Toots, as we have named her, arrived at the farm yesterday, a gift of Jessica Barrett, the town animal control officer who brought us Simon. She is a different kind of chicken then I have known. When an animal comes to the farm, I am fascinated, and in the first few days, they reveal themselves. Toots loves to sit up on the roost and stare out at the road. I have never had a contemplative chicken before.

She is quiet, keeps to herself, seems self-contained. She is not nearly as excited about food as the other chickens I have and have known. She eats, and then she goes off to stare at things, tilt her head, and she seems to have a remarkably long attention span for a chicken. After one day, she has settled in very well, and I think I will enjoy having her around. She likes the camera, is easy around it, and is mush calmer than the other chickens I have had. Has a presence about her.

It is easy to project things onto animals – they can’t correct us and nobody else can either. Toots spent a long half hour looking at that window and the road beyond, tilting her head at cards, listening. I think she and Maria will get along especially well.