Happy Harvest Blog
They grow up so fast
I've lost track of all the sets of chicks. There are around five that are almost indistinguishable from grownup chickens, the "big chicks".Overnight, they are all legs and big bodies. If I don't look twice, they look full grown. These have all graduated to living in the "big coop", although I'm still plucking at least one out of the tree every night. No, not the coop! They aren't nice to me there! Hello, I'm a Cheeks junior!
The Brahmas are joining Team Mooch
The Brahmas are joining the chicken clique that hangs out around the house, which is really nice. Itās the safest place for the chickens, and the most social. Naturally, the most vulnerable chickens, moms, chicks, and adolescents, range the farthest, giving me palpitations, while the old girls homesick. Theyāre always together. The Brahmas are so sweet, theyāre the big feather pillows of the chicken world. One of them is in a half-molt state.
Turns out the bag of dirt on the deck seats two.
Turns out the bag of dirt on the deck seats two. But not three.
The bees are working like they've had coffee
After the frost, weāve had a warm spell, and the bees are going so hard. Itās their last charge to get their stores in. I feel bad now taking their honey, but they have more than enough, at least the big hives Pansy and Violet do. The other pollinators in the giant wasp nest have made their home bigger than ever. Iām terrified of them, although theyāve only stung me once, for banging on the wall, and I am looking forward to a long wasp-free future.
Profile: Athena
Athena is back at home. She was loaned out this summer to raise some babies. Athena and her sister were hatched last year and raised by a Silkie hen (they were the White Chocolates). They turned out to be not quite leghorns- white, quite differently shaped from leghorns, but a little jumpy and high-strung like leghorns are. Early this summer, both of them went broody, but not at the same time. Athenaās sister (Aphrodite?) raised a mixed set of five.
First Frost
Got a serious frost last night, and a warning frost the night before.There was ice crusted on the water in the stock tank, and the sweet potato vines were finished off. The squashes themselves took damage, which is very disappointing. Not the worst thing to have to can pumpkin, but I like to have squashes and pumpkins throughout the winter for the chickens. Bummer!Also today; world climate strike. I hope the message is deafening because the increased storms and fluctuating temperatures and melting ice caps haven't been loud enough, apparently.
The latest chicks
I had a whole passel of Silkies go broody this summer. Some of them give up, two more go broody. The usual, in other words. Iām not letting them reproduce this year- I have so many Silkies. I did give them five of Cheeksā eggs between them though. Drama central! If any of them stood up to adjust themselves, another one would rob an egg. Every morning most of them would go out for breakfast, and then there would be lamentations when they came back and their eggs had been swiped by another hen.
Greenhouse goings-on
Earlier this year in the greenhouse. Now itās a little wilder. Even at this point, though, the guineas were getting lost. The āaislesā have kind of disappeared. I went to open the far doors, and there was a white guinea in the melons. Chirp chirp. Her boyfriend came back in for her, bushwhacking towards her to lead her out. I have a theory that the guineas have kept down the beetles this year. I donāt have a problem this year, although I saw eggs on the leaves earlier.
Nosey is auditioning for role of house chicken.
Nosey the Nosy thinks that I have a chicken-shaped void in my life, and sheās the chicken to fill it. I see that you donāt have a house chicken at the moment. Iād like to leave my resumĆ©. Itās true, itās been a long time since Cheeks moved out. Nosey has an unusual degree of interest in the house. With the door always open and the screen on, she spends a lot of time standing on the threshold looking in. And riffling the screen with her beak.
Tomato canning
A lovely pile of a wide range of tomato varieties. I have late blight now in the greenhouse (what the? It's not damp), so the harvest may turn out to be smaller this year than usual, but any reduction isn't showing yet. Three bread bowls of tomatoes today is the second haul harvested, and now the cauldrons boil and bubble.
Saturday shirking
Itās sunny, itās Saturday. The house is a mess, the woods are a mess, I have so much to do but will probably do less. 2/3 through that I thought I should make it rhyme. In celebration of shirking, hereās a chicken in the act of discovering me lying on my back in the weeds.
Profile: Nosey
All chickens have their own unique chickenalities, but some chickens distinguish themselves more than others. Nosey has been her own bird from a young chicken, and unlike everyone else, it is rather tame. She got her name from always being excessively interested in my business, and always really into being near me. Sheād be the first at the door, have her beak up in whatever I was doing, sit on my shoulder, and generally tag along or be underfoot.
chicken drill bit
The Silkies have picked a spot to dig a hole, and are digging the hole with their bodies, removing the dirt in their feathers and shaking it out elsewhere. Slow and steady. They take turns, and now they have the hole twice as deep as this so that they are fully below ground level. Odd little birds. Sidewinder unwinding in the pool. I havenāt bought them a bag of the pro-mix outside of the greenhouse before because, in the greenhouse, they are doing the work of distributing it for me to amend the soil I will grow in, but hey.
Cheeps at the door
I hear them coming around, the cheeps. They never stop chatting at this age. Iām glad that the moms are starting to gravitate to the house and beehives ā the safe zones instead of the adventure safaris. This is where youāll spend your time when you grow up, kids. Mooching. The two of them are too adorable to me. Inseparable, yin and yang chickens, not very alike other than that they (were) both loners.
Done with the dentist
I think my summer of dental hell is finally over. Root canal part 2 yesterday (hallelujah, the dental staff was at work with the power on Monday!), and the sudden end of āmildā dental ādiscomfortā in my mouth was like the lights coming on, or discovering youāve been wearing sunglasses without noticing ā energy re-surged into my life! I think the mouth stuff has been contributing to why Iāve been sick so much, and headaches, lately the past weeks. It just saps you, enduring it.
Pincushion chickens
Hurricaneās over. The three are back to trying to sleep in the tree. SO stubborn. Itās cooling off at nights, so itās a good time for the hens to grow their feathers back. Itās such a relief when they start to refeather, because they go naked for what seems like terribly long, and it looks so uncomfortable I worry, and then one day, they come out in little spikes all over that unroll into feathers.
All over
Dorian has passed. The chickens are all fine, the pig house did not flip over, one beehive had an outer lid blown off, no cars or structures were damaged. Casualties: clothesline, woodshed roof has another rip, the big hazelnut tree outside my window is tipped over:( It may live, but itās at 45Ā° with the roots torn and heaved up. I donāt know how well nut trees adapt.
Instagram.
I may not make a blog post every day, but at least I Insta.
Bite size.
