At the end of last summer I was chickenless and devastated. There were no eggs! I did the only sane to do; I rushed out and bought two very expensive hens. One was laying; the other was too young. The older hen was a Dominique, the younger a Rhode Island Red.
The second day, the Dominique laid an egg. That was the last one she laid until late winter. The little RIR never laid an egg.
One morning about two months ago, I was awake at 4:30 after going to the bathroom. I heard a strange noise and went to investigate. The by-now-huge RIR was crowing! She is a he. It took me two weeks to get rid of him.
Two weeks ago, I heard crowing at 6:30 am. WHAT!? I figured the backyard neighbors had roosters again. THEN, I was convinced my laying hen was crowing. Finally, I was able to see her crowing and it was true--sometimes hens without a rooster crow. She is not a very good or loud crower, thankfully.
Since late August I had not been able to find two female names that suited me, only male-female names like Bonnie and Clyde. After I got rid of the rooster, I found a name.
Dominique
After all, it is a girl's name.
Your turn
Have you ever acquired an animal that was wrongly identified? How did you figure out the mistake?
My best friend had an African Gray Parrot named Henry for 13 years before he/she laid an egg. I guess her name is Henrietta now but she is still called Henry.
ReplyDeleteJanet,
DeleteI imagine your friend was as surprised with an egg as I was with the crowing. Thanks for the story.
I haven't had a rooster yet :)
ReplyDeleteMy neighbors raise roosters, so there's usually a raucous going on outside.
Michelle,
DeleteThis was my first! I don't mind the daytime raucous, but the middle of the night annoys me.
My sister once had a tom cat named Doris, for that very reason. He was sort of mean. I said I would be mean, too, if I were a boy named Doris. :)
ReplyDeleteVicki, Yes.
Deletethat is enough to annoy a boy!
My mother had a sulphur-crested cockatoo she called Hugo.
ReplyDeleteYears later Hugo started to lay eggs. From the roof gutters. He wasn't a good mother.
EC,
DeleteOh, my goodness. No, that is not a good mother at all.
My daughter and son-in-law bought a bearded dragon for my grandson for Christmas. They bought it from a family that had owned it for 4 years and said it was a male, who was named Roger. About six weeks after they had it, it laid eggs. Obviously not a male. :)
ReplyDeleteJane,
DeleteI wonder if that confused your grandson.
Yay! I know you are happy. And we are happy to see you back. As for our blog, not sure why you can only reply but hey, post anyway you can, we always enjoy it!
ReplyDelete1st Man,
DeleteYes, I am happy. I just feel like explaining why I am replying.