Close Call

It was a close thing this morning. I almost got together enough energy and will power to go out and haul some wheel barrows of dirt around and clean the chicken coop.

But just in the nick of time I decided to do laundry and wash my work clothes. No excuse tomorrow. I'll have to get out there and do some work.

Bye, bye books. I still have two more Elizabeth Peters, Amelia Peabody mysteries to finish. I go for the escapist type take me away reading.

I think this whole no energy thing has something to do with the seasons changing. Maybe my body is trying to go into a hibernation mode for the Winter? I'm sleepy and so is Kristine.

The chickens had a scare today and ran to hide under bushes, the jays were screeching and Morgan was running around looking for something. Not barking though. Kristine and I couldn't figure out what the problem was... hawk, fox, coyote?

After the chickens surfaced, I cut them up some cabbage and had a photo op. (Kristine got hamburgers and fries for us and cabbage for the chickens.) They look terrible. The chicken pen and coop are full of feathers just like last year.

The big green bag on the porch is covering the plastic christmas tree. I hauled it out of storage when I was clearing stuff out and left it there. I'm undecided... somedays I think I would like to have a real tree this Christmas and some days I think, no, I don't want to deal with the needle mess, watering, and worry about fire danger.

 News is that someone around the area had their goats and all their chickens stolen. Makes you wonder why they were taken. Food? Mischief? Fowl play? (yeah, I know, bad pun... it's foul)

Global Warming?

Here is a voice crying in the wilderness.

I say Ha! too.

Supposedly, chickens don't fart so I guess I don't have to worry about some global warming edict coming out about how I need to get rid of my chickens to save the world. I feel sorry for the people who have cows. They are getting a bum rap.

Peek at the Past

Molting last year.

(10-10-10)

[1 egg today]

~:>

Smiles

Jail Birds - Chickens Are Locked Up

Ahhh... poor Morgan. Well, she seems to be better today. What I mean by that is there is no bleeding and she kept her t-shirt on last night and all day today so there was no licking.

I used duct tape to tape the neck opening snugly around her tail. Love duct tape. And I used some quilting scraps to make an extension from her collar to the hem of the t-shirt and attached that with large safety pins.

Morgan is out of the t-shirt now and after a bit more neosporin she is laying quietly on her bed. She has orders to "leave it" which means no licking. Hopefully, all will be well in the morning and she can go outside and the chickens can get out of jail.

The chickens were not happy being locked up in their pen and made a lot of noise to get my attention. They calmed down and did some sun bathing while waiting for me to come let them out. But that didn't happen.

I did throw some scratch in the pen to keep them busy, and I cut up a quarter of a cabbage and some cantaloupe for treats.

I feel so guilty keeping them locked up, but it's for their own good. I don't want the fox to have chicken dinner. Kristine counted the chickens tonight and there are still 16.

Since I was thinking a lot today about my chickens being locked up I started thinking about a bunch of chickens that get to roam free through a part of town. Click here to see a photo of chickens strolling across the street in downtown Fair Oaks, California. There is an article about the town and the chickens.

If you are going to be in the area, the Fair Oaks Chicken Festival will be held in September. Click here for the website. I've never been to the festival, but it sounds like fun.

Yep, I changed my blog design again. I thought the other one was too busy and hard to read. I'll try this one out for awhile and see how it wears.

Peek at the Past

click here

(July 29, 2009

[6 eggs today]

~:>

Smiles

Cabbage In The Chicken Pen

click on photos to enlarge

  Here we have a Light Brahma, two Australorps, a Wyandotte and a Buff Orpington. I just read yesterday that Orpingtons and Australorps are pretty much the same chicken breed except the Australorps were Orpingtons that were imported to Australia, bred there for awhile, but weren't recognized as Orpingtons when they were exported. Breed clubs can be so silly.

   The chickens must have really liked the cabbage I hung in their pen last night because when I went out to take a photo there wasn't much of it left. All the chickens ran out of the pen when I opened the door except for one poor dark Brahma. I think she was so upset the rest of the chickens left that she forgot where the exit was.

   The chicken pen is wet but not full of soggy mud, which is a nice change. It is not any muddier in the pen than outside. I have been thinking about getting some horse bedding because I have run out of wood chips. I just saw that rain is forecast and then snow. Wow! I thought we were done with the snow for the year. Maybe I will just put down a layer of pine until we are finished with the rain and snow.

   Kristine had a day off today and wasn't feeing too well so we stayed home. No movie. That's OK. I'm re-reading one of the David Eddings series, The Elenium. I'm on book two, The Ruby Knight. I think the first series, The Belgariad, was the most fun, but I like Sparhawk and the other characters in the Elenium. When it comes to me liking a book, it really needs to have characters I'd like to hang out with. I always wanted to be a knight in shinning armor. There must have been a lady knight or two that snuck in amongst the boys somewhere during the age of chivalry.

[1 egg today]
I went out in the dark
and brought the chicken feed inside the coop.

~:>

Smiles