Case of the Concealed Chicks

I was reading my morning literature, when Husband came in.
"Did you pick up the eggs outside the hen house?"
I looked up.  "No, Salt had went right back to the nest, so I just let her set."
"Well, there's no eggs, and I don't see her, either."

Uh, oh...

I set down the comics, to follow Husband out to the back of the hen house, where there was one bedraggled egg, and nothing else. Oh, dear. But no feathers, no smashed eggs, or torn up shrubbery.

Strange.

I walked around, fearing the worst, when we found a dead chick.  I told Husband that meant she might have fought off something. (We have a multitude of wild critters around.) No hint of her anywhere outside. I decided to feed, to get the other chickens out from underfoot.

I had just cleaned out the area around the feed barrels, and Husband had put a piece of plywood by them to store.  I opened the barrel, and heard a chicken growl.  That is a distinctive "Mama Chicken" sound. Knowing that Edgar was outside, it clicked that there was someone else with chicks.  I listened carefully, and heard the growl again, and peeps.  I carefully moved the plywood back, to find Salt with 4 chicks!

I tried to get Husband's attention, but he couldn't hear me. I turned to put the plywood back, and realized Marshmallow was off the nest.  I walked to her, and SHE growled, and two little heads poked out from under her wing. 

So we took care of the one dead chick, then looked over the rest.  Most of them are Maran types, cute little black puffballs.  One or two are yellow white puffballs. 

I had talked about buying some chicks this year to Husband.  Looking at the 11 we have at this point, he grinned and quipped, "and you wanted to buy a few chicks!" And laughed! 

The saga is continuing, too, as Auntie Bird is still sitting. I had given her three eggs to work on.

Last time I checked it, there was about 10.

I will never learn...     :)

Soft and fluffy!!!

Just because it's a habit we developed, I do the morning feeding and watering of the animals and garden. Husband will close and lock up in the evening.  This seems to work well, and I don't have to lay in bed, panicked that I forgot to lock something, or the chicken house is open... Sigh. 

Husband had gone out on his evening rounds, and wanted to see the two chicks with Edgar.  Didn't see them in the open cage area I had set up.  Then he looked at the roost...

The babies are obviously big enough to follow Mom!  The other one must have been a bit chilly, it was under a wing, says Husband.

Will have to get some pictures of the Tanker Trio, they are growing a little faster, but are going to have a little catch up on the real world later, I just turned off their heat lamp today, (it's supposed to be 102*), and they screeched and ran around for quite a while!  Then they finally realized...

Nothing happened.

Chick letdown? 

Russian Dressing, and onesie...

I  was watching a knitting show, always like to see if I can learn something new.  They had a way to join two pieces of yarn together. You more or less sew the one end into the other end. They referred to it as a Russian join.

Hmm. Never seen that before.  So I went to my stash, and started pulling out little bits of yarn.  Then I started using the Russian join to connect them.  I kept going and going, and decided to make a sock from the ball.  Normally, I would knot the pieces together, which while generally strong, can look crappy, and leave a bump.  Not with this one, as far as I could see.

As you can see, a very... Eclectic bunch of colors.  I added some reinforcement to the heel and toe, and Taa Daa, a sock.

And, because I can't think of a cute name, here's another sock onesie, having no distinguishing features, except that I finished it...

So, one more in the "sock it to me" blogs next time, and I think that's all the new ones I'd had finished...

Next time, Christmas in July!

Oh, and I hopefully will have news on the chicken front, last I checked, Edgar had 4 chicks.  News to come. Hopefully photos, too, if she doesn't try to bite my face off... :/

Minty fresh chickens.

I hadn't cleaned the hen yard, and it was getting overgrown with teasels.  I finally decided it was a mess and picked up my anvil loppers and went for it. 

I normally like to use my weed whacker, it's much faster. However, with the weather we've been having, the teasels were taller than I am! So cutting them one by one allowed me to control them a bit better, and not have a forest of them all fall on me.

As I cut, I found the bit of peppermint had spread. A LOT! It now covered the pathway to the back of the chicken house.  I didn't care, it's not hurting anything where it is, so I finished up, and let the chickens out while I got some feed out for them.

Now, my chickens have a strange habit. They run around the hen house when I get ready to feed them.  But with all the weeds, they were running single file right by the building.  With all of them gone, the chickens spread out, running through the peppermint.

Several times...

When I opened the door to let them in, it smelled like a small explosion of candy canes!  Considering the way that hen house CAN smell, it is a pleasant change. 

So, I cleaned the yard, and now have minty fresh chickens!  ;)

Out of the habit...

I note that I have not written for a while.  I can do internet now, fairly well!  I even had a video "exam" for a briused elbow. (Nothing serious, just have to have an Ace bandage, and baby the darn thing. Pbbbbt.)  But being that sitting and typing hasn't been regular, there has been no blogs.  I have been doing a bit more here, garden is in (more about that another blog), and knitting, and cleaning, well, some anyway.

So, a catch up on the animals.  Outdoor kitty Buzz had a nasty cat decide to rough her up continually, but it went away somewhere, and she has recovered from scratches and bites, and finally is looking fit, and not scared of her shadow. 

Much.

Indoor kitty Ding is enjoying her new "kitty channel", where we put up hummingbird and songbird feeders out front of our living room window.  We enjoy watching the birds, and figuring out what has flown in.  (We also get a kick out of the Hummers flying to the OTHER window where my lava lamp is. Bright colors, ooooooh, pretty...) Ding jumps on the sill and wants SO badly to play with the Hummers.  The other birds, too, but especially the wee birds.  I really suspect she thinks they are toys.

No chicks. Siiiiiiigh.  I let Edgar try twice, and Marshmallow even took over once.  Then I let Marshmallow try once. They would sit for about a week and a half, then wander off, leaving the eggs cold.  So No more chick attempts, they are shooed off the nests, and the eggs are brought in.  Poo.

So, I will get back hopefully to more regular blogs.  But for now, all seems to be safe and well.

Hope all my blog friends are, too.

What's up? Dang chicken Butts...

Husband loaned me his battery operated drill, and a less than pristine spade drill that I could use.  I had LOTS of daffodill bulbs, and he thought that it would make my planting a bit easier.

And it did!  I would bore a hole in the hill, drop in a bulb, and cover it with the dirt I had removed, hey, Bob's your Uncle, and on to the next.  I had most of the hill finished in a day.  (I don't know how many in total, but my friend gifted me with probably a hundred or more bulbs...)  I was so pleased.  Deer don't like daffodils, rodents don't eat them, as a rule, this should be slick, with no problems.

And, of course, I was completely wrong...

I went out a day or two later, I had added flower seed, and it had rained.  I wanted to see how the bulbs were doing...  Hmm.  Chickens on the hill... Hmm.  I walk closer.

They were busily digging out my bulbs, when they weren't gobbling down all the seed they could find...

I told Husband that I needed to put up a fence.  I bought deer netting, Husband bought me some TALL t-posts, and we decided, on a recent nice day, to put in the 'new' fence.  Just a quick one to two hour project, not a biggie...

I really, REALLY need to stop saying things like that. 

Husband had to put the t-posts up, because they go in with a device you hang on to, and pound them into the soil.  Well, with it in the air, I was too dang short to reach the pounder!  So, we laid out the deer fencing, put it up, and then Husband looked at the finished project.  

Or, I *thought* it was finished.  I was happy, it would allow people from the road to see the flowers, it wasn't a heavy fence, and it was-

"Invisible, the deer will tear it up in the dark.  We need to put fence panels behind it."  I wasn't wild about this idea, but walking back from it, he was annoyingly right, again...  And so we moved a few panels from the fence above, that we were going to take down anyway.  He pops them in, and realizes, there isn't enough.  

So he goes to the fencing he has stashed by the barn.  The fencing that already has blackberry brambles running through them.  He gets out the pruners, and snips away.  He goes to put away the pruners, and I hear a big clatter inside the Milk House.  Odd.  

He comes out, and tells me he will have to fix the pruners, the handles were so dry, they just came off the metal!  (At least it waited until he'd finished!) So, he took out the panels we were going to use, and he picks one up and trots off.

I pick one up, and try to trot off.  I think, wobble and wander like a drunk sailor might have been closer to my motion.  BUT, get it to the fence I did, and so he puts it up, and we then decide on the 'gate'.  He put it in such a way, I can come in on the side.

So, my "One or two hour, you can have your panels back, so I can keep the chickens out", wasn't.  Well, except for keeping the chickens out.  

One out of 3 ain't bad, I guess... SIIIIGGGGGH...

The choosing of chickens.

I am going to buy some chicks to up the number I have.   I have some hens that are getting older, so they aren't laying like they were, and I am getting more folks interested in "farm raised eggs". 

So I am looking at different breeds to add into my group.  I have mostly mixes.  I had, starting out, Rhode Island Reds, that's what my Grandpa E raised.  Which is fine, but they tend to be aggressive, and I really don't like having my fingers bitten, or having a rooster decide to try and attack me. 

So.

I have a Faverolle rooster, (Anyone into Christmas music?  Faverolle hens are the 3 French Hens mentioned in the 12 Days of Christmas.  Your trivial trivia for today...)  They are much less agressive.  They are also not as readily available in this area.  But I might order from a hatchery.  Then again...?

I also have Cuckoo Marans, from a disastrous attempt at having a hen set on babies... Yoiks.  Anywho, they did fine, and are pretty nice birds... Except.

They are bound and determined to hide eggs.  This sort of defeats the purpose of having them lay eggs for me to sell...

I also have some Golden Wyandotte chickens, very laid back, BIG birds compared to the rest of my flock.  Not bad. 

So, I am going to do a bit of research, and come up with a laid back bird, that lays pretty well...  While eggs are my main concern, I must say, I think the little Polish Crested chicken that are for sale at my local feed store, would be a fun addition. 

So, updates on cluckables as I figure out what ones will be added...

Eggs!

It is still cold here, Puxawhatis Phil aside.   This morning, it was frozen.  The poor spring plants, crocus and daffodils were frozen. Again.  Mom said it looked like it had snowed.  The deputies were telling me about a few crash areas that occur, because the road never sees sunlight, and is icy. 

But...

Oh, yes.  There is the fine evidence that the season is getting started.  I have now surpassed my first dozen eggs from the girls.  It is now that I have to be a bit more careful what I feed them, so the flavor doesn't get imparted to the eggs.  (Read: bananas are OUT.)  They are getting out and wandering now, at least when it's warmer during the late part of the day.  I wasn't pleased to see they had dug up a bunch of my daffodil bulbs I had planted, but that is a hazard of chickens... Sigh.

But they are starting off slowly.  I am hoping to get a few more chicks this year, because I am now getting a few folks wanting to buy eggs from me, and so I will need to have a few more hens.  Some of the girls are getting... older, and aren't as productive as they were.  Aren't we all... Cough.

It's fun to watch them go out and wander around the pasture.  One will pull up some lawn, and gobble it down.  Another will walk, then spot a bug, and the chase is on.  Which, quite often, will lead to a couple more chasing the first, to see what she's chasing!  And Marshmallow, he's become quite a handsome rooster.  He insists on crowing at about 5AM, but I think he's far enough away from the neighbors that I won't get anyone upset.  He doesn't seem to crow all that loudly, but then, it doesn't bother me...  I might have another rooster.  Pepper's getting large and lanky, with turned down tail feathers.  Salt, however, is looking like a tiny, plump version of the other hens.  With moxy agogo.   I have to be careful, she is as bold as brass tacks on black silk.  She wants food, she will just up and fly to my arm, or if that isn't handy, hang onto my jacket, and peep loudly at me while flapping wildly and hanging on.  (I say peeping, because she still isn't clucking... Yet.)  I forgot to mark down how old she is, but with the way she's filled out, I wouldn't be surprised that we'd have eggs from her this season...

So, spring, while still in the thinking about it stage, is most definitely making an entrance!

A Cosmic Experience. Nope... And warm chickens.

I am looking forward to a new apple.  I had hoped to grow one, as well, but I guess that isn't to be, for a while.

Let me explain.

Washington State University has produced an apple that they call Cosmic.  It is a good keeper, it's pretty, and it tastes good, for all that I have read the reviews.  Great, huh?

Well, I want to get a tree!  Would be a neat new apple to have!  Hmm.  Well, let's just look this up...

Uh, Washington... Only?  Um.  What?  I start reading, they are keeping it JUST in Washington State for 10 years, to support state industries. 

Poo. 

Well, I guess I will have to just see what other trees I can plant.  Or vines. Or whatever. 

But it was still kind of cool to know there is a brand new apple around... 

In other news, I think Salt and Pepper are going to be girls.  Salt has figured out how to jump up on the feed barrel, which leads to incessant peeping when I am getting feed.  Pepper just waits, and then nabs food as soon as it's down.  Neither are very aggressive, which I am happy about.  I just wish they weren't quite so quick to run under my feet when I feed.  I have to be very aware where they are, they are as like to run under my foot as I step, as to run beside me! 

The group has FINALLY finished molt, and are looking good again.  They are not unhealthy when they molt, but it does nothing for the general glamour of the place.  Plus, there are feathers EVERYWHERE.  It looks like a pillow fight went terribly wrong...  But, making sure they have some extra feed, and kept warm, they pull through like little troopers.

Oh, and to the end of keeping them warm.  Husband, bless and thank him, went and bought me some covers for the windows.  I had been using plastic 'fabric' for a bit, and then feed bags, but neither really did the job.  I was grousing, because we needed to cover the windows again, and it was going to be really cold.  I thought that there should be something better for what we were doing.  That's when he came up with the window covers.  They are like tin roofing, but clear acrylic. He put several screw holes set in on the edges, and put up the panels on both sides of the chicken house.  When I went in the next morning, it wasn't balmy, by any stretch, but the roof panels, now window panels, had kept enough heat in to have the water in the chicken's waterer thawed.  And the chickens were happy and lively, until they ran outside.

They seem to like being inside, now!  At least until the sun is well and full on the chicken house...

Oh, no? They are?!???

Husband and I have found texting to be a terrific way to send notes.  If I am outside, I can either tell him if I need something, or he does, and what we are doing, if we can't find one another.  This has helped a lot, because you'd think it would be hard to find one another, but we have had a few of those old movies, where she goes to A, he goes to B, she leaves A to go to C, while he runs to A, and on and on...  The texting allows me to ask him to stay put, dangit wait where he is, so I can get to him...

BUT.  Texting can have a downside.  I was going to do a bit of planting for spring.  I received a bunch of daffodil bulbs, and wanted to get them in the ground... Where I wanted to put them, I had to walk by the chicken house.  The chickens were all sort of gathered around the waterer, looking dejected.

Uh, oh. 

Sure enough, I walked over, and the waterer was empty.  Sigh.  So, I text a quick note to Husband, that the chickens were out of water, and I would be filling the tank.*

Or, that's what I thought I'd written... 

I  finally filled the tank, started the water for them, got Mon Ami and Gypsy to get back in with the group, (they have figured out how to get out, and I am going to have to invest in some new fence, or close off the group to the front, they are walking down the darn road, like that other rooster did!)

So, anywho, I finish up, walk in the house, and Husband is looking at his phone, grinning from ear to ear, and says, "Warranty?  Didn't know they needed one.  Do we need an extension?  How many miles per chicken?"

I was truly wondering what the blazes he was talking about.  He then pointed to my text...

The chickens are out of warranty, and I need to fill the barrel for them.

Uh, yeah, no...

But, it gave us a good laugh, after my confusion cleared up... I know I can cancel autocorrect, but I find it useful when I am not sure how to spell a word. Must say, however, it does lead to some... Unique conversations...



*I do this, as we have the outside water turned off, and I would have to enter and exit the house several times.

I am amused at silly things.

Today is the 3rd, where I am... And it makes me chuckle.

Why?

It is the ONE TIME during the month that my watch, which has a date feature built in, lines up.  So the watch goes 1, 2, 3, 4, etc.

The date square is on the section where the 3 would be.  So today, it reads correctly.

Okay, this is from the same person that likes to knit sock "onesies" and see how glaringly different I can make each one, so I have at least a dozen or so socks, that have no relation to one another, except that I knit them.   I amused the heck out of a shoe salesperson when I was trying on shoes, and had a red sock with a white toe, and a green sock with blue-purple stripes.  (I was in a port and starboard mood. For any Harry Potter fans, I hope to do the broomsticks and snitch socks sometime, but those would be a pair...)

I like watching the chickens, and the cats, and describing the actions in very human-centric ways.  I give them dialogue, expression, generally I am the director for a very drama filled animal soap opera... Heh.

So, enjoy your third, and hope you have something that makes you chuckle!

Short armed, pickin', purple berry eater...

The berries are in full swing here.  I went out and picked, first, in the chicken yard, then in back of our  pole barn. 

The chickens were curious, as they usually are, when I am in the yard.  Then... I dropped a berry.  The race was on!  They do know what those are!  I made a point of picking (and tossing) a few berries as I went along.  I dropped a couple, too, that I hadn't intended to, but they didn't last long enough to worry about...  I use a #10 coffee can for picking, and it was nearly half full by the time I finished in the chicken area.  The chickens would have been quite happy to have me continue to pick, if I had kept up with the random tossing of fresh berries.

I went to the pole barn, and worked there.  I might bug Husband, depending on how much I get finished, that I would like a ladder.  I was able to finish off my can, but there were some lovely berries, just much higher than what I could reach.  I took the full can in, and started mashing berries for jelly/syrup.  Husband had been cleaning out the freezer for me, I have found that my hands just ache after I clean the freezer.  I use big mitts, but that makes it very hard to pick things up.  I had been asking Husband if he could get some of the jelly out of the freezer, when he picks up a big juice container I had in there. 

What's this?

I laughed.  It's berry juice I didn't get to last year.  So, I have two big bowls of berry juice.  One will be jelly, the other, blackberry syrup.  I really enjoy maple syrup, but this is a close second.  And it goes over ice cream well, too...

And the chickens?  They were given the "sludge" (the seeds and skins, etc., that were left after I mashed the berries), and they nearly were climbing over one another to get at the stuff!  I have to skim the top of the berry juice, and they will, once again, have a fine bit of feasting...

And boy, does it make the next time I clean the chicken house unique...

A new chicken roller...

I feed my chickens (when it's wet, mostly), in a long feeder.  It's a long metal 'trough' that is supposed to have a bar at the top, so the chickens won't stand IN the feeder to eat. 

I don't know when it happened, but my feeder was in pretty rough shape, and when I have been feeding them inside of late, (NOT like any rain in the south, but we have been getting some rain here, oddly...), two or three chickens will insist on standing in the center, which blocks the other chickens from eating... And, sometimes the solid fuel exhaust gets put in the feed.  EEEEEEEEEEEW!!!

So, I finally remembered to get a heavy dowel on my last trip into town, and had a little confab with Husband about putting it on the feeder.  He looked at the poor thing, and said, is the foot SUPPOSED to look like this?  Um, no, I think it may have been run over?  (To this day, I have NO clue what happened, but the bar was bent nearly in half, and the foot was crushed, even the trough itself was squashed, but I managed to get that back to useability.)  He hmmed for a moment, and said, let me see what I can do.

He came back in with the feeder, and the first thing I notice, the center roller was white, not wood.  He explained, he put a bit of PVC pipe he had over it, to protect the wood, and he waxed the PVC, so that the chickens couldn't stand on it.  (The dowel rolls quite smoothly...)  Then he showed me where the smashed foot was, and it was as if it was new!  He'd taken both out, and bent the one to match the other. 

And so now, I have a chicken feeder that looks very much like a nice tool box, with feet.  I gave it a 'test feed' the other day, and nearly hurt myself laughing!  Edgar, one of my most obnoxious bold hens, jumped right up on the roller.  Then Marshmallow did, too.  And they realized that they couldn't keep their footing.  They both tried running, to keep up with the roll of the center, and then WHOOSH, both go zooming off, landing in a heap by the feeder. 

Do they give up?

Of course not. 

It took Marshmallow about 3 tries to get the clue she couldn't stand on it, and Edgar, the better part of 3 DAYS... But, they aren't jumping up on it anymore. 

Now Jet Puff, on the other hand, got the bright idea to stand straddle of the roller, with one foot on either side.  Oh, great, thought I...  But he learned that he isn't well appreciated for  that, as his toes were pecked, and his tail feathers pulled.  Whereupon, he jumped on the roller...

No one seems inclined to have breakfast on the run anymore!

The Gate.

We have had trouble with our gate to the field since we've moved in.  The post holding the gate was in poor shape, and it hasn't been helped by wet, and cold, and digging, and general age. 

So, Husband surprised me while I was gone, and fixed the thing.  This was SO nice!  The post was leaning badly, so the gate drug in the dirt.  This made it hard to open, and harder to make absolutely sure it was closed.  We had several "chicken leaks", they would catch it any time I hadn't managed to shut it completely. 

He had to take down the post, which was more undoing the fence from it. 

He said the bottom... Was GONE. 

It had just been more or less holding position by the fence, and a support we'd put until some good weather to fix it occurred.  He had a new post, and put it in, re-upped the fence, put the gate on straight, no dragging!  We have to latch it now, before, it was like a plow, so it didn't move, willingly.  Now, I have touched it with one finger, and zzzwing, off it goes. 

So nice!!

The chickens enjoyed the after effects, in that Husband need to dig out the hole for the post, and so there was dirt they could scratch, as well as worms... Told him, had I been home, there would have been a race, because I would have put the worms in the garden!

And an added benefit, we can have the chickens in a large area, the main field, or in the hen yard. We have a second latch, on the small enclosure, and now I can enclose them, as I did the other day.  I want to see if any of them are hiding eggs.  If there is a significant amount of eggs the next day, I have my answer.  Otherwise, I guess they were a bit more freaked out than I expected from Husband's work day. 

So, I went to the coast, and came home to a present from Husband. 

Cool, isn't it??

Early birds. No, really...

I went out to feed and water before I went to work at the sub.  This is just a bit before 6 am.  I open the door of the chicken house, and poof, out come the flock o' chickens, flapping, clucking, little taps of toenails on cement as they run to be first to the food. 

I put the feed out for them, and see the little... Chickadees? Sparrows? zipping to the trees nearby.  After the chickens finish, they swoop by and check for leftovers.  (I am surprised there ARE leftovers, the chickens try and get every last crumb...)

And then I hear "Sqwaunk, sqwaunk", nearly over head.  I look up to see a small group of Canada Geese, just going like thunder, honking and flapping to wherever the next water hole or patch of lawn grass is. 

Then, up from me, I hear crunching and skittering.  Our neighbors have turkeys as temporary visitors in their trees.  I watch as they launch off a branch, then glide to the ground.  Then they look about, see me, and frantically call to warn the others, "the crazy lady is out again!"  I watch as they all get down and do a sort of bowing walk, ostensibly so I can't see them.  It reminds me of Groucho Marx doing his cigar waving walk. 

I go back to the house, and see Martins checking out our bird houses.  We have several, and the Martins seem to be choosing juuuuuust the right one.  Flit in, flit out, run off someone else, flit by, check out the next house, repeat.  Pretty soon, we'll see one bird in, and another doing food runs, then the babies.  That's always an interesting time, the parents sometimes get a bit irked with us for being outside.  Oh, well.

I leave, the sun getting a peak over the pass, but not quite ready for full sunny-ness.  The crows are hopping by the oak tree, looking for bugs, and the occasional acorn.  They don't appreciate me when I go to the car, and caw loudly, from the safety of a branch high up... 

I take off, and see vultures up ahead.  Most people I know, don't think too much of vultures.  I don't exactly think they are lovely sorts myself, but I have always thought they have a strange dignity in the way they carry themselves.  Every move seems to be prefaced by a slow deliberation, as if they want to make absolutely sure they are going to plot every outcome before they act.  The ones I see are in a nearby field, I think checking out a small creature.  They look up as I go past, and one seems to hop up on the fence.  I don't think I would even call it flying... And he stares as I go by, almost seeming to look as if he's expecting me to show a reservation for coming by there.  I pass, and it flies over the car, to get a good look at me as I leave. 

I am seeing more birds as the season changes, I saw my first hummingbird a day or so ago.  I am planting a bird and bee garden soon, so hopefully, I will be able to tell you of more birdy escapades...

Good with the bad, I guess...

It had been raining absolutely unendingly for the morning.  I had taken a break, reading, and some knitting.  Husband had been dozing, with Ding holding him down... Also dozing.

Husband woke, and we were chatting a bit.  I stood up, to go into the other room, while he was talking... And I guess my face showed my shock.  He finished his sentence, then looked at me curiously, "What's wrong?"

"There is an eagle out in the field, eating one of my chickens.."

He stopped... "An eagle?"

"Yeah, an eagle, right there..."

We both looked out the window, to the sight of this ENORMOUS eagle, obviously a big adult bald eagle, calmly tearing apart one of my hens.  Well, there was not much I could do.

We tried to take a picture or two, but my camera was... Not at its best, and between the blasted flash being on, making it a big glare on the window.  And the zoom, just wasn't zoomy enough to get a good picture, we just had to be satisfied watching it for a bit.  Or, unsatisfied, as it were...

Finally the eagle left, and I went out to see what happened.  I am still not sure why, but the hen was plucked nearly clean.  It was one of the young ones, and it looked like someone had set a bomb off in a feather pillow.  I managed to get her picked up and buried, which was fun, in and of itself, since it started raining again.  That made the hole fill with water, which was not great.  I also had to use a feed shovel to dig the hole, because I couldn't find the standard shovel.  But, I did get it taken care of.  The rest of the flock were fine, if rightly terrified.  I noticed Mon Ami was pacing, and looked like he wasn't hurt, but maybe wasn't sure if he should go out and challenge the intruder.  Glad he didn't. 

So, while I had a wonderful close up view, I truly wish it had been of a fly by, not a stop and eat...

3 and 1 for the season.

After much fighting with Red Tail, I let her sit on five eggs.  4 hatched.  We ended up with 3 girls and a boy.  They are late season chicks, so I don't know if they will do much next year until later.  But that's fine.  At least Red Tail and I are not fighting.

Much.

The babies are pretty much wanting to be with Mom, only Mom, and they are really active.  I think this sort of grates on Red Tail a little, because they run around her continually.  She is a very good mama, however, and calls them over for bugs and seeds, as she finds them.  The kids are taking to being outside, and they do so much like black berry seeds, even if it does make them have purple beaks...

The other birds are not as aggressive to the babies sometimes they have been.  I think it's because Red Tail has taken to beating the living crap out of them, if they so much as look sideways at the chicks.  The babies don't seem to get in the way much, and that helps, too.  The boy seems to like to be front and center at the food bowl, though.

Teenagers...

New knitting needles.

I have been tinkering a bit, making some home made knitting needles.  Not exactly high tech, it's two chopsticks, with a little work on the tip, sanding, painting, if needed (to get some of the gouges corrected), and a finial.  Well, I was looking in some of my beads the other day, and found these chicken beads.  And some egg beads.

So, after a bit of help from Husband, (I wasn't exactly sure how to drill a hole in the bottom of the bead so it would be even), I came up with some Chicken Knittin' needles.  There are also 2 egg beads, that I am thinking I might dye brown.  Then again, I might not.

But, it does answer that great philosophical question.  In this case, the chicken came before the egg!

 

(And are you amazed? Yes, Virginia, I was able to load a picture!  Will miracles never cease?)

R is for...

Roosters and hens.

I love to go out and look at my birds.  I have the good fortune to live where my rooster won't bother anyone, (and the latest one isn't all that loud, either).  I watch them peck and scratch, finding the little whatnots in the dirt, then, suddenly, one hen will take off, running zig zags around the field, chasing a bug, which soon has a couple more chasing frantically, until either the bug becomes a snack, or is bright enough to fly up, or out of the chicken area.

Mon Ami is my rooster, and I will be buying some more french faverolles chickens, these are such nice birds.  Mon Ami was in a pen all his young life, and now is with other birds, and out and about during the day.  It took him a while to get used to being a "country bird", but with a lot of coaxing, some feed, and several hens, he seems to fit in well, and hopefully be happy with his life.

I had one girl that was not in too great of shape when she was younger.  She would get trampled by the others, and would actually almost act as if she'd fainted.  She would let me pick her up, (believe me, THAT is unusual in a chicken), and I would set her up and away from the rest, to let her eat.  She has since grown to a nice little bird, she isn't picked on, much.  She is now named Henny Penny, and she delights in jumping up and looking in the barrel when I have my head down in it, getting food.  She also lets me know, clucking incessantly, that I am not fast enough.  I have even had her jump IN the barrel once, but I really, REALLY don't want to get THAT started.

I just enjoy having the chickens around, they relax me, and are fun to watch.

And, let's face it, I like fresh eggs for baking and cooking, too!

C is for...

Chickens.  Or Cookies.

In my case chickens.

The girls amuse me a lot, they run around and get into the field and peck and run and scratch, they give me eggs for cooking, when one gets broody there are fuzzy little puffball chicks, and there are one or two that even get rambunctious and jump over the fence to see about the quality of green on this side.  (Henny Penny is the first and worst 'offender' of this, but she stays out of the cat food, and out from underfoot, so we let it go...)

Cookies?  Well, that is Husband's purview.

The man eats cookies like some people breathe.  I make cookies in double batches.

And just so happens, those recipes generally take several eggs.

Funny how things like that work out!