So I waited to post this to be sure that the smallest hen I've ever met was going to be able to hold her own with the other girls. And it seems that she is. Meet Phyllis (going by Phyl for short).

I got Phyl as a trade for my two roosters (Mary and Maggie). She's really, really tiny. About the size of a large pigeon, so she won't lay worthwhile eggs. But she's so cute and spunky that I took her anyway. She seems to be holding her own with Aggie and Pru and may even be at the top of the pecking order (it's hard to tell with only 3 birds and as little daylight as we've got).

I'm now planning to add 2 full size hens when I can find them for a total of 5. Seems that the coop should be more than big enough as a couple of my girls are so small. And that way we can have a full brood without overwhelming ourselves with eggs.

In other news, we had a tremendous windstorm here last Thursday. We survived pretty much intact, losing power for about 6 hours overnight and having it back by the time we got up Friday morning. There are still thousands without power in the area and it's slowly coming back on. The only damage we suffered was that the wind moved the girls coop about 9 inches off the foundation. But a couple of good shoves and it was back where it belonged. Now it's gotten cold again so we're again struggling to keep their water thawed, but that's minor compared to what could have happened.