Play the role of "observer" in a work of art happening now streaming in real time: watch my Paduan Hens laying and setting on eggs
Part I:
While walking one morning on Shinnecock Hills, Long Island, NY, my path crossed with a white cockerel, a young rooster my husband and I named Shinnecock after the area where I encountered him. He followed me home, and chose a cedar tree at the entrance to my garden for his roost. Upon hearing his cock-a-doodle-doo at dawn, I awoke, and followed him on a path that has awakened me in ways I could never have foreseen nor articulate except as a visual artist in photographs, video, audio and sculptural installations. And now the internet.
About Shinnecock:
Shinnecock, Hens Cleo and Chloe are members of the ancient breed of Paduan or Poland fowls (Gallus gallus), painted by 16th Century Italian artists and studied by naturalists such as Charles Darwin. Today they are on a watch list because there are fewer than 5000 Paduan chickens in the United States. Shinnecock’s feathers are white edged in gold highlights. He is about 23” tall, and weighs 6lbs. Right from our first encounter (March 29, 2006) it was clear to me Shinnecock needed girls. And how does someone that knows virtually nothing about chickens, find rare hens? The internet of course: www.featheredsite.com host Barry Koffler (New Paltz, NY) agreed to sell me Gold Laced Paduan hens.
About Cleo and Chloe:
That is how Mother hens Cleo and Chloe came to live with us. They are 1’2” tall, and weigh 4 1/2 lbs.
Shinnecock, Chloe and Cleo are all straight and in a committed relationship. Shinneock sometimes has sexual intercourse every 30 minutes or so with either hen.
Part II
Cleo and Chloe started laying their first eggs at the age of 10 months. Although experts and breeders cited numerous documentation that Paduans are non setting, nonetheless, last May 28, Cleo followed her natural instinct to set on eggs. Just as the literature describes, she sets herself in a trance while incubating her eggs (what you will be watching on the surveillance camera). She comes out of her lodging every day - often Chloe sets on them during that time - for about a half hour to cleanse her system, eat bugs and plants, and run around in the open air.
Chickens begin “pipping” in 21 days: The first clutch of Cleo’s and Chloe's chicks emerged over three days, beginning June 18th.You can see the pictures of them at 12 weeks old in my pic posts.
Join us online to play the role of observer in this artwork: watch Chloe and Cleo lay and set on eggs joined by their chicks, who have come of age to lay their own eggs.
http://hopes.viewnetcam.com:5001
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