A home for Barney

This is Barney.

Barney was the "mystery" chick thrown in for free with last summer's order of Jersey Giant chicks from McMurrey Hatchery. A reader correctly identified him as a Silver Leghorn.

Because of his diminutive size (think Barney Fife)...

...he was always being pushed around by the bigger roosters, and was very skittish as a result.

He grew up manly but small, with a soprano crow that contrasted comically with the deeper crows of the Jersey Giant roosters.

His tail always seemed too long for his body, but when away from the other roosters, he strutted around like he owned the place. (All roosters do this.)

Because we don't need another rooster (especially one who wouldn't be suitable for the stew pot because of his size), and because it seemed useless to kill an otherwise beautiful little guy, we wanted to find a home for him.

The other day Don was outside on the phone with an acquaintance from a nearby area when Barney let loose with his shrill soprano crow. The friend remarked on Barney's enthusiasm and mentioned he had a small flock of six hens, but no rooster.

Smart guy that he is, Don immediately launched into the merits of having a rooster to watch over his flock. Bish bam boom, next thing we knew, we had a home for Barney.

The gentleman came over yesterday morning, we put Barney in a box for the trip home, and now he'll have a flock of his own and no competing (enormous) roosters to boss him around.

I love happy endings.

Missing a doodle

Remember the Jersey Giant chicks we got last June?

Here it is three and a half months later, and they're definitely showing their genes as giant birds. The roosters (we have three) are bigger than our adult older ladies (Americaunas, Buff Orpingtons, etc.), and the young Jersey giant hens are just about the same size as the older birds. At only three and a half months, they clearly have a lot of growing yet to do.

The hens are still too young to start laying -- we don't expect their first little pullet eggs for another two months or so -- but the boys are starting to get randy. Our farm has missed the lusty crow of a rooster since the sad loss of our beloved Snap last May, but now the boys are tuning up and finding their voices, so once more we're being serenaded.

Early crowing attempts for young roosters are pretty funny. It resembles nothing so much as the caw of a hoarse raven -- no melody, no syllables, just a croak.

But practice makes perfect. They're getting better, though none of them are Pavarotti yet. "He's missing a 'doodle' in there," noted Older Daughter this morning, listening to one fellow's attempt.

Meanwhile, when we ordered these chicks from the McMurray Hatchery, they threw in one free "surprise" chick into the batch. We had no idea what breed or gender it would be.

It turned out to be another rooster, a virile manly little guy ... with the emphasis on little. Especially compared to our Jersey Giants, this guy is so small we wonder if he's a bantam breed.

Because he's so small, this little guy is very skittish and something of a scaredy-cat. We named him Barney and think he's the cutest little thing. Even his crow is soprano, in keeping with his size.

Unfortunately we don't need another rooster; and since little Barney is just too sweet (and small) to put in the freezer, we're going to see if we can find a good home for him.

Does anyone have any idea what breed he is?

UPDATE: I think reader Sarah nailed it. Little Barney sure does look like a Silver Leghorn.