It continues.... goofy chicken things around our farm. Now, my husband didn't WANT me to get chickens in the first place. ( see former blog entries) But I did any how- and figured out a good way for the Girls to support themselves. Being a Chicken Sponsor will get a person two dozen "Farm Fresh, Cage Free brown chicken eggs". For a small fee of just $6.00 / month ! These girls are More than supporting themselves by now. My guess is that we can handle 6 Chicken Sponsors- and all of the slots are now filled. A Win- Win situation- I don't have to be concerned with getting rid of eggs, nor using a 'Kabungle' of eggs daily, so they won't be wasted, and friends get to enjoy wonderful Fresh brown eggs each month. ( yes, that is a new word for eggs.... a kabungle of them !
The young hens I got last summer are now laying. Small, dainty brown eggs- of all shades... from a deep deep brown, to a lavender tinted brown egg, all the way to the very soft light brown. By now, I'm getting an average of 4-6 eggs daily just from those girls, and some of them who are a little slower to mature have not even started yet. Then the good ol' gals who are year olds by now, are getting back into steady laying too.
I've not come up with names for ALL of the young hens. Slowly but surely they will all have names.
This evening, some of the working students were here helping out with feeding and turnouts. One of them walked up to the hens' house outside in an attempt to call those hens for dinner, and they would be locked in , safe and sound. She had gathered the eggs in there from today, and felt something smack into the back of her leg. For those who "know" chickens most likely guessed it was a rooster. Sure enough, Rooster Cogburn- our Lavender Orpington Rooster- had decided that she was no hen of his and needed to remove herself from the hens' house. What I tell everyone who comes here is that Rooster Cogburn is NOT allowed to jump at humans- Everrrrrrr. Usually it takes a person acting nasty and scary- and he gives up his bluff. Lately, however, he doesn't bluff- but attacks. He's a BIG rooster too, and eventually will do some damage, should he be allowed to continue . Anyway, what one is to do is to 'egg' ( pardon the pun) him on enough so they can reach down, and pick his bossy self up. Then, carry him around for a while- it WORKS ! This is the first rooster I've tried it with and it does work fine. Providing one can Catch the beast.
So, here's my working student- who is Already in a very bad mood because she's getting sick again- being picked on by R.C. Bad choice of humans to try to boss around. She shoved him with her foot, and he came back, then she stomped her feet at him, and he turned to run out of the hens' house. Right then, she reached down, and grabbed his fancy tail feathers, scooping him up into her arms. Well ! RC was confused as to what had just happened, and being a little befuddled, just sort of sat there. No struggles, just " What the Heck ???"
See ? She's got an armful of Rooster Cogburn !
Even from the back, he's still confused. I sure hope he learns who he better not jump at from behind fast. Can't you just see the hens laughing and pointing at Mr Macho ?
I need to mention also about this gal. One time, we had a bunch of new Working Students, and this gal just about knows how to run the barn by herself. She is THAT good. That morning a few weeks ago, I told the new-bees that if I wasn't around, that they could ask Shanna about anything because she knew it all about WoodFinn.
Well- I have never lived that down and the teasing continues towards me. Its alright- I didn't mean it as Shanna was a 'know it all' but simply someone to ask if one was confused.
A few days ago, I met another chicken person ! Her name is Harley, and she's , ohhhhhhhhhhh, around 7-8 years old. Cute as can be with curly brown hair and a sweet smile. Harley loves chickens. Its' not the horses nor the goats, but my hens. There was an egg in one of the nests and while visiting with The Girls and Harley saw it. I picked it up and asked her if she would like to have it. Oh my- she did ! As they were all getting ready to leave, she found Two More under the mounting block, so she got to take those home as well. I hope she realizes that these eggs are for making scrambled eggs for breakfast, and that they will not become baby chickens !
My husband is getting better each day that passes. NOW he is joking with folks, telling them that because the doctors and nurses refer to his scar as a 'zipper' that he wants to have a small zipper tab tattooed on the bottom of it.
And so it goes at the farm.......
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