A Boy & a Hen... Friends

This boy has been feeding chickens from that step since before he could walk.

My heart...

The chickens know he's the one who's very generous with treats!

"Friendship" was the topic for my weekly-ish art challenge. They're good friends, this boy and these chicks.

Original Oil Painting on 12"x 12" Wrapped Canvas

[NFS]

With a Chick Chick Here and a Chick Chick There...

This is my lovely hen, Dominique.  When she was just a chick herself, my dad said, "Oh, that one's a "Dominicker." Her breed is usually called Barred Rock now, but I think Dominicker suits her.  

Dominique is a good mama.  She's raised three broods of chicks for us. Here's how it works: I know she's broody and wanting babies when she refuses to leave the nesting box for days.  I (along with my granddaughters) go to the store and pick out half a dozen chicks of different breeds. That evening after dark, I slip the babies under her one at a time.  The next morning she's clucking with protective pride at her new family.

Arkansas has a law, a real honest-to-goodness law, that says you have to buy chicks six or more at a time... not five... not three... not one... Six.

AR Code § 5-62-121 (2012)  (a) It is unlawful for any person, firm, or corporation to sell or offer for sale, barter, or give away living baby chicks, rabbits, or ducklings under two (2) months of age in any quantity less than six (6).

So... hmmm.... If I only had to get six, why are there seven in the painting? My husband asked a similar question... "Why are there seven chicks here?" Really? Seven? Are you sure? Well, how about that! Hmmm... You know it's hard to put a tiny chick back once it's already in your hand and peeping... Seven is about six anyway, right?

Fun fact - You can tell what color eggs a chick will lay by looking at the color of its feet!

This painting was my response to my weekly-ish art challenge.  The challenge was "Our Feathered Friends."

Original Oil Painting on 9"x 12" Wrapped Canvas
[SOLD]

Little Red Hen

Meet Red Red...
    Or maybe it's Other Red.
I can never be sure because they look exactly alike and are right beside each other all.. the... time!

Here's the thing...
We gave them names when we got them, but we always ended up calling them "The Reds."  I felt bad that they didn't have their own names, so we decided to make the red and the other red proper nouns. They became Red Red and Other Red.

At night Red Red and Other Red live in the Cousin House with Fancy while Sylvia, Dolly, and Monique live in the Sister House. They all hang out together during the day.

Red Red
She is funny and smart and brave.  As soon as I let them out in the mornings, she follows me right to the back door.  She's learned that if she's right there, I'll toss her a handful of treats.  She's happy to eat right out of my hand or stick her head down into the treat jar.  

Other Red
Ditto everything I just wrote about Red Red. Except for the times when one is laying an egg, they're together.

Fancy
What a little sweetheart.  She's gentle and timid and maybe a little slow.  She is usually waddling up about the time everyone else has just finished whatever treat I've just tossed out.  She's the easiest to pick up which is a good thing because she's never quite ready when put everyone else to bed.  We end up picking her up and putting her in the coop.

Sylvia
This one has the attitude!  We laugh at her all the time because she has a mind of her own. She's been a good mama twice though. We love the pretty blue eggs she lays for us.

Dolly
Dolly is kind of bossy, maybe even a little grumpy sometimes.  I think she wants to be head hen.  She was a good mama this summer.  You can see a little one under her.

Monique
The beautiful hen was that little baby under Dolly in the photo above.  She just began laying eggs of her own this week.  She's still pretty skittish, but she's settling in to being a grown up instead of the baby.

Here are the girls having a sunbath beside their houses. They're so funny.

I completed this painting during a painting retreat last weekend at Welcome Home Retreat in Weatherford, Texas.

 Original Oil Painting on 6"x 8" Wrapped Canvas.

[SOLD]

Hen on the Hay

In my class we've recently finished our unit of poetry.  We read poetry. We talked about poetry. We thought about poetry.  We wrote poetry. 

Humor poems... classic poems... poems with rhyme and rhythm... free verse poems... narrative poems... odd poems... poems that made us wonder why they were poems...

This was one of the first poems that we read that made the kids go... huh?

The Red Wheelbarrow

so much depends

upon

a red wheel

barrow

glazed with rain

water

beside the white

chickens.

          - William Carlos Williams

But, then I introduced a strategy for close reading called I Wonder statements.  Once the kids started, they never stopped!

I wonder why he wrote that poem.

I wonder why he left it out in the rain.

I wonder what was in the wheel barrow.

I wonder how many chickens there were.

I wonder why he didn't capitalize his first word.

I wonder why the chickens stay beside the wheel barrow.

I wonder what depends on the wheel barrow.

I wonder if it will rust.

I wonder ...

Of all the odd poems for them (both classes) to fixate on!  When we began writing innovations or poems inspired by famous poems, they often came back to this one with their own versions.

so much depends

upon

a warm

donut

glazed with brown

chocolate

beside the white

milk

--

so much depends

upon

a blonde Barbie

doll

dressed in a ball

gown

beside the white

teddy bear

--

so much depends 

upon

the red tractor

covered with 

mud

beside the pink

pigs. 

If I read 5 of these, I read 50 of them!

So, here's one from me.

-

The Straw Hay Bale

(Inspired by William Carlos Williams)

so much depends

upon

a straw hay

bale

glistening in sun

light

beneath the red

chicken

Thanks to Jackie from Welcome Home Retreat.  This is her gorgeous hen!

Original Oil Painting on 14"x 18" Wrapped Canvas

[SOLD]