every chick deservers a mother
Coullette is the Hedda Hopper of the hens here. Her flamboyant red coiffure against her black and white coat are eye popping. Perhaps a pearl, nestling on her red comb, is all she needs to complete her accoutrement.
Her stunning looks aren’t the only thing that make me smile. When I went to take a picture of her egg, it was smiling too.
After days of wind and rain and clouds, the sun is out in force making for happy dogs and chickens. To the south another front is pushing ashore, but while the sky is blue and sunshine pours out of the sky, we are making more electricity than we are using. The arrows in the middle of the netmeter are pointing to the left, which means we are pumping electricity out into the grid … and it’s only the beginning of February.
The hens have outdone themselves again, laying a beautiful basketful of eggs. These are from yesterday afternoon. My favorite are Midge’s speckled, purple-hued egg in the middle, and Hazel’s freckled egg below Midge’s. They are so beautiful, I’ll leave them on the counter for a while yet. A basket of multi-hued eggs is as pleasing to the eye as a bouquet of flowers.
Chickens have such intense, beautiful eyes. When you are close to them, they follow your every move. Billy can see me from a long way off. If he sees me on the back porch, he’ll come running to see if I have a treat for him. I guess I’m lucky to have a chicken who greets me in the morning. How many people get to say that.
Though with their piercing eyes, when thirty or more chickens come running after you, it can be startling. Imagine what thirty pairs of intense eyes chasing you looks like.
All it takes is a few minutes of sunshine to make the day remarkable. The wind was blowing ferociously this morning. In the afternoon, the rain came down in sheets. The chickens spent much of the day huddled under the trees. Late in the afternoon the clouds lightened, and streaks of blue appeared in the west. Golden rays of sunshine poured through, making the daffodils glow. Flowers look most beautiful after the rain, with sunshine dancing on their rain drops.
Accidents happen to everyone. Echo, valiant protector of roosters, defender of hens, and faithful guardian of chicks, has hurt his left eye. The vet isn’t his favorite place to visit, but he’s making an effort. He’s even carrying his own leash in his mouth.
Seeing is believing. I often read skeptics claim that putting in solar voltaic systems in the Pacific Northwest, especially the cloudy, dreary Puget Sound area is pointless. On Friday, January 30, the company installing our system switched it on. On Tuesday, February 3, our utility installed their new meter. We had sunny weather on Saturday, but the rest of the days have been cloudy with intermittent drizzle and rain. And yet our electric usage has plummeted to less than a fifth of what it was, and this is the cloudiest time of the year. Wait until the sun is shining sixteen hours a day this summer.
Wow! Sometimes you can’t help but get excited. If we all did this, we could close all the coal power plants and shut down the coal mines in a few months. Millions could start breathing clean air again. According to the American Lung Association, “Particle pollution from power plants has been recently estimated to kill approximately 13,000 people a year. Most coal-fired plants are concentrated in the Midwest and Southeast.”
The Union of Concerned Scientists says, “In 2011, utility coal plants in the United States emitted a total of 1.7 billion tons of CO2. A typical coal plant generates 3.5 million tons of CO2 per year.”
The owners and operators aren’t going to close these power plants and coal mines on their own, but a drastic reduction in electric consumption by everyone generating much of their own electricity will close them faster than anything. We can do this. Not only will we all breathe cleaner air and see bluer skies, so will all the chickens.
If they’re not scratching for bugs or running around courting or taking sunbaths, chickens love hanging out in the peanut gallery. From up in the peanut gallery, they can keep an eye on what is happening down below. For chickens there is a lot to watch. Which rooster is the dandiest. Which rooster fetches the best earthworms. Where the best nesting spots are. Who has the juiciest gossip to share.
Chicken society is complex. Chickens have a lot to do and see.
Feeding chickens is like attending a fashion show. Only, instead of aloof models parading down a runway, I watch contented chickens who have no idea how fabulous they look. Why is it that fashion models never smile? They look so unhappy. It doesn’t make me want to buy their clothes. I’m not the only one puzzled by this. According to Professor Ketelaar in the New York Times article Solved: The Mystery of the Miserable Models, “lower status individuals appear to smile more than higher status individuals.” And since fashion designers are trying to cast an air of high status to their line of clothes, they don’t allow their runway models to smile.
Well, maybe if they got to wear clothes with designs as fabulous as my chickens, they’d smile more.
Before a fern can be born, it needs a soft bed. Soft fern beds don’t come from the mall, they grow from baby moss.
And when the bed of moss is large enough, a baby fern can start to grow. They’ll grow together until one day, they form a lovely garden in the sky.
