Introducing the chook that lays Blue Eggs

Dear Isabella, (Issy) our South American Araucana, is a funny chook, not just because of her crest obscuring her vision and so making it easy to sneak up on her, (handy when needing to administer medicines or weigh her) or the fact that her breed is the only chicken breed to lay a blue-green egg. (In some countries they are called "Easter Eggers"!).

No I think she is funny as firstly she loves her greens waaaaay more than the other chooks do.

How do I know this? 

She makes an excited chuckling sound in the back of her throat when she sees me carrying a bunch of greens. Then she tucks in like no-body's business, virtually  shoving the other chooks out of her way.

Note that there are no other chooks near by in these photos.! Issy was the first to see the chard, the first to get there and examine the booty and definitely on the alert to discourage other chooks approaching!

However my girls are very well behaved on the whole - not a lot of in-fighting now that Shelley and Issy have risen above their mutual animosity. (But that's another story...)

Secondly Issy stands and 'yells' at any bird that tries to lay in her vicinity. This 'vicinity'  could be anywhere from under the old Christmas tree to a large terracotta planter. Sometimes the hen under verbal attack is even in a nest box. Sometimes.

My mother thinks Issy shrieks at them because she is jealous - she has not laid an egg for some time now and when she did they were soft-shelled.

I must get the sound of a chook "yelling" on video. It is quite a sound. I like to think she has the passionate Latin American temperament :)

I do happen to know that Issy is also quite sensitive though.

One day very early in her time with us, there was a great screeching up the back near the coop. I ran up to find Issy cowering, frozen, her body elongated and hunched close to the ground self-protectively the ways dogs do. I picked her up and looked around but could not see what had spooked her. I placed her on my shoulder and walked down to the back step with her and just sat quietly talking to her. She was making a very quiet whimpering noise in my ear  which finally after about twenty minutes subsided and she jumped down from my shoulder and just 'hung around' me.  I gave her some treats and we walked back up together to the designated "chook area".

I never found out what it was and it has never happened since.

Chooks! *head scratch* - go figure!