Free Time on a Saturday Morning

Helen

Snuggling Clementine

Thomasina

Chicken with Fresh Herbs

Chickeny Love

Ballerina Chickens

Ha! That title reeled you in, didn’t it?

Well, okay, so No, the chickens have not been doing pirouettes over the lawn, but they are practicing their leaps over their fence and that is getting on my nerves. We’ve been letting them out of their “secure location” a bit this winter to free-range and eat bugs and weed seeds. But now with spring on the horizon it’s time to rein them in a bit. We’ve been thinking of inviting the little kids of our neighborhood over for an egg hunt at Easter, and we need a little time for the “manure” (as we farmer people say) to compost into the lawn. But those darn chickens are not cooperating, and Felicity and Pansy must be of a breed that still has a lot of flying capacity in them. I’ve enlarged their run but have not yet installed some sort of netting for a roof, so they just work up an energetic flap and fly over. Argghh! Then I must chase them, catch them and throw them back in. It does get me some exercise on a slow day, so I suppose that’s beneficial.

Felicity on the lam

In the chicken tractor that my sweet husband built in the fall - useful for days when we don't feel completely cooped up but not totally free range, either. Bella is to the right, sniffing for goodies.

I also feel that it is time for a ballet update. Since my sad second beginner ballet class, I had to miss a couple due to familial illness and strife. Thursday I returned with great trepidation and still without cute pink slippers. But my friend was there and we are slowly learning and feeling less insecure together. Loulou has been coaching me on the positions: first, second, third, etc. When we were told to balance on “releve” and feel that we were growing two inches taller, I did kinda feel a little taller (always a good thing for me). And at the end when we did our little dance routine-y thing across the floor to the lovely, floaty piano music, I was concentrating so hard on the steps that I forgot to feel intimidated and instead felt almost graceful! Maybe that means that I am no longer a “chicken ballerina.” Ha!

Blas-Fix Egg Blower

Cuzzy asked what an egg blower is. When we were little, in order to get hollow Easter Eggs, we had to blow them out with our mouths. Sometimes raw egg yolk would ooze out onto your lips, and sometimes you'd forget and suck instead of blow. Yuck! It was really hard on my sinuses and made my ears hurt too. And we weren't even worried about salmonella yet!

So the Germans, who love to celebrate Easter with pretty things, came up with a nifty little pump to empty your eggs and clean them out, making only one hole in the egg. Here it is.

Farm Report

Our hens began laying in the darkest week of December! Now we are averaging about 2 1/2 eggs a day -- they conveniently all lay different color eggs so it's easy to tell them apart. The only problem is bringing myself to use them, because they are so pretty. So I got out my Easter Egg blower so I can save the shells for Easter. Aren't they pretty?

Unblown eggs....working on a full dozen, but we keep eating them.

The notion of chickens in the snow is strangely romantic to me, and during our First December Snow, (not to be confused with The Big December Snow-during which the chickens refused to come out of their pen) I found myself humming "Chickens in the Snow" to myself to the tune of "Strangers in the Night".

Here's one "exchanging glances."

Week Old Chickies

We are a week and a half into our chickydom, and they have been viewed by many small friends and survived our pattings and lovings. Their wing feathers have grown in and they seem to take delight in stretching their miniature wings and flapping about in the sawdusty world. Now their tail feathers are starting to grow in. The process is fascinating for all of us. Of course, as they grow, so does their size and quantity of poop, but that's good for the garden, right? This week their chickeny instincts of scratching and pecking kicked in, and on Wednesday when I was lying in bed with the flu, the constant sound of their peck, peck, pecking on the bottom of their Sterilite bin was starting to make me a little crazy. I had visions of small chickeny al-quaeda operatives pecking out secret Morse code messages. So I'm working on finishing up their outside home, so as soon as they are feathery enough and the weather cooperates, they can take their pecking outside. But even with the pecking, we still think they are pretty wonderful and love to watch them socializing and taking dominion of their bin.

Our chickeny life in a bin.

Zarli also loves the chickies!

Pansy in the Chicky Cam.

Summer Impressions

It's about 80 degrees in our backyard at 7:30 p.m. The Irish Rovers playing in the CD player here on the deck. Four children playing in the backyard, three playing soccer, one swinging on his tummy and hopping in his orange car for a quick spin around the patio. Warm air with a slight breeze that seems more like August than May. Water gurgling in the fountain, dinner inside me that we ate out here in the fresh air, my favorite way to eat. Peter and Zarli running around with their bare chests, like little men. Everyone in barefeet. A hot day filled mostly with a yard sale at our house, where we didn't make a ton of money, but for the kids, certainly more money than they usually make in a day. We also took the chickies out to see the grass for the first time. They liked it. The day was hot and tiring but worth it even just for the nice evenign feeling I have now. Now they are playing statues and Zarli is investigating the hose and then running across the yard shouting giberish. I think, I really think, that they are having a happy childhood, and it occurs to me that I am a blessed, fortunate girl whose dreams are coming true. It's not a perfect childhood, after all, they have me for a mother. But I think God has blessed them with pretty much everything they really need, and a lot of things they want as well. That makes me happy. Everything is so green now and is filled with the promise of summer and homegrown veggies and berries.

Chickens At Last

Three baby chicks, two days old. Hard to believe that they were each in an egg two days earlier. We are happy.
Taking the fresh air.

Chicky cam.

Yesterday at long last we got 3 little chickies. 2 Araucanas and 1 Rhode Island Red. They are very cute and small and soft and chickeny. Their peeping is very small and cheerful. I feel brave. Bella is slightly insecure and when we go down to visit them by the washer and dryer, she hangs around nearby and licks her chops. I think if we can just keep them safe and out of the way until they are big enough to give her a good peck on the nose, they'll be alright. The 3 big kids each got to name one: Peter chose Red Rose for the Rhode Island Red, and he has said it's okay if I call her Rosie, Marina chose Pansy and Evangeline chose Felicity. Zarli chose their middle names, after friends of his: Hannah, Ada and Emily. Right now they are living in pine shavings in a Sterilite tub under a nice warm red light. With their pooping though, it won't be "Sterilite" much longer. But for now it is cute tiny chick poop which isn't too scary yet. Peter keeps disappearing and I find him down there, just watching them run around, and then he tells me their escapades. It's rather wonderful.