Duchess of Chickens

Duchess of Devonshire feeding her chickens. Photo by Bruce Weber

Welcome new chickens! 

Two Black sex-linked and four Plymouth Rock pullets. A pullet is a teenaged chicken, in between fluffy chicks and egg-laying hens.   If all goes well we might be eating the most expensive eggs ever.  

We are socializing them by bringing treats, teaching them about the dog aka their protector, and to come when called.

This picture, The Duchess of Devonshire, illustrates my delight with the whole process of Chicken-ing.  I am working on the outfit.  Thanks to Sally Kohler for bringing it to my attention. I am honored it made her think of me.  Here is a poem to go with it.

Woman Feeding Chickens-- by Roy Scheele 

Her hand is at the feedbag at her waist, 

sunk to the wrist in the rustling grain 

that nuzzles her fingertips when laced 

around a sifting handful. It's like rain, 

like cupping water in your hand, she thinks, 

the cracks between the fingers like a sieve, 

except that less escapes you through the chinks 

when handling grain. She likes to feel it give 

beneath her hand's slow plummet, and the smell, 

so rich a fragrance she has never quite 

got used to it, under the seeming spell 

of the charm of the commonplace. The white 

hens bunch and strut, heads cocked, with tilted eyes, 

till her hand sweeps out and the small grain flies. 

 "Woman Feeding Chickens" by Roy Scheele, from A Far Allegiance. © The Backwaters Press, 2010. Reprinted with permission. 

Happy music & Goat Rodeos

Bluegrass music & Yo Yo Ma? Someone isn't sticking to their genre and then you know what happens? ...... Something cool and creative. 

Here is a leap up and dance song called "here and heaven"

The group is called "Goat Rodeo" and they explain the term as follows--

A Goat Rodeo aka Goat Rope, is a term worth knowing.  It is the most polite term used by aviation people (those in high risk situations) to describe a scenario that requires about 100 things to go right simultaneously if you intend to walk away from it.  As in "that workshop was a goat rodeo" 

 It speaks to the miraculous alignments that can happen occasionally when things work-- the music sounds good, the paper reads itself, the people all smile, the pilot doesn't die, the food is fresh and tasty, and more. When we are part of creating these miracles it may look/feel a lot more like a Goat rodeo than a symphony.

The chorus...
"have we all forgotten that we’re getting old"

Speaking of a Goat Rodeo, well aging is a lot like that.  Lets get old dancing, way outside our boxes and comfort zones. Try something different!

Have something like-minded or like-manifested to share?

RIP chickens! Hello Fox

Chickens chasing bugs 

A yard dance

A moment so perfect comes as

wide gaited she lobbles along until in mid-air she stretches

and snatches catching a mosquito

That is my girl!

RIP Chickens. 

They went down... ALL of them to a mother fox in one afternoon.

They disappeared without a trace

O O O O O Oh oh the vagaries of nature and who who who 

do we root for?

We are getting more chickens, pullets this time. God knows by now the value of each egg.

Tigger the cat watches the flock through the fence

Golden Laced Wyandotte

Plymouth Rock

Mother fox and kits have begun to venture from the den. Those of us living in her range speak of our sightings, check our fences, and call in the cats.

It is a jungle out here in Maine.

Location location location- mother barn swallows

Bugs come to light

This is my summer of barn swallows, Hirundo rustica. I find them everywhere I go. Perhaps a totem?

In my own barn the female has built a nest between two lights that serve our driveway. She looks like a pilot at the helm of a big machine.  At first she flew out each time we crossed into our barn. Seemed like a silly place to nest if you are human phobic. Then one evening as I went to feed the chickens I realized that the lights were attracting insects up into her nest. Food delivered bedside!

For a historical review and fun facts about the symbolism of barn swallows go to symbolism of barn swallows-- here--  "Swallows are often associated with stars and therefore the souls of the dead. Chapter 86 of the Egyptian Book of the Dead specifically instructs the deceased on how to transform into a swallow."

Graduation: Morgan McDonnell

Graduation - Images by Sharon McDonnell

Graduation! We all did it. We survived the tuition, the sweet scary changes, and three hours in the sun.  

Enjoyed the people especially family and roomates. 

Uncle Steve has a cat call that was heard by all of Clark University.  Uncle Pat conducted statistical analysis of graduation program. Note: No names of European descent among the financial economists. In fact, inverse association of sciences with European names. Sixty four percent women.

Boy launched to man.

Chick journal- FAQ's week 1.5

Portrait of a Golden laced Wyandotte chick

Chick of Golden Laced Wyandotte in grass

Questions about chicks-- By popular demand. FAQ's for week 1.5
1. The chicks are nearly three times the size they were compared to when they first arrived at ~ 4 days old.
2. They change from being chicks to pullets by adding feathers. In the past few days we have seen new feathers added to the few they have on each side of their bodies.   In the gallery included you can see which are older as little epaulets become wing-lets.
3. The are beginning to grow the very first little hints of tail feathers. Look at this chicks "tail" in the second picture. You can see a bit of fluffiness and brushy look to the feathers there (just barely). This is from some feathers coming in underneath and the change in the feathers/down at their backsides.
4. They are practicing perching and flying - or some combination - by flapping and jumping to scare and surprise each other.  They leap across the cage into the crowd of their sister chicks ... landing with peep-outbursts.
5. They always walk through their food first, balancing in it and feeling it squeeze between their reptilian toes.
6. Food is more fun, apparently, if stolen from your sister after a chase. It matters not if there is a plate of it-- cheeping and stealing is great game.

More chicks in the gallery for those who love them.  CHICKS HERE

Share your chick stories and help construct tell us when to expect what as they mature.
Thanks!

Spring chickens: little things to save the earth

Rhode Island Red chick sleeping in the spring Phox

Americans have taken to chickens with a earnest vengeance. With the seriousness of intention -- "I want to make a difference" -- a difference in the environment, the food chain, or our relationship to nature -- and the pleasure experienced when that something is chickens. More of us every day are adding these funny productive birds to our homes. For those of us first-timers our chicks are arriving this month. Lots of crazy peeping coming from new homes and more of us falling under their spell.

Here is a chicky slide show to celebrate.... Enjoy!
Spring Chicks - Images by Sharon McDonnell