Drag Queen Chicken

July 13, 2002 journal entry, copied here to introduce you to our chickens so that I can write about their antics:

Princess crowed. For the first time, she crowed. Then seven more times. We were wondering why her comb and wattle were so big. We wondered why she developed more quickly than the other 9 chickens. We wondered why her tail feathers were so long.

She could not be a he! We discussed the possibility now and then, but always with a dismissal. She is a Golden Sex Link. She was a yellow chick, and in the Golden Sex Links, the yellow chicks are girls and the black ones are boys.

Princess apparently was a drag queen chickie, dressed in yellow to save her skin from becoming Puppy Chow. It worked, her life was spared at the hatchery. It worked again, her cute yellow drag queen attire, when I let each of the four children pick out a chickie "that Mama won't stew." Yes, even if it quits laying eggs, and even if it becomes old.

And if she is a he? Yes, even then, although I never thought it could happen. Golden Sex Links are for sure girls when they are yellow, and those chicks were bright yellow. We thought Princess was more healthy, more mature. We thought Brittany, who chose that chick, just babied her and gave her extra food.

We thought wrong. Princess just crowed again.