Meet Taco – The Diva

Oh, Taco. You special little chicken, you.

Do you remember that kid in elementary school, the one that was always off the wall hyper and LOUD, drawing attention to himself at every opportunity? Hey, maybe you were that kid. Well Taco is that kid in chicken form.

She’s quite the character and she makes the weirdest sounds I’ve ever heard come out of a chicken. ind of like a ‘Huuuuuuur ehr ehr ehr ehr ehhhhhhr.’ Yeah. Maybe she’s an alien.

Taco is a Buff Chantecler, the first breed of chicken ever to be developed in Canada.

When Taco was broody in the spring, she was an outright monster. She would hunker down on HER eggs (they all belonged to her) all day long, and if another chicken dared to come in the coop she would make the most obnoxious racket you’d ever hear. I swear it sounded like she was getting killed every single time. She would shriek and sqwawk and flap her wings and lash out and bite until the offender would leave.

GET OUT OF MY HOUSE YOU SON OF A CHICKEN!!

CAN’T YOU SEE I’M IN HERE?!

WHAT DOES A HEN HAVE TO DO TO GET SOME PRIVACY AROUND HERE?!?

GET OUT! GET OUT! GET OOOUUUUTTTTT!!

All day long. Every day.

Most of our hens refused to lay their eggs anywhere but the nesting box, so they either had to sit in the vacant box next to hers and listen to her yapping, or take it to the next level and lay directly on top of her, sending her into an all out frenzy. When they would finally drop their egg and leave, she would tuck it underneath her and quiet down. Another future child stolen from her flock-mates.

Poor little Taco never became a momma because at this point we had no rooster, so she was sitting on infertile eggs. We tried everything to break her broodiness but she was unbreakable.  She would even sit in the nest when we had taken all the eggs away.

When she wasn’t sitting on her pile of eggs, Taco would come out into the world and announce her presence with her loud mouth and poofed out feathers. Can you tell she’s the domineering and bossy type?

I can only imagine this is where the term ‘That really ruffles my feathers’ gets its meaning.

Taco is the head hen in our flock.  It used to be Little Carl, but she went soft after she became a momma and Taco took over. She’s our feisty lady, and pecks at anyone who comes near her. As you can imagine, she has no friends. Don’t let it make you sad, though. She seems to prefer being a loner.

You’ll often find her standing proudly on the tallest structure available to her, surveying her kingdom from above. She’s also the queen of false alarms. She’ll be hanging out, picking at dirt and shuffling through leaves when suddenly she’ll FREAK OUT and run as fast as her little bird feet will take her back to the coop while screaming bloody murder.

Of course, all the other chickens will see this and freak out as well, because the world is surely coming to an end at any second and the coop will save them from their ultimate doom.  Sometimes I think she does it just to get a rise out of everyone. I can almost see her snickering.

Back before I knew of her, ehrm, *lovely* personality, Taco played the starring role in my attempt to re-home some of our chickens. She was going to find a new home, but fought (literally fought) her way back into ours.

She’s our most photogenic bird by far. That’s not only because she’s one of the only hens that will hold still for more than a second. I think this little diva actually enjoys getting her photo taken. Every time I’m out with my camera, she’s right next to me, nonchalantly throwing poses and waiting for the shutter to click. In fact, Taco is such a cover girl that she’s won herself a spot in the Natural Chicken Keeping calendar one year!

That’s all for now, more up close and personal chicken profiles to come in the future.

Who’s the feistiest bird in your flock? I would love to hear about it in the comments!