It’s a cool, July morning. During the night, a spider spun a dewy web in the grass.

The Barred Rocks are fully grown. I haven’t spotted one on a nest yet, but I am finding pullet eggs so I’m sure they are starting to lay.

The forest is a favorite place for mother hens to bring their chicks. How many chicks are in the picture? They blend in well to the forest floor. Every mother hen has her own rearing style. Most don’t start roosting until their chicks can fly up with her. Maybe because it is summer, or maybe because she was raising so many, she went back to roosting after two weeks, leaving her large brood to huddle together on the floor at night, but during the day, she calls them all, and leads them on great treks through the woods and out beyond the cabin.