It's a Chicken, No, a Turkey, No, a Chicken!

When the foster chickies were purchased a couple of weeks ago, they looked like little eggs with feet. They peeped, they pooped and they pecked their way through their little home. They didn't have any feathers yet, just a lot of fluff in various shades of white, brown, and black. Typical little ameraucana chickies.

It didn't take but a few days though and tiny wing feathers started to show as the little cluckers stretched their wings and found that they could flap and move even faster by using these new tools. Their whole appearance also started to change as feathers appeared at their tails, on their backs and at their feet. They were becoming teenage chickies.

During this first change, I noticed that one little clucker looked a lot different than her siblings-- her feathers curled outward and were skinnier than the rest. She still looked like an ameraucana with her markings, but definitely had the feathers of a turkey. What the cluck?!?!

She was happy and healthy though-- gobbling up food like crazy and doing her part to establish who had the rule of the roost in their clucker crib. I thought maybe her unusual plummage was something that she was going to grow out of-- maybe the feathers would straighten themselves out as they grew.

Not quite.

Her wing feathers grew larger and it was apparent that she would need to work on gaining more strength to keep the wings folded on her back like her more prim and proper chickie buddies. Until that time came, her wings would hang a little lower and prompted a name given lovingly from her Clucker Mother, "Turkey". This didn't seem to phase her-- she preened her funky feathers just as fastidiously as her flock mates.

This Clucker Mother celebrates uniqueness and excitedly sent a photo to little Turkey's Feather Father thinking that he would celebrate the joy of his soon-to-be-his, unique, baby as well.

Feather Father was less than pleased, responding: "Those are some messed up feathers." What the cluck?!?! How could the cuteness of this little one not be looked at with awe and wonderment of what she will become as she grows? Maybe she's a rare breed of chicken, a real, live Turkchicken! No mish-mashed weird meat stuffing of one bird into another as is done during Thanksgiving--completely what the cluck?!?

"Turkey" is growing perfectly in spite of her oddity and in celebration of her feathers regardless of what her future owner may think. She pecks and peeps with the best of them and doesn't shy away from her flock mates. I honestly think little Turkey knows she's something special. At least, this Mother Clucker thinks so.