

Michael Chicken
Bantam Chicken
Michael Chicken was named after a family member. He came to visit and had a sore eye. As a joke, we brought out our latest rescue chicken who also had a sore eye. We took a picture of them together, and her name has been Michael Chicken ever since. MAC has not grown since she came to the farm, which leads us to believe she is a bantam of some sort. She looks like a mini Rhode Island Red. Her eye has since healed.
Michael Chicken is the queen of weird! Sometimes she disappears for months at a time, only to be found sitting on a pile of rotten eggs and broken shells in a random junk corner. She has always laid eggs in weird places, like on a shelf, in a shovel bucket, on a bag of sawdust, under shelves. She sleeps under the rooster's legs, facing the opposite direction of him. Because of her odd personality, other chickens picked on her. She is the only hen living in the barn, while the rest live in the coop.
One winter, MAC was found limping. Her leg was obviously broken. We splinted it and brought her inside to heal. She spent time watching TV on the kids' laps and hanging out in the warmth of the house. Eventually she healed and began laying eggs in her kennel, which the kids ate for breakfast. She moved back to the barn and has no sign on chronic soreness since the injury. We were so relieved she healed well!
In 2023, she disappeared for weeks. We checked all her usual spots, but MAC was nowhere to be found. We began to think she had gotten hurt or taken by a predator. One day, weeks into her being missing, I saw her walking down the barn hall and followed her into the grain closet. Squished under a cat litter pan, she sat on a massive pile of rotten eggs, with unlimited grain to eat, and water was just a quick walk down the hall. We let her sit for awhile longer until it was time to clean out the closet. Then we gave her a chick so she would come out of brooding. She raised her baby up, and it is bigger than her now!