There has been a "Vacancy" sign flashing outside our chicken coop for about nine months. That was when the crazy tortoise "Curiosity" was living there. He dug a ten foot hole underneath the palm tree that was on the side of the coop. I thought about making Turtle Soup, but restrained myself and he was sent to a good family in Gilbert that had another tortoise. So, when a sister in our ward offered a couple of chickens, at first both Kevin and I were a little leery. After all, the last chickens we had, which were Delaware Whites, were not very kind. They pecked at each other and ganged up on one of the chickens and then would lay their eggs on the counter outside the kitchen window, only to scoot them off and let them fall on the ground. That is not a fun scene to clean up after birds that you are not enjoying. We picked up the chickens, which she told us were Spanish Minorcas (pictured above) which are supposed to do well in the heat. We've got the heat part down pat. They are black and when the suns shines on them, their feathers have a greenish hue to them. It's very cool. Plus they are NICE chickens. They don't peck at each other (there are only two right now) aren't crazed and lay their eggs in a dignified manner in the coop. I wanted more information, so of course, I googled Spanish Minorca Chickens. I was not expecting what I found. I thought that all chickens were alike and had just one job: lay eggs. Well, two jobs really, but the second job is a career killer. But when I read that these chickens were bred to be "show chickens", I almost fell out of my seat! My first thought was "They need to have proper show girl names." So I named them after my two favorite Broadway show girls: Liza Minnelli and Nathan Lane. Then I realized, these girls were competition birds, meaning I could take them to County Fairs and show them! Who knew there would be another outlet to compete in? Oh baby. These girls are getting the star treatment.
