for Pablo, who I will miss

Sometimes a chicken is more than just a chicken, sometimes they leave an impression on a lot of people.

So if Eddie put the BBRed Rosecombs (and me) on the map back in 1997, Pablo made the competition sit up and take notice nine generations later when he won Reserve Champion of Show in January of 2006. That was the first, and so far the only, BIG win with a BBRed. Pablo was an incredibly good bird with exceptional type, except for that silly fold in his wattles (which I still see in the bloodline, "Pablo wattles.") You really couldn't walk past him at a show and not look at him.


But he was also tame and friendly. Years after he "retired" from show biz, he got to star in an infomercial sponsored by the USDA. I don't know why I don't have photos of this, but I don't. It was about Avian Influenza, and he perched on the fence out front while the news lady gave her report. See, I had to teach him to do that, to just stay put. And he excelled at sitting and letting himself be admired.

A couple years ago a friend of mine who is a teacher had a farm day at her school, and she borrowed Pablo and took him to school, where he sat and sat and everyone got to admire him.

In May of this year, a friend of a friend was putting on a painting workshop, all about chickens. In need of a model, I volunteered Pablo for the job, and he enthralled everyone there.



Pablo vanished from his coop overnight on November 10th. I have no idea what happened, he is the victim of a unknown predator. I've set a raccoon trap, though I'm not sure what if anything I actually expect to catch. I'll let you know what happens. It's been a rough couple months for the birds with various predators around, worse this year than ever before. It just breaks my heart that something happened to Pablo, he was my favorite bird on the whole place, and such an important figure in my chicken-history. Rest in peace sweet boy. :-(