Theron And The Chick

11 x 14, mixed media paper and pencil

Theron was almost 4 years old and spending his first time away from his family. He came to stay with us during the difficult birth of his sister Evie. We didn't know each other very well at the time. He stayed with us for two weeks at a time during the 5 years we lived in Eugene Oregon.

Theron takes after his father, my Son and his Mother's Grandfather who is a true genius, very sharp witted with a mean streak, a cryptographer during WWll and he worked for the government after the war as well.

One thing about geniuses, they have no boundaries regarding social rules and satisfying their curiosity.

My Son is a spatial genius with a reading disorder connected to his hearing, reading and writing and an incredibly nice person as a child and an adult. Both men have a talent regarding mechanical things. If my Son didn't want to do something he wouldn't throw a temper, he would sit down and refuse to move. He has overcome that particular trait but as a child he was very difficult to motivate when he didn't want to do anything.

Theron is a combination of his Great-grandfather and his Father and he loved challenging rules. If I said, "Don't touch that Theron", he would look at me and slowly reach over and touch the object with a little smile you see on his face I caught in my drawing.

Theron, my Husband, and I became best friends. Theron was able to watch chicks hatch in our little chick incubators, he learned to eat Scratch cooking, food made from grains ground by a hand mill, vegetables picked from the garden, and meat grown and cooked on our hobby farm.

Buff Brahma Chick

I swear the look on Theron's face was, "I'm going to squeeze this 3 day old chick and see if it squeak like my fuzzy toys. Of course he didn't but with his curious rebellious personality and I didn't trust him. He wasn't mean but sometimes his curiousty pushed him to explore his questions and get him in trouble. 🐥

Buff Brahma, Cuckoo Maran, Bantam Black Brahma Chicks

The largest chick is a 3 week Buff Brahma, the two smaller chicks are the Cuckoo Maran and Bantam. Buff Brahmas are very docile and quiet chickens. They are a heritage chicken that is dual purpose, used for egg laying and also meat. They make excellent pets. The Bantam Brahmas are also easy to care, they are smaller chickens and are slightly neurotic compared to their larger cousins. Cuckoo Marans are not very friendly, extremely hardy, free range easily, dual purpose, lay dark brown eggs, and indifferent to humans.

Newly Hatched Cuckoo Maran

Theron's job during hatching was to check on the eggs and come and tell me if any chicks had hatched. We would pull the chicks out of the incubator, still wet and weak. Theron was able to hold the fragile life and carry the Chick to the brooder box located in our mudroom. He was very responsible and caring, which was a good sign his genius didn't rule over his compassion. That's a rare combination and I felt more at ease. This little guy was going to be someone really special.

Bigboy the Buff Brahama

Bigboy was one of my favorite roosters, he put up with Theron holding him in his lap, took great care of his hens and was not agggressive. I had several roosters that would abuse their hens and attack humans. They ended up on our dinner plate!

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