every day is a good day
How much does a chicken poop in a night? I know it’s a question that has crossed your mind many times. Here’s the answer: A Handful. The picture above is proof. There is a single chicken who spends its nights, not on the roost with the other chickens, but in this nest. Every morning guess who has to clean it up?
Yup, in just one night, a chicken will fill your hand full of poop if you hold it under it’s butt, so don’t. That’s my advice.
Mother and daughter, Hazel and Special, shared breakfast together this morning. Hazel, the dark hen, raised a clutche last year. She was an outstanding mother, and I hope she raises a clutch or two this year too.
Special will be a year old soon, and with her eardrum shattering voice, if she decides to raise chicks, I can hear her scolding them now. She’s apt to be quite the tiger mom. I can picture it already, me working in the garden and hearing her cries, making me wonder, what have her chicks done now?
Here are pictures of Special as a baby chick. She was so adorable and looked like a chick dressed up as a clown. You can see her mother thought she was special too.
The thimbleberry’s are unfolding their new leaves. This time of year, there’s something new to see everywhere you look. If you have a flock of hens, don’t forget to give them new nests from time to time. It’s not enough to keep their nests clean and add new straw to them.
Just like you don’t like to shop at the same store or eat at the same restaurant all the time, hens appreciate new nests in new spots. My sweet husband set up several new nests above some older ones. The next day, hens were already trying them out. Here’s Ungetsu-hime 雲月姫 about to lay an egg in one of them today.
“Hmm, the view is better from up here.”
“Wow, look at the nice curvature this nest has!”
“Black, always was my color.”
Who knows what attracts them to new nests. Just like you get tired of that new outfit you’ve been wearing the last few months, hens get tired of nests. New ones in new places make them happy. You want delicious eggs, you need happy hens.
The cherry blossoms are in full bloom. Add a little blue to the sky, and it takes your breath away. If you’re outside, it’s impossible not to be entertained. One moment, it’s the cherry blossoms dancing their hearts out in the brisk spring wind. The next moment, it’s a hen gobbling down a field mouse.
I rushed to take some pictures, but she was too fast. Before I could get my camera on her, the mouse was almost down her hatch. If you look closely, you can see the tail of the field mouse dangling out her beak.
How do they do this? Chickens have hawk like eyes and are wickedly fast. If they spot a field mouse in the brush, it doesn’t stand a chance. One or two strikes with their strong beak, and the poor field mouse is dead. When they catch a field mouse, they have to gobble it as fast as possible, or another hen will steal it.
Watching my chickens run about, it makes me wonder where the idea for vegetarian chicken feed came from? Not from someone who has spent any time observing chickens in the field. These are brilliant, capable hunters.
The bleeding hearts are spreading their lacy leaves. This morning their leaves are jeweled with yesterday’s raindrops. Before long, their pink flowers will dangle gracefully. Back in 2006, when we brought BB and Echo to live with us, Echo had his first encounter with bleeding hearts. His smile and playful, wagging tail are no longer with us, but the fond memories of him sniffing the bleeding hearts still delights.
I’m laughing frequently these days reading Fukuoka’s The One-Straw Revolution. His insight into nature and the ridiculously complex systems we’ve made to feed ourselves is a good read. I haven’t laughed so much in a long time.
“The world used to be simple. You merely noticed in passing that you got wet by brushing against the drops of dew while meandering through the meadow. But from the time people undertook to explain this one drop of dew scientifically, they trapped themselves in the endless hell of the intellect.”
Excerpt From: Masanobu Fukuoka, Larry Korn, Wendell Berry & Frances Moore Lappe. “The One-Straw Revolution.”
One of our cherry trees is in full bloom. There are just a few shy buds working up the courage to expose their delicate petals. Even cherry blossoms have personality. Some are unabashed tarts, too eager to show their wares. “Tickle me, tickle me,” they sing with no shame. The modest ones need to be coaxed to furl their skirts open.
Below the cherry trees, the chickens wait. You won’t read about this in chicken handbooks, but cherry blossoms are a spring time treat for chickens. In a few weeks as the cherry blossoms fall as thick as snow, the chickens will feast on them. If you close your eyes and taste their eggs during this brief time, you can pick up the hint of cherry blossoms on your tongue.