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Three hens, one nest

I did a political ‘Shop tonight, but it sucked, so please enjoy some chicken porn instead.

Yes, there is another, empty nest box right next to this one. Chickens don’t care. They’re natural conservatives. (That’s poor Vita top left, with only her tail showing. The rest of her is buried somewhere under the other two pushy old birds).

I had another talk with a local chook breeder today. She’s had a good hatching this time. Possibilities we would be interested in include black, chocolate and lemon (my, that sounds delicious). It’ll be another month before they’re old enough to tell the girls from the boys and take them out from under the heat lamps. That’s the earliest we can bring a couple home.

Oooo, the anticipation…

Comments


Comment from S. Weasel
Time: May 15, 2013, 11:04 pm

After giving the first four terribly sophisticated names, Uncle B suggested we get a black one and a lemon one and call them Sylvester and Tweety. No way. You just know the dumb American would be blamed for that.

Talk about what you like, though. Isn’t Bammy’s press conference about now?


Comment from Oceania
Time: May 15, 2013, 11:13 pm

Bring out the Nazi Chickens!!!!


Comment from Skandia Recluse
Time: May 15, 2013, 11:13 pm

I have wild ducks in the wetland behind the house and I’m wishing I could lure a few into my yard just for the company.

Deer, Sand Hill Cranes, Ducks, coyotes, a black bear. I need to make friends with my neighbors.


Comment from Paula Douglas
Time: May 15, 2013, 11:20 pm

They are so *cute* like that. They’re making a hen-pile. My cats make cat-piles, so why shouldn’t chickens do their version of the same? And hey, nothing wrong with anticipating new arrivals. I was counting the hours until I could drive 200 miles to pick up the newest additions to the clowder. How do you introduce new blood? Do you just toss ’em in the coop and let natural selection kick in–or not? Is there any risk of real aggression involved, or do the chicks just cave right away to deflect trouble from the resident birds?


Comment from Mysterion
Time: May 15, 2013, 11:30 pm

I’ve got a wood duck house in my backyard and it has a tiny birdhouse video camera which is plugged into my television. I’m watching the hen sitting in there now.


Comment from S. Weasel
Time: May 15, 2013, 11:33 pm

Oh, no…it’s quite a song and dance, Paula. It’ll take me all Summer to mix two new ones in. The first two still are higher in the pecking order than the second two. Peace is always fragile in the flock.

It’s probably a bit easier with a bigger flock.


Comment from S. Weasel
Time: May 15, 2013, 11:53 pm

By the way…how many cats and what kind?


Comment from Paula Douglas
Time: May 16, 2013, 1:24 am

Five. Three Siamese–a 13 year-old, one of my two original boys, and his 5 year-old great half-nephews, all from the same breeder–and two Oriental shorthairs, a brother and sister act who will be two in October. They’re from a different breeder. Five totally different personalities but all sharing the Siamese/Oriental charm, brains, and liveliness. Plus gorgeousness. There: you asked about my cats and I can’t stop talking about them. Must…put…tablet…down…


Comment from Mrs Compton
Time: May 16, 2013, 2:23 am

You could eat them and just buy all new ones.


Comment from Stark Dickflüssig
Time: May 16, 2013, 2:37 am

You could get a goat to rule over them.


Comment from Oceania
Time: May 16, 2013, 4:09 am

Did someone say Duck?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6k01DIVDJlY


Comment from Rich Rostrom
Time: May 16, 2013, 4:31 am

Skandia Recluse: Deer, Sand Hill Cranes, Ducks, coyotes, a black bear. I need to make friends with my neighbors.

That will be good, as long as they stay friends. Especially the bear.


Comment from Nina
Time: May 16, 2013, 6:17 am

Stoaty, if you keep bringing more chooks home were going to have to do an intervention.

🙂


Comment from weasel tablet
Time: May 16, 2013, 11:15 am

Nina, we reckon six is as many as our garden will support. The first two are about halfway through their natural lifespan, sad to say.

Oh, man – orientals. How I would love one, Paula.


Comment from Paula Douglas
Time: May 16, 2013, 11:38 am

They are awesome, awesome cats, that’s for sure.


Comment from Some Vegetable
Time: May 16, 2013, 1:16 pm

Weasel – Can’t I please have some popcorn. I got excited and ate all mine when I saw that there’s a 67 hour gap in the Benghazi email traffic. I mean, Rosemary Woods only held out for 18 minutes.

However, no one should get excited that any of this matters to any one except the right-wing fringe. Yesterday, I saw a Chevy Volt being driven by (judging by appearances and the earring) a gay guy; the car was sporting a bumper sticker that read,
“Hillary Clinton/Michelle Obama 2016”.

Oh, and am I really the first to get to the ‘birds of a feather flock together’ cliche for your chooks? I waited a whole 12 hours to give someone else a chance, too!


Comment from tomfrompv
Time: May 16, 2013, 5:18 pm

I wonder what an “un-natural lifespan” is? And how long it is for chickens?

Also, how does one compute the chicken capacity of a garden? I confess not being a farmer, but it seems all one does is toss out the chicken feed and then collect the eggs. I’ve seen pictures of 3 chickens sharing a pot, so space isn’t a factor. Said chickens appear to exist in an unheated, uninsulated, non-running water “flat”. Where does the garden come into it?


Comment from Some Vegetable
Time: May 16, 2013, 6:01 pm

An un-natural lifetime ends when it’s time to start making Sunday dinner.


Comment from Stark Dickflüssig
Time: May 16, 2013, 6:37 pm

A natural life-time ends when the local fox/wolf/dog/badger/weasel/hawk/bear/skunk/monitor-lizard gets hungry.


Comment from Anonymous
Time: May 16, 2013, 6:41 pm

Chickens — even little bantams — can make an awful mess of a garden. They dig, they wallow, their poops are almost as big as their eggs. A radius around the chicken house is usually picked bare. Uncle B is a keen gardener and so there’s a limit to how many chickens the land will comfortably support in that case.

I’m doing my best to see my girls survive to die of old age. We’ve already decided — when Lucia goes, she’ll have to have a monument built in her honor. Best chicken EVAR.


Comment from Weasel
Time: May 16, 2013, 6:42 pm

That was me, bbviously. I’m using the browser inside Steam and it knowest me not.


Comment from mojo
Time: May 16, 2013, 8:44 pm

Un-natural lifetime?

ZOMBIE CHICKENS! RUN!!


Comment from Stark Dickflüssig
Time: May 16, 2013, 9:09 pm

Do chickens who eat tofu & ride bicycles live longer than chickens who eat pork scratchings & watch rugby?


Comment from Oceania
Time: May 16, 2013, 9:48 pm

I guess ‘the birds’ with chickens is not a goer then?


Comment from Some Vegetable
Time: May 16, 2013, 11:06 pm

Stark – re tofu eating chickens the answer is obvious. Which would you rather have for dinner? A scrawny tofu fed string bird, or a plump jiucu one?


Comment from Bagley
Time: May 16, 2013, 11:27 pm

I do think I like your blogging about the chickens the best…more, please.


Comment from Stark Dickflüssig
Time: May 17, 2013, 12:22 am

Everytime I try to read something Oceania links:

http://timecube.com/index4.html

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