of hay. He pecked the back of her neck and she squawked but immediately submitted and held still for the 1-2 second breeding until he hopped off.

Due to her appearance, I suspected she was being hen-packed, especially around the neck and tail. The prior owner reports that the other hens tend to pick on this hen, and she believed it was this hen's feathered feet that may have started the behavior last winter. This hen's feet appear somewhat enlarged and turned in. I used Bitter Yuck spray (active ingredient is rosemary in a water base) to deter pecking from others but it did not seem to make any difference and she really resented being sprayed even though it is a no-sting formula. After a few days of observation with the rest of the flock, I now suspect that this hen is near the end of her molt as I found a few feathers that looked like her tail feathers in the coop yesterday and her entire body fore of the tail feathers and rump are pristine, as if recently grown in.

I am uncertain as to whether or not this hen is laying. At times she is broodish, laying on an existing egg, possibly adding her own egg to the clutch, and constructing a nest around herself.

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UPDATE! August 19, 2007 - Today I watched Henny Penny lay a brown egg with dark speckles & small bumps. While getting ready to lay, Henny Penny accidentally broke one of the brown eggs that was already in the laying box. Counting the broken egg, that's a record 6 eggs in one day and we still didn't get a white one so that means 7 hens are laying!

A clutch of 5 eggs lies in one of the laying boxes. From left to right, the eggs shown were laid by Chatty Kathy, Jersey Girl, Wanderlust, Molly Brown, and Henny Penny. Both photos of the row of eggs are the same eggs with different lighting. It's hard to tell but Chatty Kathy's egg on the left is very pale tan but not white, almost cream-colored or off-white. Molly Brown's egg is second from the right and it is a beautiful green but the camera's flash washed out it's color.