BLOG – Page 10 – Tamara Kenneally Photography

Firefly

Firefly is an Old English Game bantam. She is tiny. The smallest little hen I have and probably one of the smallest hens I’ve ever seen. Firefly was rescued from the Dandenong Poultry Auction in June, 2016. The Dandenong Poultry Auction is a place where chickens are sold for meat and purposes for gaining profit. The cages are filthy and the treatment of the birds from people who purchase the birds is horrific.

I welcomed Firefly in to Lefty’s Place to be a friend to Goblin because Goblin’s best friend (Marshmallow) is a broiler chicken and will one day (quite soon) leave the world and Goblin will need a friend to help her through. Firefly is incredibly adventurous, she lives for adventure and since her arrival Goblin has become so much more confident and willing to do new and exciting things.

Firefy. She may be tiny, but my gosh she is smart. She’s always thinking. She’s one step ahead of all the other chickens. When she’s not trying to get inside to lay her egg on the dvd piles, she is exploring everything and everywhere and is watching all the other chickens movements so that she knows where everyone is at all times. Small but smart.

“How To Be A Tiny Chicken In A Big Chicken’s World” – Top Tips By Firefly Kenneally

1 – Be fast – Don’t let that fat chicken sit on you.
2 – Think quick – Don’t let the broken necked chicken lunge at you.
3 – Fly high – Don’t let the one eyed hen see you out of her good eye.
4 – Watch and wait – Big chickens get tired faster. You’ll get their food in the end.
5 – Fly far – You can go places those chickens can never go. You are magic.

Little Dotty

This is Little Dotty.

She was rescued from the Dandenong Poultry Auction a few months ago. She is delightful. She is so fast and gorgeous. She is best friends with Quinn the turkey and Feather-Foot who were also rescued from that disgusting auction.

Please don’t use my images without permission. All images are Copyright Tamara Kenneally

Screamer

Screamer was rescued in July, 2016. She was found listless in a paddock with her eyes completely shut with no mother in sight. Her eyes were infected and she had ulcers on both eyes and severe conjunctivitis. Her carer treated her eyes and for the first 3 weeks after rescue Screamer had very low visibility out of both eyes and could only see shadows.

Screamer came to live at Lefty’s Place, along with her friend Moss, the black lamb.

Screamer was a chronic screamer when she was a lamb. She yelled and yelled and yelled until she got what she wanted. She was one determined little girl. She still has a fiercely independent spirit today and explores the property with no fear and an energetic spirit.

These days Screamer is the most beautiful sheep. Her divine face is picture perfect. She is a sweet ewe who likes people. You can often find her beside me in the paddocks sniffing my face.

Please don’t use my images without permission. All images are Copyright Tamara Kenneally

Quinn

“Oh come all without, come all within
You’ll not see nothing like the mighty Quinn
Come all without, come all within
You’ll not see nothing like the mighty Quinn.”

Bob Dylan’s character, “The Mighty Quinn” was an Eskimo who changed despair into joy and chaos into rest, and attracted attention from all the animals. Lefty’s Place’s Mighty Quinn changed chaos into rest and he certainly brang joy to the place.

Quinn was found standing in a disgusting cage ready to be sold at the Dandenong Poultry Auction in May, 2016. He was standing there with another turkey who was incredibly ill and huddled in to a corner. My friend made a snap decision, opened the cage door, got him out of that cage and took him to the car. We couldn’t leave the other turkey behind, so she was also saved. Sadly, the beautiful sick turkey (who we named “Clara”) died on my lap just minutes after rescue whilst on the way to the vet. Quinn, was incredibly distressed at his sister’s passing and sat next to her dead body all the way home.

Quinn joined the poultry gang at Lefty’s Place and grew in to a spectacular turkey.

The Mighty Quinn earned the nickname “Puffer” as he got older because of how he would puff his chest out. As he matured to an adult he decided that his arch nemesis was our beautiful rooster named Super Chicken. Puffer would spend most of his days devising plans to kill Super Chicken so this heralded Puffer’s new and improved turkey coop and run which he shared with his beautiful girlfriends – Magic, Amalthea, Galadriel and Maleficent.

The love of his life was Amalthea who was from a different poultry auction. Amalthea was a silver beauty who sparkled all over the property. Quinn loved her so much and would spend less time plotting Super Chicken’s death and more time following Amalthea around and being a clingy boyfriend.

In early 2018, Quinn’s attentions turned to another lady. Her name was Babette. The thing was that Babette was not a turkey hen, she was a Muscovy duck!

Quinn loved Babette. I had the ducks in with the turkeys for about a month because they did get along so well with each other, but when Quinn started getting just a bit too friendly with Babette, I had to break up the friendship and move the ducks away from him. Quinn then had to deal with his unrequited love by pacing Babette’s enclosure daily whispering sweet gobbles to his duck girlfriend through the fence whilst ignoring his beautiful turkey ladies who were waiting in the wings for his love.

Puffer loved oats! After Amalthea, plots to kill Super Chicken, his muscovy duck friends and spinach, he loved oats!

On June 11, 2018 Quinn was brutally slaughtered by trespassers on my property. A week and a bit earlier my partner of 13 years suddenly died and I suddenly became a target in the area. Beautiful Quinn had his head cut off whilst he was in his coop. He was a gentle, big guy who only wanted to live out his days wandering the property with his ladies and he was killed in the most horrific way. Personally, my guilt about this will never cease. We saved him from backyard slaughter only for him to be killed in the same way, but in a place he knew as his safe home.

Sweet Puffer, how sorry I am.

“You’ll not see nothing like the mighty Quinn”

Please don’t use my images without permission. All images are Copyright Tamara Kenneally

The Friendship of Marshmallow and Goblin

In April, 2016 Marshmallow, the broiler hen, was rescued from an intensive meat chicken farm. She was rescued at 6 weeks old. She was scheduled to be slaughtered at 7 weeks old. She was rescued with two other broiler chickens that night, Constance and Spring, who both sadly died. This left Marshmallow without the broiler chicken companions we had picked to live with her.

I attempted to introduce Marshmallow to my special needs group of ex-commercial hens, but after a month, I knew Marshy would never find a true friend in that group, so another friend was sought….and in walked Goblin the frizzle hen.

Goblin was rescued from the Dandenong Poultry Auction, a place where chickens, ducks, turkeys and pigeons are sold for meat, roughly man handeld, purchased for a few dollars and then taken home and slaughtered in backyards. Goblin is a tiny frizzle hen who was emaciated and terrified. She was chosen to be Marshmallows friend because of her sweet, submissive nature.

They became firm friends fast. They don’t go anywhere without the other. When Marshmallow is in the coop laying an egg, Goblin patiently waits outside the door. They wander around the paddock together. They eat together. They sleep together. They even dustbathe together. They are truly the best of friends. The smallest hen in the world and the largest hen in the world walk through it together side by side each day.

Marshmallow is currently 8.3 kilograms and Goblin is roughly 500 grams. Sadly, being a broiler chicken, Marshmallow has been selectively bred to keep growing and growing. At some point, she will suffer heart failure from the massive strain her body puts on her organs.

Although it won’t be forever, Marshmallow and Goblin continue to spend their days together enjoying what freedom should be for every chicken in this world.