Silkie Bantam birds that is. These are no ordinary birds! They are among a very few of their subset that have FIVE toes. Discovered by Marco Polo in his journeys to China in the 13th century they certainly seem like a prehistoric throwback of sorts. They are considered to be generally docile (although ours are quite spirited in these last 24 hours) and are also supposedly easily handled. While ours are in that ugly duckling stage they grow up to have beautiful, long, hair-like feathers with large tufts on their head and feet. They reluctantly curled up in the crook of Ex’s armpit last night and half went to sleep. The black one (both still nameless) curled up on my lap after his bath this morning and slept for abut 20 minutes!

I swear they are posing for this one. Hah!