25 December 2010
12 December 2010 - Snow Falls on Chicken Universe
This morning the chickens discovered a strange white powder blanketing One Prairie Outpost. Only Bird-seed Genny was brave enough to confront the snow. She, a Black Australorp so named for her scavenging expeditions first thing each morning to the wild bird feeders hanging behind our house in order to clean up any seeds the cardinals, blue jays, juncos woodpeckers and others have scattered to the ground. However, today’s steady winds and deep drifts halted her journey and I had to perform a rescue mission. Since then, no birds have dared venture out of the coop, leaving the desolate chicken yard shown here.
November 2010 - Choosy Chicken
One of the Blondies, a Buff Orpington, searches unsatisfied for a place to lay her egg. She is letting all of Chicken Universe – particularly the two hens nesting in boxes she has has been eyeing – know just how frustrated she is. Ben and I heard her tantrum ongoing for about 15 minutes as we worked around our property before we finally stopped to grab the video camera.
November 2010 - Fanfare
You may recall reading in my September report about the great fanfare by which the chicken community celebrates the laying of each egg. On days when we're around the house, we hear this happy chorus numerous times. Here, one of the Honeys, the New Hampshire rising from the nesting box, has just laid an egg and is receiving accolades. Regretfully, we did not have the video camera running in time to catch her initial report to the others of her successful labors.
November 2010 - Autumn Chores
On a mid-November weekend, the chickens helped me with one of my autumn chores on the farm. As I raked up leaf piles, they quickly undid my work. Here one of the Blondies, a Buff Orpington, scratches in a pile of maple and red bud leaves.
5 September 2010 - Egg-citing News
One of the ladies labored hard on Labor Day to deliver our first egg. As Ben indicated would happen, great fanfare accompanied its arrival - although I didn't realize that's what she was hooting and hollering about until later in the day when I discovered the dainty beige orb in one of the nesting boxes. I'm not certain, but if I correctly recall the cackling one, it was Maude.
5 July 2010 - Just Getting Warmed Up
This Black Australorp has to pump his wings to get his crow on.
5 July 2010 - Learning to Crow
When roosters are first learning to crow, they sound a lot like kazoos.
30 June 2010 - First Roost
For the first time, the chickens can turn in for the night on a proper roost, built by Ben. Up until now, they've had to make due with a improvised roost assembled with cinder blocks and old shovel handles.
30 June 2010 - Eating Zucchini
As do Ben and I, the chickens thoroughly enjoy summer's bounty - from zucchini and cucumbers to romaine lettuce scraps and tomatoes. They also discovered the clusters of grapes on the vines covering one of the chicken yard fences. Good thing we didn't have any plans for those grapes ourselves.
30 June 2010 - Clown Car
The chicks are now 2 months old. Here they are flooding out of the coop into a pleasant summer morning. When I shared this video with one of my friends at work, he exclaimed: "They're pouring out of there like clowns coming out of a car!"
24 May 2010 - Discovering Outside
On May 24, the chicks earned their freedom and made their first excursion outside the coop. They’ve been spending daylight hours each day since scratching for bugs and worms, stretching their wings and giving themselves dust baths.
3 May 2010 - Dashing Chicks
We have five chicken breeds:
- Buff Orpington - As chicks, they are buff colored. As adults, their coloring will be much the same, but taking on a richer buttered-popcorn hue. Eventually, we came to refer to the collective of Buff Orpington hens as the Blondies.
- New Hampshire - As chicks, they are buff colored and difficult to immediately distinguish from the Buff Orpingtons. As adults, they will take on a honey-colored plumage. The collective of New Hampshire hens is now known as the Honeys.
- Rhode Island Red - As chicks, they are copper-colored. As adults, their coloring will be much the same, but taking on a more vibrant burnt red. The collective of Rhode Island Red hens is now known as the Pennies.
- Barred Plymouth Rock - As chicks, they are black with a dappling of lighter color. As adults, they take on a distinctive salt-and-pepper striped plumage. Because we only have three Barred Rock hens, we haven't named that collective. One of them emerged darker-hued, with a deep voice reminiscent of Bea Arthur; we call her Maude. When they were young pullets, the other two would follow Maude around like Larry's brother Darrell and his other brother Darrell, so we now call them both Darla.
- Black Australorp - As chicks, they are difficult to distinguish from the Barred Rocks chicks. As adults, their feathers will be all black and in the sunlight will reveal a beautiful patina. As young pullets, Ben began calling one of the hens Virginia, or Ginny for short. I soon noticed he was calling a different one Ginny each time he visited the chicken yard, so we soon began to refer to them collectively as the Ginnies.
29 April 2010 - Peep Show Begins
On April 29, Ben and I took a leep of faith and welcomed 52 chicks to One Prairie Outpost. Little did we know then how much entertainment they would bring us.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)