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| Name: |
Victoria, Alaric
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Age: |
Fourteen months old
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| Gender: |
Female, Male
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Kind: |
Buff Laced Polish Chicken
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| Home: |
Idaho, USA
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Victoria is on the left, and she's very special to me. I got this hen after almost my entire flock was killed by raccoons. I had one bird left out of all of them. I was so pleased to have found more Polish, as they are my favorite breed, and my other pair was killed in the attack. When I got her, she was sweet, loving, and wonderful, despite a deformed beak, with the top shorter than the bottom. I placed her in the chicken coop, and watched. All of the birds were getting along fine, or so it seemed.
Angel likes to go out and play on the grass when it is nice out. She also is very patient when I take her picture. She even let me put glasses on her and did not shake them off. And she is my friend most of all. This is what makes her so special to me!
The next afternoon, we found Victoria wounded on the ground. She was in shock, her eyelid was missing a peice, and the entire top of her head was bare and bloody. Blood ran from her nostrils and mouth. Her deformed beak was parted, and she panted. The rooster who loved her stood over her, guarding her from the others, and was with her when I took her inside, watching over her despite his own wounds.
To make a long story short, she's recovered, as you can see. She's figured out how to walk again, and was put back into the coop once she was well, minus the nasty hen. Every time I go out there, she comes up to me, chortling for me to pick her up and hold her. The day I took this picture was her first time out into the yard again, and she scratched in the dirt beside the rooster in the sun, on a rare warm days in February. She still gets scared sometimes, or lost, and she'll call for the rooster, and want him to help her feel better, which he does. I took a picture of them together, the survivor and her caretaker, mismatched lovers.
Alaric suits his name quite well - he's a noble, good creature, who gives everything to his special hen, Victoria. When she was on the verge of death, he stood beside her, defending her, even though he was also hurt. He could have reached his head down, and finished her off, as many birds are prone to do when there is blood, but he did not. He stayed in her cage while she healed, never once pecking at her or pushing at her, allowing her to eat and drink without arguing when she took food from him. He taught her not to fear other chickens, not to fear him, and played a significant part in her recovery. She learned to be less afraid, and it's helped Victoria to be able to come back to a group without cowering.
He is the epitome of something I have never seen in a human, let alone a chicken, although my old rooster came close. He is truly a noble bird, and is a truly heroic, good creature. Any other bird would have thrust aside the weaker bird, eaten the food for itself. Any other bird would have killed her for being weak. Alaric did not. He cared for her when she was wounded, offered her food, and helped her become stronger. He is the best I could have hoped for.
I love both these birds, they are a special couple for certain, and deserve to be honored.
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Talk about Victoria and Alaric in Pet Talk!
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