2020 Youth Essays - Boone Donley (Junior)

My Favorite Bird

My favorite bird I own is named Noel. I named her Noel because we got her right before Christmas. She is a black silkie bantam and you usually can't even tell she has eyes because her head is so fluffy. She looks a little bit like a pom-pom.

Noel is special to me because she's fluffy and cute and cuddly, but she's also tough. When we first got her, the bigger chickens picked on her and even tried to hurt her. One of our hens tried to stand on her and peck at her head.

Eventually, the chickens all got to know each other and get along fine now, but I didn't like seeing Noel being bullied because I was bullied at school. Chickens don't really have anybody to stand up for them when they're being bullied, but I started a program called Buck Off Bulling to help encourage other people to speak up if they're being bullied and also not to be bullies themselves.

Even though Noel was bullied for a little while, she toughed it out and became friends with the other chickens. Now, she lays the most eggs and even though we don't have any roosters, she likes to sit in the nest box on everybody's eggs. Sometimes I have to lift her fluffy behind up to gather all the eggs. It makes me laugh.

I'm glad I got to tell you about Noel, and I hope talking about her reminds everyone that it's not okay to be a bully, but eventually the bullying endsd and everyone can get along.