You are my sunshine, my only sunshine,
you make me happy, when skies are grey …

Sunshine made me happy when I caught her checking out a nest. She didn’t know how funny she looked, standing apprehensively on one foot as she deliberated whether to use the nest or not.

This swelling Artemis melon also makes me happy. It hangs like a green moon in a cloud of melon vines. For happiness, live among the chickens and plants. They’ll keep you entertained and humming a song.

Nearly five months ago, at the beginning of April, Skunky was an adorable chick who could easily fit in my palm. She’s a stunning hen now, maybe a month away from laying her first egg.

She is so elegant, I could see her on the cover of Vogue. It would be a bestseller. First hen to ever grace the cover of Vogue. The press would go nuts. There’d be a line of reporters from the gate out to the road, and up the hill, and down the other side. They’d throw their drones up in the air to swoop around until they spotted Skunky. They’d push and shove and knock the fence down. Skunky and the other chickens would shriek and fly off into the woods, never to be seen again.

Maybe it’s best that Skunky not be on the cover of Vogue. She’ll do better without all the attention.

• Skunky Today
• How Is Skunky Now?
• Here Comes Skunky
• Skunky and Family
• Where’s Skunky This Afternoon?
• Skunky in the Woods
• Skunky at One Week
• A “Skunk” in the Chickenyard

A sunny day is a good day to crack out of an egg. The sunflowers are blooming as brightly as the sun. Sunflower’s hens started hatching on Sunday. One of her new chicks is part Turken, a breed of chickens which has no neck feathers. This one is all yellow, an usual color for a Turken. You’ll see it in the last picture in this post. When it walks around, it looks like a tiny bobblehead doll.

Sunflower is a very protective mother, one fierce hen. With her chicks, she is all love and sweetness. With everyone else, there is no love, just a threatening glare, and a painful, blood-drawing peck if you dare get too close.

Usually chicks look nothing like their mothers. Their baby colors are usually different than their mother’s feathers. This little chick is the same shade of reddish brown as her mother. Will it grow up to look like it’s mother? Maybe, maybe not.