Happy Harvest Blog
Guinea was here
The snow is almost all gone now, but when it was still here, it didn't stop the guineas. They tramped up and down and all around and made a fantastic constellation of footprints. They were so pleased to be out, they put up with little cold feet. Who says we're jungle birds? We're Canada birds now. I found them at the end of their footprints!
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:)
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.
Chill and chilly
Melting ice for water. It’s so pretty. It looks like thick glass. It’s a goldfinch convention. They are usually here with the grosbeaks, but the grosbeaks are late today and the goldfinches have the place to themselves, for a bit. Cheeks is having a good day. It’s warm in a sunbeam on a lap and her head is high. She’s wearing a festive holiday scarf. She can see herself (and me) in the mirror of my computer screen, which is hilarious. Do the think the scarf is “me”?
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.
New things! New things! - Greenhouse Rearrangement
I got some more work done in the greenhouse. Specifically, I untied all the strings crossing the top third, that suspend tomatoes in the summer. You can just see the strings in this pic. So I’m taking them down and crochet looping them up to decommission them until next year. The guineas will be able to fly around in the upper third of the GH again. This festooning makes sense to me. Then the irrigation came out, and the pool went in, and coops were shifted – oh my!
magical christmassy snow
There was an unexpected veil of snow settled on everything yesterday (I wasn’t expecting it). It was warm, too, and that kind of snow that falls in huge, feathery flakes gets heavy. Awful to drive in. It’s very hard on my bird protection. Surprise, no birds are outside! I have to untether the netting when it snows like this and drop it down inside the fence. I’ve learned to tie quick release knots, so it’s not much slower than walking around the garden. Then I hoist it back up when it melts.
Havoc in the henhouse.
Ok, it’s officially December now. It’s not time to be broody. But I’ve been having a battle of wills with four broody hens, the most determined of which is Ursa Minor, and the peckiest is Fiesty, predictably. Then I open the coop to this. This. And this.Not ok! That’s seven. Seven. Seven broody, growly feather pancakes sitting on eggs. I didn’t have seven broody at once all summer. This is bad. Maybe it’s contagious. They win. They are sitting on eggs, and since they’re not going to give up, they can keep them.
Instagram.
I may not make a blog post every day, but at least I Insta.
Bite size.
