Happy Harvest Blog
closeups of nosey
OMG! I just noticed she seems to have a bit of a crossed bill! I hope that doesn’t get too far. I like Nosey. Don’t worry, Nosey. She’s about half grown up now so will probably not have an advanced crossed beak. I haven’t had any crossbills before, only hens from the store that had clipped, aka mutilated beaks. So sad.
Just standin' around
The old girls have decisively claimed the roof of Chris & Cream Puff's coop. They pile up there all day. An alliance is forming. Sidewinder, the molter in a jacket (again! She molted last year), and Apples' chick. She was raised with the six other Silkies, but she doesn't hang out with them anymore. They're babies. The full Silkies are a third of her size. This one could be a full leghorn. Cute. There seems to be a bond.
Little cuties
Baby barred rock. Two Silkie crosses, apparently They like to tightrope around on the coop. It's just challenging enough that they look tentative.This little leghorn has moved in with the Silkies (sitting on the swing). I don't know why they make the choices they do.
Brown Bonnet's babies
A rare sighting of Brown Bonnet's surviving chicks. She's big, and really good at standing in front of them and hiding them. They're so tiny! They're smaller than her head. It's hard to believe a chicken can start out so tiny and get by. But then, there's hummingbirds. Apples' little one is four days older than the other two, and it shows. The greenhouse is full of small chickens, jumping around and climbing on everything they can. Foxy is out of a job.
Guinea spa
I heard the musical little sounds of the guineas approaching the house (doesn't happen especially often), so I peeped out.They were going for the bath! There's a spot right by the trail where I was weeding out buckthorn, and the birds have decided that that's the optimum dust bathing locale. Now there's all divots and feathers. The guineas came in for the bath as purposefully as if they had little towels over their shoulders. It was their specific destination.
The five aren't afraid of bees
The famous five, in fact, love to rummage around around the hives, and jump upon them. That is the back of the hive, but they rummage equally well in the front. They go underneath. I've seen one jump up on the bee door closure stick. Meeting behind Pansy building! (My hives are plumb; the camera is tipped)I've thought one would get stung, and that would be over, but no. It's always just a little tribe. They have the place to themselves.
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.
Baby beefin'
Staredown! The little roosters are beefin' again. Until one of their sisters runs up, then they're suddenly an unconvincingly casual. Pepper's found a new perch. She's not going to miss any water fountain gossip. Cream Puff jumped up in the walnut tree for some alone time. Way up in the tree. Fluffing herself up, walking back and forth on the branch. Higher than chickens normally go. Chris got nervous. She came down in her own time, just when he started to look like he'd go up after her.
Premature vocalization
THIS little guy was crowing today. It sounded like someone stepped on a squeaky toy. I think he was appropriately embarrassed and didn't do it again. Hope he puts that project on the back burner for a few months. I wouldn't have thought it possible if I weren't looking right at him.I'm like, You! You are barely 12 inches tall at your full stretch. You have nothing to crow about yet! The teens are so cute!! Bright yellow, big feet, that they have yet to grow into, like puppies.
when we're dancin' beak to beak
I think we have our Oscar and Orlando! Baby beefin'. They freeze, staring at each other. It's quite aggressive, considering it's motionless. You can feel the tension. Then they pretend to go about their business for about a second and a half, then - Freeze! Beak to beak. Big yellow feet:)
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