SIX CHICKENS
MS. MOULT & FRIENDS


My hens arrived cooped in a cardboard box;
Ms. Moult looked ruffled and a little ill.
These new surroundings: nests & roosts & rocks
all need inspecting, checking every frill.

Ms. Moult selected where she'd spend this night,
not too high up and where she wouldn't fall
like Humpty Dumpty – that would be a sight:
a hen and egg cracked up beside a wall.

New dawn arrived, I opened up their hatch
and showed each one that access – in and out.
They caught on quick, then off to test this patch,
go scratch around or simply laze about.

Now, Gorgeous George had come along as well,
another story I have yet to tell.

-o-o-o---0 o 0---o-o-o-

Another story I have yet to tell –
Ms. Wobbles' case of sea-legs was right bad!
She tried her best to stand but always fell;
I placed Ms. Wobbles on a special pad

where she recovered. Blondie, brown and white,
is sister with Ms. Moult, I do believe.
She'll lay an egg that doesn't come out right;
three-quarter shell is all that we achieve.

Her white behind stands out, not like the rest
whose basic brown is standard, nondescript.
I cannot say which hen I like the best –
each plays her role the way she is equipped.

We often have long-winded, earnest talks;
my hens arrived cooped in a cardboard box.

Hi Merlin,

Thanks for the chuckles about your chickens. I've been around them all my life and your names give them
all a nice descriptive aid as to their looks and actions. I enjoyed the interlocked sonnets as well.

Perhaps you will post another and be more forthcoming about Gorgeous George (your rooster?). I'd imagine
he has already done his inspection of the new additions to the harem.

Thanks

Larry

Hey, Merlin. Great interlocking sonnets. I loved the personalization of the hens and your interaction with them.

We just added four chickens to the property in Vineland we'll be moving too hopefully this fall. My son built a coop for them from some of the lumber he removed from my house that he gutted, and added a sign, "The Chicken Shack". We collected the mother and her three chicks, one a rooster, from our yard in Bridgeton, where they just showed up one day, and one of our tenants had been feeding them to prevent the family across the street from eating them! It's strange, because where we are is not zoned for anyone to raise chickens in their yard, so we have no idea where they came from. On most days the hen lays a beautiful light blue egg.

Keep on writing. Perhaps I'll be able to join you again soon.

Love in Light, Daniel

Hey Daniel,

About your "light blue" chicken eggs; they come from exotics either in China (Dongxiang and Lushi) or from
Chile (The Araucana). They are rare in the US and cost a chunk of change to import. Better take good care
of them.

Larry

Hi and thanks for the comments.

This year I got 6 hens because I had the run and house and nothing to occupy those. I responded to an ad - free spent hens. Great! The price is right, as I'll demonstrate. With a friend & neighbor, we drove to the destination, some 3 hours away. Wonderful people, we had tea etc and I got the hens. The owner told us about the rooster fight that went on a short while ago, and he really needs to get rid of one - won't I take him for 10 $ ? He's Araucanian and very handsome. What could I do?
The trip back with my free hens, 10 $ rooster, went well. We stopped for a snack which cost me about 40 $ as my neighbor came along for my company... but the hens are free!

Gorgeous George was a very respectful rooster. He guarded his hens, but as they are all grannies and not much into doodle-doing, I found a place for him (5 hour drive away) where his services would be better used. I later got an email back from the young lady who took him (off my hands) with great delight - she had chicks all gray and black, Araucanadian all.

As yet I haven't put it into verse about GG, but the intention was there.


PS - Ms Wobbles died a while ago. We had that heat wave, but I think it was natural, old age. She was on the roost that evening, and on the floor in the morning.

Pour Ms. Wobbles a round to her ghost
for avoiding a spit where she'd roast.
Equilibriums messed
but she sat on her nest
laying eggs for breakfasts' jam and toast.

Hello all,
You are so funny. Enjoyed the sonnets and words...Keep up the chicken coup!
Bev

If you keep up your coup with the dying
you must boil them; they're no good for frying.
You'll be past getting eggs,
so you'll take to your kegs
and get drunk when you get tired of trying.

Hahahahaha Merlin!

I am not sure which I like more, Ms. Moult or Ms. Wobbles.

I like how you interlaced the two sonnets together and also the repeating lines in S1 of the first and the last of the second. And t hen again last and then first.

We must hear more about "Gorgeous George"!

Enjoyed the read,
~Cleo