Happy Harvest Blog
Snow In May!!?
Quite a surprise to wake up to several inches of snow in the morning.
Gorgeous, just unexpected for Mother’s Day.
The pigs were non-plussed. Maybe they’ve seen snow before, but it doesn’t seem like it.
The squirrels were very funny, bounding around in the snow, tunneling and popping up through it like gophers. Competition is heightened since I blocked squirrel access to the bird feeders, and…
It's a sitting in a tree kind of day
The girls have been hanging out in the pine tree like they did when they were chicks. They remember.The weather is beautiful. Sunny, and it’s warming up – any day the bugs will come out of nowhere and the fun will be all over.
Greenhouse living and the drama of the popcorn string
This has been a good winter to be a chicken around here. The winter was mild, and I don't think there was ever a time that the birds were truly locked in for more than a week due to snow. Any time there was bare ground, they got released for at least some hours of foraging entertainment. And of course, they had their side yard always accessible, although all the birds tend to stay in when there's snow. So morale was good this winter, not much cabin fever.
Chicken sitting, and an accidental week off.
I had no intention of taking a week off blogging, but I had a real week from hell. A book deadline, two books released, other time-sensitive obligations, and a side serving of serious stress which led to far too many nights working past midnight, so I'm just coming up for air now and seeing what else really needs to be done. The bees got reduced on time, they're happy. The chickens, though, are under siege.
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 haven’t 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.
Pincushion chickens
Hurricane’s over. The three are back to trying to sleep in the tree. SO stubborn. It’s cooling off at nights, so it’s a good time for the hens to grow their feathers back. It’s 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.
An unexpected guest for dinner
You again!? If rabbits are joining us, I’m leaving. I guess she got over it and decided to share. I’ve seen this rabbit around more recently than the pictures were taken, and she seemed hugely pregnant, with her belly dragging on the ground. So no wonder she was too hungry to wait for the chickens to go to bed to glean.
Well, I left the bag of dirt on the porch.
What? Nothing to see here. I’m brown. I almost didn’t see her at first; she was holding still. Set down a basket for two seconds and it draws a crowd…and a fancy caterpillar.
chickens lounging in the sun
They do love a good sunny day. This one started it all (Cream Puff). Oh, that looks like a good idea. Whatcha doin'? Then the participants change. What's even happening here? (There are three hens)Then everyone's in on it. There's also a dust bowl a little ways from the sandbox. The guineas like to lie in the grass in the sun.
Floods
Today was a torrential downpour in the morning. When it rains I run around like a mad person trying to catch or use it all. I filled several barrels today. I'm expecting a long stretch of rainlessness this summer, and that every rain we get maybe the last for a long time, although it keeps coming and coming. All the birds rushed under cover when it came thundering down, except the little Silkie mama with three chicks.
Rain risk vs worm reward
The pig house (pig-less this year) is repurposed as a chicken rain shelter, and they LOVE it. When it's pelting down, almost the whole flock crowds in there, and the guineas come running in too. The hens rock the rain pretty hard, but when it gets too heavy they jog for shelter. Rain makes the worms come up, but they don't like to get too wet either. It's a chicken risk/reward analysis. Adding the laundry rack was one of my finer brain waves.
A nice nest
One doesn't think of chickens as being nest builders per se, but they definitely do nest construction. Guineas, ground nesters like chickens, craft quite beautifully careful nests, if extremely minimal ones, out of a few blades of grass. It's more of a saucer than a bowl - a slight bank to keep the eggs from rolling out, I suppose. When I set the Silkies on eggs, I think I form a perfect nest in advance, but no.
I'm back
I survived my mini-collapse, and have been digging my routines back out for the past few days. I hope it was worth it. I’m all sugar free now (again), so I hope that transition was worth a week’s lost productivity. All is well. Cheeks persist, and is gunning for permanent house chicken status, like a pet parrot; the ten untimely chicks are all well and growing their feathers; all the birds are fine but getting cranky about the GH confinement, and my hives are all still alive.
Not a bath day
There's Nosey, pecking at my pants. She's growing!It was a nice sunny day, so I figured it would be a big bath day, with the pool overflowing with Pigpen chickens, but I went out with my camera and only three Silkies were in that mood.This guy found he had the pool all to himself, and seemed kind of pleased about it, but was only thinking about having a bath:
chicken cuddling
While I’ve been gone over the holidays, my husband has been grabbing chickens. He spends quite a bit of time holding Cheeks the house chicken, who seems determined to remain designated house chicken indefinitely, I’m no trouble. No trouble at all! but also grabbing “wild chickens” in the greenhouse, to cuddle them against their will.
I can't enjoy my bath when you're standing over me like that
This guy’s really into standing on the edge of the bath. Now in a new location! Must inspect!
Best day ever
The girls have found their dirt bath. It’s bean awfully quiet in the GH. I came in and everywhere, filthy chickens. Chickens walking around with dirt all over their backs, that had clearly just got out of the pool, and of course, a half dozen chickens in the pool. The Silkies have already emptied out one of their baths (seats four). Even Chris is in there, the big rooster. There’s Jacket girl, pecking snow off my boots. She’s got her jacket perfectly in place, but she’s also full of dirt.
Instagram.
I may not make a blog post every day, but at least I Insta.
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