Chickens are not yellow

By Mo Conlan

I am a city girl. I love to drive through the country, and have in-law relatives who live deep in the heart of America’s farm belt, and farm the land. Each year, they plant, tend and coax food from the soil. I feel privileged to be tangentially associated.

Still, I am a city girl born and bred. And as such, I always thought that chickens were yellow. Like in children’s books. The brown-and-white cow, the pink pig and the yellow chicken.

Imagine my surprise to meet some real chickens at a farm party.These are free-range chickens, which means they strut and peck and crow just as they wish. Their dignity remains intact. At Don and Susie Wenker’s recent party on their farm, chickens and roosters strutted about among the guests and pecked at tomatoes on the vine in the kitchen garden.

And they demanded to be admired.

These animals are gorgeous. They have a variety of colorful featherings – from elegant black-and-white stripes to reds, whites and mixed colors -- such to make an artist drool. I did. I followed them around.

The cock crowed a bit to show his status, and I kept a respectful distance.

Still, I could not take my eyes off the colors, the large feet the preening tails of these lovely animals.Here are some photos I shot that day. I think I missed most of the party, following the chickens around. I never saw a yellow one.

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