Happy Harvest Blog
dirt bath and other shenanigans
Chocolate's out of the chickery now too. This is great. All the small chicks with moms are at large, meaning I don't have to constantly monitor do they have shade, do they have water? Their moms take care of that now (lots of water options). Soon enough there will be another round of chicks hatching. She's diving right into the dirt bath. There's two popular spots at the moment, an old pig wallow, and this one under the corner of the hen rain tent, which is a bit of a sauna in the sunshine.
Foxy and Feisty
Feisty's a very pretty chicken. We had a good photo shoot before dusk: If you catch them at the right angle, which isn't hard to do, Silkie hens look like they have no eyes at all. Foxy is irritable. Her chicks are at that stage where they ignore her until they need her, don't pay attention, and want to stay up too late. I've still no idea how many days/weeks it takes for them to hit these chicken stages of development, like pants, reluctance to go to bed, independence, rooster hero worship,
Bedtime, and coop cops
Some of them decided to face the other way, for variety. And two of them decided to have a big pecking fight, on the rail, with one uninvolved keet between them, hunched up low, keeping head down and out of the crossfire raging above him. So funny. Peck you! No, peck you! They're getting slightly more independent; they scatter wider. Packing up the three boxes of moms and chicks, to go into their safe house in the greenhouse (everyone goes in a lock box at night for weasel safety), Fiesty's box was empty.
identical chicks
Chocolate has two identical chicks, a few days old now. They're almost white, but they have a hint of light yellow. I don't know what they will turn into. It's interesting that she got two alike (two of four eggs). The chances of that are slim as the breeds are blended, and so are the mix of eggs that I give each hen. Perhaps they're leghorns! (eggs from another chicken keeper) That would be cool. So far I have one leghorn cross, but I think he's a he.
The misadventures of rabbits
I was carrying some wood past the house with my friend and paused to pick up some tools off the deck. Through the open door, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a brown...shape passing the rocking chair. It might have hopped. Things I never thought I would say out loud: "Uh, I think there's a rabbit in my house."I dropped the wood and stepped in, and the very-definitely-a-rabbit leaped up on the windowsill and hunched under an arm of aloe vera. My first thought of course was for the camera.
Keet bedtime
The guinea family is admitted to the greenhouse as early as 6:30, and usually by seven. They go to bed much earlier than the chickens. Galahad watches for my appearance, and they scamper in as soon as I open the door. Bedtime begins with some last foraging for a snack and a familiarizing walk around the greenhouse. Then they hit the ladder. They really do use it as a ladder, hopping up a rung at a time, zigzagging, until they get to the top. Then they have to fly to the perch.
Chick freedom day
Feisty and her chicks liberated themselves today. They usually let me know when they're ready for the big world by starting to leak out. Thing is, Foxy's chicks are days older, and they weren't the ones to start getting out. Once Feisty was out and about though, Foxy got excited. One has such beautiful wings. Who, me? I helped them out by lifting up the side of the chickery, and they started leaking out. One.Two.Three and four.No, I'm back in. All out.
Puff Mommy is fine
Yikes! Puffycheeks gave me one hell of a scare. Even though I had seen her walking around thirty seconds earlier, she looked stone dead on the path. I saw her eye, though, so the cold chill surging over me passed, and I got the camera to capture the dead bird pose. Then she hopped up. It's hot, it's just really hot! She is molting a bit, getting patchy and sparse around her neck. Beards are definitely hot in the summer. Galahad and the keets visiting the chicks. And Philippe visiting the chicks.
Two tone pigs
The pigs were lying in the mud on one side only, so they (two of them) are browned right down the middle like mimes. They look fully mudded, but they're not. There's the pink side! Yesterday they liberated themselves. I came home, no pigs, and did my usual march all over all the places they could get themselves in trouble with a pail in hand, but I couldn't find any trace of them. It was too late to rouse them.
Oiseaux Tableaux
The Famous Five. These didn't grow up together (different Silkie moms), but they have found each other. They clearly share genes. These are the smallest of the free chicks (they grow up so fast!), and they're very adventurous. There once was a time when chickens perching in low branches was a novelty. Now it's de rigeur. The tweens. At least one of these culprits is starting to practice his crowing. Little Pepper is still in this mix despite getting quickly outgrown (Silkie/Barred cross) by the big Chanticleers.
All they needed was a keet ladder
Last night when Galahad and the keets went to bed in the greenhouse, there was a lot of noise, and G was running laps around the greenhouse-like he wanted out. He settled down, but I felt he was distressed, and maybe frustrated with sleeping on the ground. Tonight after bedtime, I thought the greenhouse was remarkably quiet. I peeked...and just about died! In case it's unclear what you're seeing, that is one keet perched on Galahad's back, yes, and all the keets lined up on the (swinging) perching rail, at 6' in the greenhouse.
Hens and their chicks
Daisy's chicks have the greatest outfits right now. Worthy of Björk. Silver is still special cottons chicks are little screamers. Always yelling, no apparent reason. They're moved up to the big Silkie house with the grownup hens. Making the rounds of the dish, literally. Feisty's chicks are the newest. Foxy's four: And Galahad's chicks! Monopolizing a feed dish.
Birdland
Ketchup and Mayo, hangin'. They're so mild. I think it was from being raised by a Silkie hen. They won't leave Silkieland, even though they can. They come and go from inside to out, visiting the roosters on the outside, but always back in at night. There was a hummingbird trapped in the greenhouse, zooming back and forth, stopping to refill at tomato flowers. I thought it best to not interfere and hope he got out.
Close call and a happy ending
I had a rough-ish day and came home wanting to just eat and go to bed, but then had unexpected visitors that disrupted my usually smooth bird closing procedures. With the delay and tumult, Galahad and his keet fleet failed to get back into the greenhouse! That they spend nights in the greenhouse is the only thing that allows me to sleep - it's a hard-won habit, as guineas usually want to roost outside, and inside is what keeps them safe from owls and foxes.
I was asked if the birds actually use their tents when it rains
Yes. Yes, we do. That's how I endure the ugliness of the plastic A-frames - seeing the birds all run to it when the rain starts pelting down. Haven't seen them all day, as they've been out somewhere being adorable, but Sir Galahad and the keets of the round table know where to find shelter. Awww, they're starting to snuggle in for warming!
Sir Galahad and the keets of the round table
Galahad and the little guineas went wild today too. Just like when it was just him, I left the door open and turned my back on it and whoosh- all out. Little keets flowing through the world like a school of fish. I don't know if they're already familiar with the great outdoors, but they seem pretty comfortable in it. They promptly disappeared into the weeds, making brief showings at the house, by the pigs, and at mealtimes. The slightest chirp from him and they all hop and gather up to him.
A fleet of broody Silkies
Everyone is outside today! First day out for Foxy and her full-size chicks. She's overdue for it, but it's been rainy. Cotton and Daisy know all about out but have also been in for a bit due to weather. Ten to one one of these hens (Cotton) is going to fly out and go big world today. And tonight, one set of them has to go to the big house - move in with the other hens in Silkieland. That means the hens will all scrap to sort out their order again, but the chicks will like that a lot.
The sunflowers are blooming
The bees are feasting. The goldenrod is out too, so the pollen drive is on. Galahad is ready to be free again, but his little charges are perfectly content and thoroughly entertained. The greenhouse is crowded right now! I moved Daisy and Cotton back in the greenhouse for rain days, and the door is even blocked by a chickery. We had a rain day, and then a drizzle day. Daisy cares not, as long as she can dig. Cotton wants out, asap.
Cutest keets
I put a chair in the greenhouse for visiting the chicks, and the keets took advantage. It must have been perching hour because they were all having a little bit of vantage time, Galahad, etc perched on the edge of a chickery, one with broody hens in it. SO CUTE! There's quite a crowd for him to look after now. He's busy. What a star. And of course at night I found him in the peppers, all fanned out over the little crowd, some heads poking out. So he is sitting on them
Swarm catching, part 2
At "dusk" (ok, dark), I got the hive box ready. One super full of drawn comb and fresh foundation, another empty super, and an eke. The whole empty upper box thing is to imitate a spacious swarm box. So they can all crowd up in the ceiling. Then I went to get the nuc box from the woods. Whoa! Quite a few bees on the outside of the box. More than before. They're so neat. They're like lined up in stacked rows. And quiet, just a low hum. It was bedtime.
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