Happy Harvest Blog
Young Roos
Oscar and Orlando are buds. The young roosters are growing up, and they are big! They're going to be big boys. They've come almost into their full rooster shape, but still, have awkward bits sticking out. Not so cute anymore, although the hens might think so. Pepper, front left, is a Silkie Barred Rock cross, and that turns out to be an unfortunate combination. Very funny looking, with strangely green legs. And he's a rooster. He might have to season a pot before he seasons the gene pool:(
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.
Bedtime is nigh
Days went by. Weeks. Then one night, there were only two hens. One hen had figured it out! She turned out to be the precocious one of the three. More days passed, turning into two weeks.
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.
Guy Hawks Day
My most excellent fine rooster was killed this morning, presumably by a hawk.I presume a hawk because I witnessed, in the woods just a few meters from our door, a big hawk attempt to grab a chicken. The undergrowth was dense, the hawk fumbled her and the chicken got away. The chicken sprinted into the woods screaming and the hawk flew up into a low branch where it stared coolly at me until I started shouting at it.
Dispatches from Silkieland
It's a bit like 101 Dalmatians around here now. Chicks everywhere. In the greenhouse, in the chickeries - I've lost track of how many sets there were this summer. Some hens went broody twice. There are a lot of chicks scampering around.
When the rooster didn't crow
HW just happened to remind me "remember when the rooster didn't crow? Because he was a beta rooster?". He's right! The big rooster learned to crow after he arrived here, when he suddenly had to "man up" to his promotion to big cock on the block.
Bath time!
It's especially funny catching the rooster thrashing around in the dust bowl, all unkempt. It's usually a conjugal event, if the rooster's involved, and then both birds look up at you like they were busted in the bathtub together - which in fact, they are.
Second broody hen
Ah, yes, the little brown hen is now officially broody. She has five or six under her, a nice reasonable number, unlike someone else we know. What's been very amusing is that she's been shuffling her eggs from place to place every day.
Week 2 with the laying hens - still a novelty!
They are endlessly entertaining, popping out of the grass, sneaking, running, exploring. They love it under our box truck and hang out under there every day, whether rainy or sunny. H.W. has a swarm of chickens near him most of the time when he’s working. Chainsaw, splitting firewood, dragging things around - they drift along behind him as he works.
Instagram.
I may not make a blog post every day, but at least I Insta.
Bite size.
