Miss Crossbeak

Miss Crossbeak is my new BFF. I got her at Southern States 2 months ago along with 9 of her 'sisters'. She was always the first one to come running up to me when I opened the chicken coop door. When she was about 3 weeks old I noticed she had something wrong with her beak. It seemed to be going at different angles and she was a bit smaller than the rest of the chicks. I let her come out to the yard every day to feed her by herself to make sure she got enough feed. I googled 'cross beak chicken' and there was skads of information about this funny little beak.


Miss Crossbeak loves to peck in the garden, get into the flowers and just be cute.


She likes to be carried around, feeling quite special as she moves around the yard 3 feet off the ground. One day she even rode on the lawnmower with me as I mowed the grass.


But she really loves this green scoop that holds her food. I put some of the food in a bowl with a bit of water so it's easier for her to get in her beak, but she goes back to the bright green scoop. She hops in as soon as I open the coop door and just gets down to business.


Since I spend nearly all my time outdoors, Miss Crossbeak spends all her time near me. When reading the newspaper on the deck, she walks right up, hops onto the back of my chair and appears to look at the paper over my shoulder. How rude! She always comes up to my wooden rooster and flirts with him. I leave the back door open to our house and when I go in, she follows me in, wondering what I'm doing.


All the animals like to hang out wherever I am and they all get along. In fact the cats are a little scared of the chickens. But Miss Crossbeak likes everyone.


Ozzie does keep an eye on her though.


And Cheyenne can hardly be bothered. He just doesn't want her to jump up onto the settee and take his place.


And they all had to check out something on my foot.

The nice thing is the other chickens don't pick on Miss Crossbeak. Chickens can be mean to one another, you know the 'pecking' order thing. They really do peck the feathers off the outcast of the coop. But Miss Crossbeak is not this chicken. Maybe they feel sorry for her, the special needs chicken. When positioning themselves on the roost for the night, Miss Crossbeak tucks herself onto the top rung, right between two big hens and I see where they occasionally lift their wings to cover her up. Awwwww!