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 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. I’m not letting them reproduce this year- I have so many Silkies. I did give them five of Cheeks’ 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 it’s a little wilder. Even at this point, though, the guineas were getting lost. The “aisles” 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 don’t have a problem this year, although I saw eggs on the leaves earlier.
Cheeps at the door
I hear them coming around, the cheeps. They never stop chatting at this age. I’m glad that the moms are starting to gravitate to the house and beehives – the safe zones instead of the adventure safaris. This is where you’ll 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.
Velvet and Ghost
The co-mamas.These are the first hens to successfully hatch babies in the large coop. Right through the heatwave, they sat on eggs, and I brought them water. They would even switch eggs, so it makes sense that they're one family now. They only spent two days in the chickeries, maybe three, before release and integration. Nosey visitor, They still had unhatched eggs, one each (they did not hatch late, they gave up on them), so the hatched chicks had a nice slow transition).
Early morning perching practice
The fuzznuggets have started perching. They all keep the same schedule; I’m so used to seeing moms raise their chicks now. First, there’s very close to home chickergarten, where scratching is strongly emphasized – Mom shows them vigorous scratching in loose material, clearly for practice. Good fling. Look at how well Daisy is kicking. Second, comes explorer time, where the moms take their chicks off, to some distance, for I don’t know what, world acclamation, and exposure to strange and unusual things.
Keet care share
The keets have been around more; they even got walked nearly to the house. I hear their cheeping like tiny bells (they will grow into klaxons). They already have dart-and freeze-in-the-grass skills, scratching, dozing, and following skills. Little beings the size and weight of ping pong balls, walking, eating, pooping, thinking. They're so cute I can hardly stand it. They are already surprisingly independent, with a noticeably larger radius of dispersion than two days ago, and the flock moves faster.
An extra puffy tail
The little (lone) Silkie chick has just had one extra puffy tail sprout out today, along with a tiny head crest and tiny feet feathers on those little black legs. Looks especially good with evening back-lighting. It's funny what a transformative difference a day makes - chicks grow so fast. Feathers just pop out here and there, and they go through some pretty funny stages. This poor little chick is now only one third the size of its nestmates, which are bigger than some of the other chicks get before their Moms move on.
box princess
There are three sets of chick/s running around at the moment, that I see have yet to be introduced, my bad...The other White Chocolate hen, sister to the loaner, has three chicks; the shirt chick was adopted; and this little Silkie hen has three- two Cheeklings and a Silkie chick (got rescued into the greenhouse on rain day). This particular hen's quirk (they all have at least one), is that she does not, ever, want to go to bed in the coop.
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.
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.
I'm back!
I was sneaky; I was posting chicken pictures while I was away. But I’m back home and everyone is fine, including the 10 little unseasonal chicks. They’re bigger than they were. Also, I’ve started producing new content experimentally at steempeak. So far the platform is so easy to use that it’s like finally getting a drink when you’re thirsty. I’m so ready to say goodbye to WordPress. When I make the switch, the web link happyharvest.ca will just point over to the new site, so that little will be affected.
Ursa's chicks
Ursa and her four fluffballs are out in the world, bouncing around. Now she’s out of the bath and willing to be a tea cozy again. It seems like a moderate challenge to find their way under her.
We're goin' to China, kids
Ursa’s first day in the chickery: she celebrated her first day out of the broody box as the hens always do, with a vigorous dirt bath. I placed her in the former location of the peat bag (the overflow spot), for premium dirt bathing. The kids start to come around, Hey, I’m kinda cold, can I get under you? Stand back, kids, mama’s getting her bath on! She’s like a round fur tornado, spraying everything down with dirt. Evidently, it feels incredible.
Chickyback ride!
There are now an astonishing TEN unseasonal chicks. Ursa has four, and the other hen has six. Only the two of them stuck out broodiness to the end; all the others gave up (thankfully!) Ursa has graduated to spending days in a chickery, so the other mama is in the bigger corner coop suite, for a few days, as her chicks are more freshly hatched. A couple are brand new out of the egg. I think this is Chocolate, but I’ll have to check photos to be sure:)
the morning owl
This owl was in the walnut tree, lurking on the greenhouse. I need to get in there. I will learn how it opens. Then it flew to the nearby treeline to watch me, and the treetops above where it perched just filled with small birds of various kinds, including grosbeaks. I wonder what they were planning. Inside there’s a new pile of chips. It’s not a party in a bag, but they work away at a new pile of chips pretty steadily.
unseasonal chicks
Who has chicks in winter? Ursa Minor does. Ursa’s got four little chicks (living). Two were already dead. The future is not bright for chicks hatched at the beginning of winter. But I’ll do my best to help her. One piece of cardboard and she’s got a student apartment now. That’ll be enough space for a few days, as they’ll spend most of their time under her. I moved her back from the kitchen so the chicks would tumble out so I could get some pictures.
First snow!
First snow in October! Real snow too, big swirling flakes that are sticking around for a little while. The Caped Crusader doesn't wait for me to distribute the food. These are the four middle chicks, having a snow day in the greenhouse. Snow is pretty much rain, only quiet. The co-mamas and the 7 Silkies. Adorable. They're so tiny. I'm in dread of stepping on one, since they're so small and brown and hard to see. Luckily Marshmallow is fierce.
Co-mamas
Brown Bonnet and Marsha (Marshmallow) are cute. They hang out together, their chicks spilling over into each other. Brown Bonnet is very maternal and relaxed, and all seven of the little Silkie chicks will sometimes be with her. Marsha's a bit nervous. At night sometimes they share a box, and they readily share patches of food without competition. Our kids are the same age (and size), we should be friends. This little one is already developing an extravagant hairdo.
Instagram.
I may not make a blog post every day, but at least I Insta.
Bite size.
