Miracle is a brown colored hen with classic patterns in her feathers typical of partridge rock chickens. If you have never seen one, from a distance they might look like just an ordinary brown color but once you get a little closer, the patterns become quite striking. Originally, we had a few partridge rocks in a larger shipment from a hatchery. As the batch of chick grew up, only one partridge rock ended up surviving to adult-hood. Being new to chickens, we weren't always so quick to notice when a chicken got sick. When chickens get sick, it happens FAST and oftentimes, by the time you realize the chicken is sick, it is too late. Thus, sadly, most of Miracle's sisters passed away. Out of the batch of 18 chickens we got in our shipment, only 3 others are still with us today over 2 years later. A cute little dominique hen, Man O' War, who is a golden laced wyandotte rooster, and Cookie who is a red and blue laced wyandotte hen. Their lives aren't nearly as interesting as Miracle's story, though.
Mira the Miracle Chicken
The fact that out of 18 chicks, Miracle was one of only 4 to make it to today is actually a miracle but that's not what gave her her name! She had no name her first year of life until I gave it to her after the first near-death experience she survived.
The evening of the first incident was like any other Fall day. I was inside working when the dogs began barking like crazy. I decided I had better go out to see what was going on and grabbed a scoop of chicken feed to start to corral all of the loose chickens while I was out there as it was starting to get dark. When I stepped out of the garage door I immediately saw what set the dogs off! It was a big, beautiful, shiny, red fox! And the fox had a chicken in it's mouth! It stood frozen for a second as it saw me. I hollered after it to scare it off and ran towards it a bit waving the feed scoop in the air. I wasn't sure if the hen he had in his mouth was dead or not (I figured it was) but I did NOT want to let it get away with a chicken dinner so I kept chasing it when it darted off without dropping the hen from his mouth. I ran across the front yard and then had to climb through an electric fence into our stallion's pasture in pursuit as the fox continued to run off with my chicken. Finally, it dropped the hen when it reached the far corner of the pasture and I chased it off a tiny bit more for good measure.
When I dared to look at the hen he had dropped, I saw that she had gotten up to stand. WOW! She was still alive! She was pretty terrified and I had to retrieve her from a briar bush she jumped into when she darted away from me when I tried to pick her up. I calmly picked her from the bush and walked slowly back to the coop. From this point on, this hen was called "Miracle" or "Mira" for short.
Some time went by and Cookie and our dominique hen both went broody and they succeeded in raising 3 hens and a rooster that Summer. Sadly the dominique was eaten the following winter by something (not a fox). The rooster ended up being her son, so her legacy lives on in Seabiscuit II. So our flock of 4 grew to 7 that year.
Cookie with her baby chicks
Then the second incident happened. It was a warmer, mild winter day. All of a sudden I heard a huge squawking commotion and all of the chickens were sounding their alarms that a predator was around! I rushed outside in my socks and heard a wrestling match going on around the other side of the house. I ran as fast as I could and as I rounded the corner, I discovered Mira in a compromised position, again. This time, a giant red-tailed hawk had her pinned to the ground and she was doing her best to not get eaten. I got within about 10 feet and the hawk flew off leaving Mira where she was. Miracle laid there as if stunned for a moment and then got up and ran into the nearby bushes when I went to pick her up. For as many times as I've saved her, you would think she might trust me a bit better, but no, she never lets me pick her up!
Man O' War the rooster
Miracle is either the luckiest chicken around, OR, she's the most un-luckiest! How many times can one chicken survive near-death? I guess we will just have to wait and see because she's still going strong on top of the pecking order!