Unlit

Finally put a light in the coop after having to actually buy eggs! after contemplating chicken logic I have made a startling discovery, I believe I am less productive unlit as well! I'll bet if a person were to rig up some UV lights in the brim of a hat the darn thing would sell like hotcakes!  

Bitch Slapped!

In the chicken world my friend, having ones frocks snatched off is not a wardrobe malfunction! No! This is a bitch slap to the bottom of the pecking order! I find it particularly disturbing considering the onset of winter is upon us! I do have an old down coat I could covert into a chicken vest, but when one thinks about dressing a chicken it usually involves bread......

Run With Your Bun

Today's lesson from the coop: Run with your bun! I wandered out to check on the girls, coop politics have left Eeny nearly pecked clean, defrocked so to say. At one point not so long ago she was at the top of her game,but  life being what it is offers one predictable factor, it's unpredictable. What you have today may not be what you have tomorrow, blind-sighted by the unknown, it happens.

I always wondered who it was that lays the beautiful spotted eggs. I poke my head in the coop, she lifts her half plucked body and I see that it's her, I feel I owe her something, she is a warrior! If I were to offer you a hard bun, perhaps you would find it offensive, to a chicken it becomes a prize, it's something you can run with that won't break off! After a near bun theft by a sister Eeny emerged as the victor, she owned that bun!!!

So the lesson here is: If you have been blind-sighed by unpredictable circumstance and someone throws you a bun, fight for it and run with the damn thing! Chances are you still have a few good eggs left to lay and things will get better!

Updates and Ramblings

I haven't have a lot of time to write, finally had some nice days and the feathered garden crew and I have been trying to get some weeding done! It's a slow go as this seems to be the event to attend! Marjorie my garden chicken has taken a back seat to Dorthy who has lost most of the feathers on her head while working her way up the pecking order! Interesting how one can lose ones spot in live so quickly!

 Dorthy it seems has a whole new lease in life and follows me around like a puppy! Her nickname in fact is Puppy! She is the only one that can  actually fly up and catch food midair! I was carrying some lemon cucumber from my garden to the house the other day when she did a fly-by and took a chunk right out of my hand! Not crazy about this trick!

Sadly we did lose a girl. Three of my Rhode Island Reds look so much alike I couldn't tell them apart so they became as a group, "Hey There Chicken!" I now know the signs :( Not wanting to roost and trying to separate from the rest of the hens. It seems that animals have more of an acceptance than we do in these matters. I would sometimes place her on the roost thinking she had been bullied off, I had misread it, she was   simply preparing for her transition. She may have been egg bound, something I didn't know about before. I placed her in the hatch where she was found in the morning. RIP Chicken, hope I gave you a good life!

I  have been trying to upload a couple videos from my Android but I am having some trouble. Puppy
 ( formerly known as Dorthy) has learned to pick blackberries, due primarily to her food addiction. I was able to catch that on video what I thankfully didn't catch was what happened after! I discovered I was standing on an ants nest! Poor hubby got to see the most horrid strip tease ever!!!

Personality Disorder

I think Eenie has a personality disorder! She has been all fluffed again to about twice her size brooding on an eggless nest. This morning I opened the hatch, as the girls marched out in an orderly fashion Eenie got a wild feather and flew out of the hatch like a drunk fighter pilot! I'll tell you it was like a bowling ball hitting pins! About two hours out and I saw her suddenly stop, start clucking and run full bore, head down and wings out, the optimum aerodynamic position. She is now back on that stupid nest!    

Working The DR Mower

Concerned about the overgrowth that we can't quite keep up with, Virginia tries to figure out how to get the DR mower started!

New Phone

Marjorie finally gives up trying to teach me how to use my new phone as Dorthy steps up to the plate! They have decided to teach in shifts as their patience is limited!

Deer Netting

So, I've been trying to pull up the old deer netting to movie to my raised beds. This has caused great excitement for my feathered friends because it involves pulling weeds along the bottom to release it! As I am pulling weeds with one hand and swiping chickens away with the other I console myself by saying, at least I'm learning patience! Then it occurs to me, I have already learned patience! How much is one actually required to have? At some point I believe it's okay to just be annoyed!  

BUGS!

I've spent some time riding around on my lawn tractor trying to hack up a bug that I sucked in! I don't see what the chickens see in them, they don't do a thing for me! Oh, and talking about chickens Eeny's still brooding! she's puffed up to the size of a flippin turkey! Every day I have to drag her tail feathers off the nest and lock up the coop so she will eat and drink! She didn't even have an egg under her today, she is mothering air!

Dissapointment

A gallant attempt was made at the introduction of popcorn. Virginia was disappointed, they had to go at it like jackhammers to break it down to consumable pieces. Disapproval bites!

Deranged Penguin

Marjorie: WTF Eeny! You look like a deranged penguin!

Eeny: The Messiah cut off access to my coveted nest, I dream of motherhood, I must enlarge!

Marjorie: Get over it! No rooster, no chick! You're as scrawny as the rest of us!

Eeny: You're cruel!

Fluffed Up

Well Eeny is still brooding for those who want to know. She has fluffed herself to two times her size and  delivers a warning call which is pretty much empty. I have removed her many times from her nest and have offered counseling, still she broods. A mother's heart is instinctual, It's an overwhelming drive, she will never raise the chick she dreams of but hope lives on.....

The Fan

I went to put the chickens up last night and discovered Eeny was still on her nest trying to mother the darn egg that I swiped from under her earlier! After a counseling session I slipped my hands under her wings and lifted her towards her favorite roosting spot. She began to flap like hell within inches of my face, it was like being in a wind tunnel! I'm using her as a fan this summer!

Warmth

warmth when spoken can mean a couple of different things, it can it can be felt internally, externally or both. For the girls it means the sun warms the place where they lay and their family is there to share it with them. We sat on the hill in the evening the other day and sipped a glass of wine and listened to the sounds of content hens, nesting birds, the soft panting of the old dog and in the distance the creek. To me this is warmth

Watermelon

First watermelon of the season has been enjoyed! Marjorie was drunk with bliss as Dorthy found herself gasping at her own image in the reflecting pool of watermelon juice; she had always imagined herself to be more beautiful....... 

Stuffed to the brim with watermelon they happily roosted, it was a good day!

Clockwork

Not much in this life runs like clockwork but roosting does. If I have endured a day that has chaos as it's theme I can find pease at the roost. So glad we built the coop with enough room for me to stand in the corner and watch them settle in. I just noticed that their tails are turned down as they negotiate placement in the rafters, maybe they need a rest after all that egg laying....