05/30/2026
Here is a different post for you today- and a really remarkable story… I’ve been so excited to share!
This is Penny. “Penny the Wonder Hen”
She is 12 years old and still looks beautiful and lays an egg almost daily when it’s warm. 12 is pretty doggone old for a hen to still be alive… let alone laying.
But that’s not the most amazing thing about Penny…
Penny came from my parents flock when they were still living in Colorado. One summer when I went to visit, I took a little assortment of their fertilized eggs home with me to hatch. I carried them in my lunch bag through TSA and onto my flight back to South Carolina.
Once I was home I found a dear friend (Julie Whitten 🥰) whose sweet family allowed us to put them under one of their broody hens! 21 days later enters Penny and her hatch mates.
Two birds from this hatch lived to be 12. (Maybe it was radiation from the scanners at TSA 😜)
I always teased that we needed to get some chicks out of Penny and build on her impressive genetics but our 12 year old roo was not capable as her eggs were not fertile. SO long story short- when our old roo passed we allowed her a short rendezvous with a younger roo and viola!
We incubated 5 eggs and one made it to hatch… Penelope. Isn’t she cute? Penelope the wonder chick… we hope. 🥰
** for those who will question this- no she is not being raised alone. We purchased other chicks so she will grow up with our replacement flock 😉
