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Category: About My Chickens
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Let It Go
These little chicks are having a hard time keeping up with their mother. As far as she is concerned, her mothering days are over. They aren’t ready to be on their own. Since yesterday, they’ve been running around, looking for her when she goes off on her own. They are learning the hard way that sometimes you need to let it go, even your own mother.
In some cases, it is the chicks who decide to be on their own, and it is the mother hens who aren’t ready to let go.
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A Little Tenderness
Old Billy, the tenderest rooster of the bunch. He is the father, grandfather, great grandfather, great great grandfather, great great great grandfather, great great great great grandfather, and great great great great great grandfather of many of the chickens here.
For lunch today, tender napa cabbage shoots. It was time to thin out a row of cabbage. A handful of cabbage shoots makes a tender salad.
Tender raspberries are plump and ready for picking. A handful makes a perfect mid afternoon treat.
Baby apples are covered with tender down. Where does it go as the apples grow?
Nothing is more tender than a mother hen. These baby chicks hatched yesterday and today. This afternoon she gave them their first lesson on what to eat. Look at how tenderly she shows them where to peck.
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枝那-Ena and 拓真-Takuma
The dogwood buds look like they are ready to take flight, or burst out in a chorus. May should be called Dogwood. It should be forbidden to build a house or apartment where the residents can’t see a dogwood. If everyone had a dogwood they saw every day, the world would be a much happier place.
The chicks are ready to explore. Tomorrow I’ll open the door and let their mother take them on their way. She is dying to show them their first worm. Little chicks can eat worms longer than they are tall. It would be like us trying to swallow a six foot long hot dog.
Their names are 枝那-Ena and 拓真-Takuma. Ena is the white female and Takuma the black male. They are exploring the greener areas of their expanded kennel. They have a fifty foot section which wraps around the west end of the house.
Takuma is taking in his new surroundings. He can hear the chickens rustling in the brush. Hopefully it won’t be too long before he and Ena can go chase rabbits through the woods. We’ll see if these two can outsmart the rabbits. A trick I saw many rabbits do with our previous dogs, is to run around in a tight circle in the thick brush and get our dogs spinning around the circle, following the scent. And when the dogs were sure they had it, the rabbits would make a bee line in another direction. The rabbit would be long gone by the time the dogs realized they weren’t on its tail.
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The First of the Year
The first chick of the year pokes its head out from under the warmth of its mother’s feathers. Tonight it is sleeping quietly under her, listening to her steady heartbeat. This is why every chick deserves a mother.
I was expecting her chicks to hatch tomorrow. Hopefully, there will be more chicks to see tomorrow, and in a few days, they will be running carefree through the grass.
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The Purple Flamingos are Here. Why Have a Bad Time?
The white wisteria are opening. It’s glorious to be alive. The bees are ecstatic. They live for the wisteria to bloom. If you want bees in your garden, plant wisteria.
This morning I read a quote by George Weymouth, conservationist, horse enthusiast and bon vivant, who recently passed away:
Yes, I love good living. Why have a bad time? It’s such a beautiful world, and every day is my oyster. No one has had more fun out of life than I have.
When you pass, may you be able to say, “No one has had more fun out of life than I have.” May we all be able to say that. Indeed, why have a bad time, especially when the best things in life are free?
Walking out to the pond this morning, I spotted a flock of purple flamingos. The iris have sent their flower stalks high into the air when I wasn’t paying any attention. Their purple buds look like purple flamingos, craning high to see what fish are swimming in the pond.
