A Cautionary Tale

Perhaps you other chicken people will recognize yourselves in my cautionary tale.

I have been having major pain from my spine through my shoulder to my funny bone. After about four days of suffering, I made an appointment with a chiropractor for before work. I woke up, did my chores, raced out of the house almost an hour early to make my appointment. (Here in the country, everything is 30 miles away!)

The chiropractor welcomed me, had me change into a gown, returned and cracked my back and neck, then left the room. And that's when it happened...

I looked at the stool I'd just been sitting on and on the floor in front of it? A big clod of chicken poop and straw! As I glanced around the room, two more clods that had obviously fallen off my dirty shoes! Horrors! Luckily there was a handy box of tissues nearby, so I quickly picked it all up, hoping the chiropractor had not seen what a mess I was!

I know, I know, I should have a separate pair of barn shoes. But I've never been able to make that work -- I always end up having to dash out there for something, or not being able to find the right shoes for the right place. Any help for me?

Chickie Bedtime

The babies are growing up! Mama Hen has tried a few new places to sleep -- apparently the nest box just can't contain them any longer. Actually, Mama can't contain them any longer, either, as you see on this short video.

Indeed, their inquisitive natures have kicked in.

Mama's begun leading them outside for fresh air. They still stay pretty close to her, but each day they grow bolder. Then, at bedtime, they get a little snack of baby food...

Pose a moment for the camera...


...and pop under warm Mama Hen for a long night's sleep!

Searching for gold!

If you're lucky in the country, you'll see both pots of gold!

Today brought us gorgeous sunshine for hours, but late in the afternoon a sudden downpour came down the lake, headed straight at us. I rushed the dogs and cats in from the yard, catching a glance down the driveway of this glorious rainbow, so I just had to pop back outside to capture it. It was just what I deserved after a busy day at Busy Solitude Farm!

Cleared most of the vegetable beds today, putting them to bed for the winter. I left the kale and cabbage -- the chickens just love them, so until they've been eaten, their beds will be full. And I did not have a chance to build the final raised beds. Maybe tomorrow.

Inside the house, I worked on my craft room, changing the above to the below.


This wall will have shelves on it. The blue will peek out from behind whatever it stored there. As is evident from the boxes stacked in the middle of the room, this project is really pressing! I am eager to have a place to set up my sewing machine and leave it in place, and to be able to find my tools and supplies without digging through fifteen boxes each time.

In the barn, Egglebert's challenges have grown more frequent and aggressive. Look at that spur on his foot -- he can do damage. Part of the reason is that the vision in his left eye is totally gone (wounded by Tweedledum in the fight that ended Tweedle's stay with us). I think the young adulthood of this year's chicks has also tweaked his testosterone.


In any event, he is wearing on me. The two chicks that hatched this summer show potential to be roosters as well. If that is fact, then I have a difficult decision approaching.

But for the time being, I'm going to enjoy the rainbows in my life!

Movin' on up!

The chicks and Mama Hen have moved upstairs! Last night I went to turn out the chicken light and was surprised to hear peeping from the laying boxes. There I discovered this happy family snuggling in for the night. I'm not sure if it's warmer there than in their dog kennel on the floor (probably is) or if Mama is getting the urge to begin laying again. Or maybe it's just because the little ones are big enough to fly up that high now. In any event, they made themselves quite comfortable in their new penthouse digs!

I was at home all day today. Often when that's the case, the chickens stay inside because the dogs are outside with me. I distracted them by tossing them a cabbage from the yard, roots and all. This is what remained at the end of the day -- rather like a cactus! Lots of entertainment for confined birds.

Oskar partook of his favorite sport this evening. Need I say more?! Bye for now!

Loss in the Yard

Ari Duckass and Dick the Duck

I don’t know what happened. That might be one of the worst elements of the whole thing. I’ve lost someone who amused me greatly. And I can see that the survivor feels the loss. But I haven't a clue what happened.

Something killed one of my ducks today while I was at work. The body was barely violated, lots of feathers off the neck. But chickens peck at everything and it’s likely that at least some of that damage happened after the fact. Whatever the fact was.

In the short time they’ve been here, these ducks’ personalities have impressed me. They are pushy, loud, bossy, and they want to have fun. Lots of fun. As soon as they learned to negotiate the in and out ramps to the barn, they daily pushed to the front of the line to race to their swimming pool. And it’s no lazy swim when the ducks jump in – they splash and dunk and, uh, have boy-girl fun in there!

Thinking about boy-girl, I’m not certain if it was the male or the female duck that was killed. Only their voices differentiated them for me. But their swimming pool antics assured me I had one of each, and I’d already begun to anticipate more fuzzy yellow ducklings next spring. Now there will be none.

The surviving duck has been largely silent. But is that a trait, or is that because she has no one left to talk to?

The survivor.

Addendum, Wednesday morning. Lots of quacking in the barn, and I found a duck egg. I think it was the male who died.

Dewy

Early Sunday morning. No sounds from the road, just the clucking of the hens and the quacking of the ducks. The air is cool and heavy with moisture -- dew covers everything.


Here at Busy Solitude Farm we are in the Galien River Watershed. Our water table is quite high; four years ago when we moved here we had to install a septic mound system because a septic field would have been too close to the water table. No matter, I planted it with a small, low-grass prairie and now it features prominently in the landscape! All of this water means we frequently have foggy mornings.


My NeBoShone pine. That's not a Latin name, don't look it up! I call it that because my friends at the NeBoShone Association up north gave it to me for Christmas one year. I had it in a huge pot for about four or five years before I finally landed here and put it in the ground. Over the past few years it's grown well, happy in its permanent home.


The vegetable garden slowly fades as the days grow short. I'll eat cabbage for a while yet, and the tomatoes still on the vine will ripen, but nothing new emerges this late. It's time to plant the garlic, put the beds to bed, and make plans for next season.


Lots of cosmos and zinnias still bloom in the cut flower bed. They linger until a frost and I'll enjoy their colors a while longer.


And I'll enjoy their colors a while longer, too! The dew holds scents close to the ground, fascinating those big dog noses. Oskar and Ulani can show me exactly where a bunny ran, or which direction the deer came from. But look out for those big hairy feet coming inside after a run through wet grass!

Barn Sounds

Egglebert and the ducks were alarmed! OK, so they had reason. I had just taken my black cat on a tour of the barn -- held him firmly under my arm, but he did look over the wall into the coop area and that was enough to set off the alarm. This clip is a bit lengthy (1:15 or so), but I wanted to include Egglebert and the duck. Caution: dogs and cats may go crazy hearing these sounds!