A Big, Beautiful (P)Earl

Some of you may remember the story of (P)Earl Chicken, but if you don’t, here’s a refresher:  After our beloved Ruby Chicken died, we were afraid that Opal Chicken would be lonely.  Our friends, Jill and Ricky (who sold us Opal and Ruby) said they had some more young chickens, and if we wanted one we could just come pick one out.  When we went, I found the most beautiful chicken I had ever seen; soon (s)he was on her way home with us and was given the name of “Pearl”.

The only problem was that although we were quite smitten with Pearl Chicken, Opal Chicken made it clear that she did not want another chicken at all.  Opal chased (P)Earl all the time and was so mean to the little chicken that we had to let (P)Earl stay in the chicken tractor instead of bedding down in the coop just to keep (P)Earl safe.  When we were in the yard, (P)Earl was never far away from me (which I actually kind of liked).  However, all of this drama was short-lived when (P)Earl began to crow every morning.  Our city ordinance bans roosters from living within city limits, so (P)Earl  (who was really an “Earl”) went back to live with Jill and Ricky.

Well, Jill just kept telling the cutest stories about (P)Earl, so a couple of Sundays ago Robert and I asked if we could come for a visit.  Jill said, “Come on over,” so we were on our way!  I was absolutely giddy on the drive over to Jill’s house.  I was going to see my sweet (P)Earl Chicken!

I absolutely LOVE Jill and Ricky's place -- it is so fun to go there!  I swear, it seems like Ricky’s yard is at least four times bigger than ours, and even though they live in town, they are pretty much able to live “the country life”.  (Their town ordinances are also less prohibitive than ours.)  Therefore, when we started to the back of the yard, we were greeted by chickens everywhere:

There were some ducks, too!

And they even have a peacock!  This peacock showed up at the house one day, out of nowhere, bloody and pretty beat up.  After finding respite and help there, it just decided to stay!  It walks about freely among the chickens:

Hangs out with the ducks (and even has a tendency to herd them, according to Jill):

And makes itself the “King of the Hill” on top of the chicken coop:

After having some fun watching all of the other critters, we finally caught sight of the true catalyst for our trip:  (P)Earl Chicken!

(P)Earl is so beautiful!  And so-not-the-scrawny-little-chick that we once knew!  I bet Opal Chicken would think twice before bothering (P)Earl now!

(P)Earl has quite the harem:

While we were there, (P)Earl decided to romance his “favorite” girl right there in front of us.  Jill has told me stories of watching him try to get girls by pretending his foot is hurt.  She doesn’t know where he picked that up, but he does it quite often, and it always makes her laugh to watch him.  He hobbles around on his “hurt” foot, and as soon as the concerned females rush to his rescue, BAM!   He’s on it.  He did not show such finesse when we were there – he pretty much just jumped the poor girl.  However, she was later chasing him around, so I guess she likes him, too.  Here is the happy couple:

As fun as it was to watch him, the best part was getting to cuddle him again!  Jill was able to catch him, and Robert and I took turns cuddling our beloved (P)Earl Chicken!  Here’s Robert holding our big guy:

So there you go…(P)Earl Chicken is now loud, proud, and living large!