This WAS the world's toughest chicken. But more about that in a minute. This photo shows daughter Laura Cate with other daughter Anna's Kung Fu chicken. Notice that LC is keeping her distance: that will be important a bit down the line. See, the girls took some money they'd saved and decided they wanted to get into the egg business. I think total sales are hovering around the $20 mark. We keep eating the profits. Anyways, one day, Anna comes to me with this fantastic story about the heretofore unnamed white chicken attacking her. Shortly after, Laura Cate tells me this same chicken flew up, hovered and tried to scratch at her face like some Kung Fu fighter, hence the nickname. She even showed me a mark. So, I'm thinking there might be something to this but am figuring that the chicken was most likely provoked. That assumption is no surprise if you know these two girls.
One day, LC and I were having a little picnic on the front lawn while Anna was at school. Since the chickens love it when you sit down and crack black walnuts for them (another story), I assume that's what they thought we were doing and came running. LC about climbed on top of me screaming that the Kung Fu was going to attack. I calmed her down and told her I didn't think she would while I was sitting there. See, I have some sort of weird alpha-chicken thing going with the hens. Well, before I realize what's happening, Kung Fu has circled around to LC's far side, flies up, hovers there and starts going at her with her ugly little chicken feet. I would not have quite believed it had I not seen it for myself, but it was for all the world like something right out of TheKarate Kid.
Fast forward to Memorial Day weekend. We were getting ready to start the BB/BS Annual Cattle Drive and the girls and I were out on the road horseback, ready to turn the herd and fall in. My father (aka, Pappy) drove up and informed us, rather bluntly I might add, that he saw a coyote with a white chicken in it's mouth heading for the creek. Smooth, Pappy. The girls burst into tears but there was nothing that we could do at the time. SEVERAL hours later, we pull into the farm yard with the truck and trailer, only to have my brother in law report that Kung Fu was alive!!!! This chicken was so tough, she somehow got away from a coyote (I bet he had marks too!) and returned to the roost, covering at the minimum 1/4 mile. Tragically, Kung Fu went to the great hen house in the sky sometime during the night (puncture wounds to the breast), but we had no trouble with coyotes after that!
We have since had some trouble with foxes and have a new crop of replacement chickens. One lays green eggs, the other 2 are non-descript and then there's Arnold. She was supposed to be a laying hen, but if she's not some freaky meat chicken, then I'm a monkey's uncle (right nephew Michael?). She's twice as big as the other hens, looks like she's hopped up on steroids and lumbers rather than walks. We've built her some concrete block steps up to the roost because there's no way she's going to fly up there on her own. She's a surprisingly regular egg layer and blesses us with HUGE eggs. The egg carton won't close around those bad boys. I keep waiting for the foxes to discover her because she'd not stand a chance of running or flying away and would provide food for a fox for a week.
So there you have it, Cousin Mary. There are now chickens on the Downey Ranch website!