Mr Nutty, the Mean Girls and the Croydon facelift
Poor Mr Nutty the cockerel. He doesn’t have much luck. Having been bullied by other cockerels in his last place of residence, I think he finally thought he was going to get the chance to live the live of Riley, presiding over his own set of ‘hoes’ (thank you, Twitter, for that little beauty).
Alas, it was not to be. Whether the already patchy bald bit was too tempting, or whether the girls just really are mean, the head-pecking has started again. Mr Nutty’s lush Las Vegas showgirl head-dress has been reduced to something more akin to an Elizabethan ruff, whilst the top of his head is now completely red and bald.
And it’s not that he’s a bad cockerel or anything. Mr Nutty seems to be well-liked amongst his little flock. He takes his protector duties very seriously and is often to be seen goose-stepping (chicken stepping?) round the garden, his little oddly-shaped harem in attendance. He’s funniest in the veg patch, where he scrapes the ground away to uncover all manner of yumminess, then stands proudly back whilst his ladies get the pick of the tasty morsels. When I see it, I always imagine him going ‘g’wan girls, tuck in’.
Here he is with his rather odd-looking babes (sorry you can’t really see him here, I think he was scratching his bottom at the time). You can also see Holly, far right, who has morphed from quite a cute little chick into some sort of prehistoric turkey/velociraptor hybrid, bless her:
I don’t think it’s spite, particularly, I just think when they’re all huddled up in the hen house together at night, those naughty girls just can’t resist a little peck at his newly emerging feathers.
Anyhoo, something had to give, and #2 had the bright idea of pulling up Mr Nutty’s remaining feathers into something akin to a pony tail, to protect his bald bit while his new feathers get a chance to grow.
Mr Nutty took some serious chasing, and when we finally grabbed him, an unseemly struggle ensued. I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to hold a furious chicken while trying to tie his head feathers into a pony tail (no? Thought not), but it’s not easy. First I got it too tight, so his eyes were bulging, and the poor thing couldn’t blink (kind of like a chicken version of the Croydon facelift), then it was too loose and pinged off. Next attempt was secure enough, and not too tight, but a bit wonky. By this stage, Mr Nutty was very ‘pinged off’ himself, so we decided we’d leave him with the slightly off-centre hairdo.
I think he looks rather rakish. What say you?
Er, Holly is one scarey looking bird – that’s some stare of death she’s giving you!
Poor ol’ Mr Nutty
BTW that Holly is one scary looking chook!!
My head hurts. I’m going back to the fourteenth century for a lie down… ;P