a man and his hoe

every day is a good day

Category: About My Chickens

  • Backyard Kabuki

    YoungRoosters141025A

    KabukiDressed as flamboyantly as Kabuki actors, these young roosters put on a short, but elaborate performance. They are six months old now and turning into young men. Their combat isn’t serious yet, but in a few months it will be time to decide which ones to keep and which ones to eat.

    Too many roosters make life difficult for the hens, and at a man and his hoe®, the hens have precedence over the roosters.

    The fire in their eyes makes you believe in fire breathing dragons. When movie makers create Medieval tales of such dragons, they should think of giant chickens dashing out of caves and terrorizing the knights and peasants.

    FireInTheirEyes
    YoungRoosters141025B
    YoungRoosters141025C

  • Eggs Are Not a Commodity

    NotACommodityHazel

    I love Hazel’s eggs. Hers have speckles and a distinctive point. (See Hazel, Hazel’s Egg, More Hazel, Laying an Egg)

    Each hen lays a slightly different egg. And every time they lay an egg, it is never the exact same egg. That eggs are all the same, that each pig is pretty much the same as every other pig, that the wheat Farmer Mack grows is the same as Farmer Joe’s, that foods are pretty much the same and can be treated and sold as commodities, that is the great fantasy underlying modern agriculture. It’s why you see just a handful of apple varieties in your store when there are more than 10,000 varieties. It’s why, when you pick up a carton of eggs and look at them, they look indistinguishable.

    NotACommodityShiunhime

    Shiunhime’s eggs, above, are dark and lumpy. Nanette’s, below, are pale and small.

    NotACommodityNanette
    NotACommodityMidge

    Midge’s eggs, above, are simple and light. Coullette’s, below, are fat and brown.

    NotACommodityCoullette
    NotACommodityBecky

    Becky lays a medium, oval egg. Put together, it’s clear that each egg is unique, as unique as each hen.

    NotACommodityCarton

  • Stormy Night Ahead

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    StormyNightB

    An approaching storm is a good reason to make an apple pie. Chickens come in handy when making an apple pie. I have a bowl of apple peels and cores, and bits of pie crust left over after weaving a top crust. A flock of chickens is like having robotic garbage disposals running around, cleaning up all your scraps. And they turn those scraps into lovely eggs to boot.

    StormyNightC

    Lucky comes running, bringing her chicks. A careful mother hen, she peers up to make sure I mean no harm to her chicks.

    StormyNightD
    StormyNightE

    Lucky’s chicks check on me too. I wonder what they see and think when they look at me. They’ve been such good garbage cleaners, I should have baked them a pie too, for them to enjoy this stormy night.

    StormyNightF
    StormyNightG

  • MiAsa 美朝 Gets Some eggs

    MapleOnFire

    It’s another fiery autumn day. A perfect day to put some eggs under MiAsa 美朝, a feisty hen who has been sitting on some wooden eggs for a few days. I’ve written 9s on the eggs as they should hatch November 9 if all goes well. And in case any other hens lay eggs on her nest while MiAsa is incubating, I will be able to tell which ones they are, so I can remove them.

    BasketWithMarkedEggs
    MiAsaFluffedUp

    Here she is. When she fluffs her neck feathers, she looks like a lion. In the clip below, watch how she pecks at my hand when I place eggs underneath her, and see how she shifts the eggs into position underneath her.
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    On the way out of the chicken yard, I laugh at a clever hen who has discovered that the biggest pile of feed is inside the feeder.

    HenInTheFeeder

  • An Egg Makes a Point

    PointedEgg

    Eggs don’t always come as ovals. Sometimes they can be quite pointed. The most interesting ones stay here. That’s the privilege of having your own eggs. The “boring” ones go off to market. Though, none of the chickens at a man and his hoe® lay boring eggs.

    3DozenEggs