Officially, Eight

 

8/3/24 Westfälischer Totleger hen

On our walk the other day, we took a street that we hadn’t been on in a long time. We followed the clucking and buck-buck-bucking until we spotted some fine-looking hens pecking and strutting around behind a fence. The owner was working in her yard. Raising chickens, she said, became her pandemic project, and her brood has since grown. When I asked how many she has, she said with a wink, “Officially, eight.” Apparently that’s the maximum for urban chickens.

Although she has several breeds, the one I sketched is a Westfälischer Totleger, a German breed known for its prolific eggs. During some times of year, her hens lay one per day, producing way more eggs than her family can eat. She said if I was interested in having some, I could leave a carton by her gate with my phone number on it, and she would text when she had some to offer.

I thanked her, but I had already gotten what I wanted: This sketch, and the others I plan to make whenever I walk that way again.

A prolific layer