KEY WEST CHICKEN PAGE

by Katha Sheehan
The Chicken Lady

If there is one thing I have learned
from watching the Key West chickens for
the past nine years, it is that the mythical
“pecking order” does not exist. Perhaps
it emerges among captive chickens who
have to deal with cramped, unnatural
conditions, same as among human
prison inmates, but does not actually
happen among animals at large.

Our chickens in the wild live a
fluid social structure, their personal
lives as creative and varied as any lived
by humans. Two that I am currently
observing, Bert and Ernie, are an example
of this.

They are two stag roosters, and one
of them is deathly ill. He is so anemic,
his comb is almost translucent.
I have been foiled time and again
in my attempts to capture and diagnose
him by the maneuvers of his buddy,
Ernie. Ernie is constantly on the lookout
for danger. He also seeks out food, and
tenderly invites Bert to eat, while he abstains
and stands guard. He sometimes
performs a gentle “wing dance” for Bert,
to let him know he is appreciated, and
should eat.

Ernie is never far from Bert, who
mostly hides under a storage shed. Who
says that only humans are capable of
personal attachments and empathy?
I am filming the two as much as I
can, and I hope Bert will make it. If he
does, it will be because of his devoted
friend, Ernie.

I pray Key West will always have
such beautiful and engaging creatures
to call its own.