![](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5eaf537e8a9f8b5d0942f384/1589196383293-FM1KJIP3H4WS90MN9NRH/Chicken-112.jpg)
Happy Harvest Blog
![Another Only chick!](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5eaf537e8a9f8b5d0942f384/1589197795475-GUNJ669YC9EDS7E8TUJ9/another+only+chick.jpg)
Another Only chick!
So glad. They have different mamas but will grow up together. This little chick got off to a tough start. I found her in the middle of the Silkie greenhouse after breakfast, peeping at the top of her lungs (which is quite loud). I popped open the coop and nudged all the sitting hens, to see who would accept this chick. Apples did, and the chick burrowed right in. Phew, crisis averted. Then I moved them out together to a box and chickery to start chickergarten together.
![An Only chick](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5eaf537e8a9f8b5d0942f384/1588559097521-EJHYUTNJX2QZ2HDDRZE3/image-asset.jpeg)
An Only chick
Only one baby hatched:( I think it's just too early for chicks; too tough for them to survive and egg cooling happens too rapidly this early in the spring. I thought only chicks were super sad, growing up alone, but they do get intense one-on-one attention. Little Mama gave the other eggs a couple of days, then strutted out all Alright kiddo, time to learn to scratch! I moved her abandoned eggs down the line, to the six Silkies currently broody in the Silkie coop.
![Turns out the bag of dirt on the deck seats two.](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5eaf537e8a9f8b5d0942f384/1588559091630-DFJ17UJ4XVC8JJ78MRSE/image-asset.jpeg)
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 first chick of the year](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5eaf537e8a9f8b5d0942f384/1588559058527-F6ZJ1GSF2O00IJJP5D1P/image-asset.jpeg)
The first chick of the year
Let's try this again. I had a hen go broody. Try as we might to break her up, she was determined. Kick her out of whatever corner she was trying to warm eggs in and she'd march around in full turkey mode, every feather flared and growling until she could sneak back in another coop. Then Cheeks started making eggs again, and I could give this hen something to do. What does she do? Halfway through the process, she jumps up off the eggs, bursting out of the coop one morning and not returning.
![Cheeks is a cutie](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5eaf537e8a9f8b5d0942f384/1588559029027-RTF7CDVN68TSHS7ZYGY1/image-asset.jpeg)
Cheeks is a cutie
Her foot is still hot and swollen and she's not keen on using it, so I hope she recovers.She's dozing after her meal. Now she asks to go back into her box when she's done eating and preening. She knows the routine. Birds' lids close upwards. There's the fattest squirrel: We mock this squirrel because he's so fat, his little hands don't meet in the middle over his belly. He's doing very well. He's thriving on sunflower seeds, or something. He recently made an appearance, after a long time seeing no squirrels.
![Baby bird bath](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5eaf537e8a9f8b5d0942f384/1588559452422-XMQIUQVUSUR6YHV3U424/image-asset.jpeg)
Baby bird bath
One of Foxy's chicks (all independent now) was givin' 'er in the big dust vat, all by itself. Rub a dub dub. In the greenhouse - paaaartayyy! The chicks are all staying dry and having a fantastic time with the foliage and variety, thanks for asking. I got wings! Settling down with Feisty for the evening. Here come the guineas! Look how they're growing up.
![Serious frost](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5eaf537e8a9f8b5d0942f384/1591774661234-AAGDPMQW2Y2FSV7QZ862/IMGP0126.jpg)
Serious frost
We got a proper frost last night. I ate a tomato and it had ice crystals in it (unpleasantly cold first thing in the morning), so lots of tomatoes are frozen on the vine in the greenhouse. I think the cucumber and melon vines are finished too. The basil is finished. I worked all day yesterday to prepare for the frost, so it wasn't a surprise, except I thought the basil would be ok. Mom, it's cold! She's in her full polar bear.
![Foxy and Feisty](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5eaf537e8a9f8b5d0942f384/1588559442819-ZG1N1GSUQR0MFYCYGI4N/image-asset.jpeg)
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,
![Rain relief](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5eaf537e8a9f8b5d0942f384/1588559411123-E4BPGLO0ZUSP1XMZ4HXM/image-asset.jpeg)
Rain relief
The heat wavefinally expired in a thunderstorm, as they often do. After so many days sticky and gross, I decided to go out in the downpour in near swimwear and plastic shoes and just get drenched with the rest of the hot thirsty world. I had to move lots of water, as I always do when it rains, to make sure not to waste a drop that the roofs are catching, and shuttling water in a rubber suit to stay "dry" underneath was not appealing. It was as glorious as I imagined!
![Orphans](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5eaf537e8a9f8b5d0942f384/1588559404236-VOZK90O2S37RT2JXLAFP/image-asset.jpeg)
Orphans
Speaking of things to feel sick about, Brown Bonnet is gone. I found her three chicks toddling around cheeping under the coop, and she just was gone. Eventually, I found a few feathers, but no evidence of what got her. Raccoons usually leave calling cards. This is only the second midsummer murder and second hen to be taken ever. The first was Cream Puff and Perchick's mother when they were small chicks. Fall is the season for high alert; in the summer there hasn't been a risk. Now two, in four years.
![Broody or laying an egg?](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5eaf537e8a9f8b5d0942f384/1588559386325-9IB5XRWB296MDJLAA9UA/image-asset.jpeg)
Broody or laying an egg?
The chicks are ready to play, but mama is not giving up on her eggs quite yet. They all came out periodically to eat and scratch, but she went back on her eggs. There was almost a third chick, but it didn't make it through hatching. At least these two will have a friend. I love it when they do this. Broody? Or laying an egg?:(It was B. Laying an egg.)
![Real snow, and one lucky keet](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5eaf537e8a9f8b5d0942f384/1588559315826-A08BTJN1H7ZEXK90N87F/image-asset.jpeg)
Real snow, and one lucky keet
Real snow, and one lucky keet:After a long patient wait, finally all the birds were back enclosed. Until an hour later, just before dark, when I went in the yard to close the greenhouse door, disturbed them, and three guineas escaped again! And the keet. Good grief.This time I propped the fence open, waited until I saw the keet make its run out of the brush pile to reunite with the others, and they were all milling around by the open gate. I left them to it, confident they were fine.After dark I closed all the coops, and all the guineas were back in the greenhouse. No keet. You're kidding me. I rarely do see the keet at night, it tucks itself away somewhere, so I told myself it may be in there but it's hiding. Worst case scenario it didn't find its way back in, it's in the brush pile, but it will most likely be able to survive the night, since it's got a full suit of feathers now.
![Poopstruck](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5eaf537e8a9f8b5d0942f384/1588559306425-X06XJJ14NGMPS8V12VEZ/image-asset.jpeg)
Guinea sleepover II
HW did some out loud wondering whether weยดd have another visitation. If this little bird maybe had a sprain; was having a hard time and the falling in the tank was a symptom, not cause.In the evening, he closed the coops again and returned without remark. He climbed to the loft, where I was, and halted meaningfully at the top of the ladder.No way!
![Guinea sleepover!](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5eaf537e8a9f8b5d0942f384/1588559277650-VZ6RFMJ5X4P3GQBHXB2F/image-asset.jpeg)
![Nuthatchling](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5eaf537e8a9f8b5d0942f384/1588559275537-J08HOFA389R9YJ77NDBS/image-asset.jpeg)
Nuthatchling
There was an itty bitty bird, hopping along in the duff.Because it allowed me to, I reached out and picked it up. I thought at first it was a chickadee, but the way it grabbed on my hand indicated a woodpecker.Then I noticed the tip of its beak was all gummed up, and I picked and pulled at that. I think it was sap, full of dirt.
![Peep peep!](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5eaf537e8a9f8b5d0942f384/1588559258325-0Z2KCLQ1K0T8FVLM12V9/image-asset.jpeg)
One chick!
I knew it immediately when I looked at her: Head up! There's something alive under her:)Phew. One is way better than none. Perhaps, maybe, there could be another too.
Miracle chick
He ran outside to retrieve the little bird and had to cut it free from where it had got its foot tangled and been suspended. It looked awful. One leg was stretched out straight and unnaturally. Prepared to tape it up with electrical tape, I palpated the little bird bones all the way from heel to hip but didn't find any obvious breaks.
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