Happy Harvest Blog
New Roo in the zoo
The new rooster has arrived! The ladies like him. I thought I might call him Jacques, since when I was driving him home I couldn't remember any lullabies but Frére Jacques. Over and over and over... But I'm not sure it fits.Things have settled down since the first day.
Hen homies
I have the most thoroughly integrated flock of hens I've ever had, to date. They hang together, closely. This is odd because the current layers are from three sources. The "old original hens" - the wise old survivors that grew up free-rangin', yo, the "co-op hens" - unfortunate clipped beaks, and no survival skills at all, and the "leftover hens" from the neighbour
New chickens
She had that natural chicken talent of plunging off into something dense at the last minute before going where you want her to. So I chased her, and she got more and more agitated, and louder, and finally, she was screaming and flapping away from me hot on her henny heels, and... finally, the rooster got involved.
MJ and the Silkies
MJ has taken to hopping over the fence and hanging out with the Silkies.She's like, I'm white, too, this is obviously where I belong.
New hens-integration
These new chickens are like little waifs, with no life skills. They are bad at scratching and foraging. They are bad at leaving the greenhouse. They very quickly mastered trailing around after me and whining.
New hens- arrival
We collected our pre-ordered 18-week old layers from the co-op today. They're cute. Really not much more than teenagers. Very slim, with tiny pink combs.
Chickens, continued
I take off looking for the sunburned hen, and find her deep in the woods. She’s cunning and it’s a long, scratchy chase through the undergrowth with her little tail disappearing far ahead of me, to get her back up to our civilized area and back to the flock.An hour later, she’s gone again, and I can’t find her.
Day 2 - Layers
The hens let themselves out to range today. All the hens. Late afternoon I found all of them out, scattered about, very, very happy in the long grass. I wish I could leave them out already, but I don’t trust them to return to the coop at night, and they are not allowed to camp out with unsavoury characters around.
Respectable chickens
These are robust birds. They’re plump, and heavy, and hot with feathery chicken warmth, and you can feel the strength in their muscles. They seem HUGE after handling the Silkies. Like housecats compared to gerbils. Not petite housecats, either.
My Mom got chickens
Yes, chicken blinkers are a thing. I just wanted to bring that to everyone's attention.Just in case you want to make your chickens look like Teddy Roosevelt.
Instagram.
I may not make a blog post every day, but at least I Insta.
Bite size.
