Pecking order.
Have you ever wondered where that phrase came from? I suggest you watch some chickens, and it will quickly become apparent to you. There exists a hierarchy among chickens (and just about everything else that lives) and that order is enforced with their beaks.
Enter poor little Josephine. She was the Bottom Rung, the Outcast, the One… for whatever chicken-ish reason there was, she was at the bottom of the pecking order. The other hens picked on her. Pecked her. Repeatedly. She’d lose feathers and bleed. As I seem to be the one to often help the Underdog, I’d grab her, place her in my old chicken tractor… and feed her individually. She healed up, regrew feathers, and by the end of her first round of solitary confinement, she would “bokbok” at me, run to stand in between my feet, follow me for food, allow me to pick her up and pack her around, frequently becoming the one chicken that the grandkids could pet. Of all my chickens, Rooster Spot and Josephine are the only ones with names.
Once healed, I tried to re-integrate her with the other 10 chickens. It was a no-go… and they began to relentlessly pick on her once again.
Over Easter, I was telling the chicken’s story at the table, and tender-hearted Tess started tearing up for Josephine. “That’s so sad!” Since getting chicks wasn’t going to work for Tess this year, I offered Josephine to her as a pet. “You can borrow my chicken tractor for now… and she won’t have to hide from the other hens.” The problem of Josephine was solved.
Now, please note. Tess came to the ranch with ornithophobia… which means the fear of birds. She doesn’t like them. They freak her out. Of course, we’ve been respectful of her phobia, never teasing or pulling pranks on her about chickens.
And if you believe that last sentence, I have some tips about the stock market I’d love to sell you…
Tess has come along way… obviously, because she is very empathetic for little Josephine.
So… first order of business, Megan, Tess, and I loaded up the chicken tractor in the pickup and delivered it to her house. Boy, that sentence makes it sound so easy and fast. It was neither. We did it with girl power and four wheelers… but we did it.
Then, I managed to confine Josephine in the dog kennel… where she was retrieved by an excited little girl.
Lacee LOVES animals… all kinds.
Josephine now resides in Tess’ yard… with care and love from Jaxon and Lacee.
So ends the saga of Josephine… with the moral of this story: Just because you’re at the bottom of the pecking order, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the rest of your life will be horrid. You might just end up with special care and top-notch accommodations!
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Happy 3rd birthday, Little Miss Lorelei!!!! I love you!
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Such a nice story – a win-win for Josephine and for Tess and the kids.
Green grass and short sleeves in one pic and coats and snow in the next…such is Wyoming springs, I guess.
Awww! So sweet! 😀 I had a Josephine in my class in school, and because of her, my Mom would often mention a favorite book of hers when she was growing up, which was called “Be Nice To Josephine.” That name always reminds me of Mom, the book, and my classmate (who I wasn’t always nice to, because we just didn’t get along… lol)
Happy Birthday, Miss Lorelei!
Funny how that works. I named a dog Josie once, and my mom remembered her classmate, Josie Mae. Well, from then on, the dog was Josie Mae…
What a sweet story! Go Tess! Go Josephine!
Lucky Josephine. Nice to have a happy ending.
Look forward to seeing Josephine the end of May!
What a neat story and lesson! I know about pecking order due to my father raising thousands of chickens in a huge chicken house he built and also having a hatchery business downtown where he would weekly hatch out huge long drawers of eggs in walk-in incubators. It’s crazy how those chickens determine which one to pick on regularly! Nice that Tess can take care of Josephine!