Tag: Raising chickens

  • Counting Eggs and More

    Tomorrow is egg delivery day. Most of the eggs are used by Tweets Cafe, but some are destined for retail sale. Those cartons get special treatment so that when customers purchase them and open them, they get a nice surprise with a varied collection of eggs.

    EggPrep

    Billy is no longer the top rooster. His position has been usurped by younger, more vigorous roosters. During the day, he keeps to a quiet part of the farm where the other roosters don’t venture much. He does have the company of many hens, which keep him happy. Here he is with Niji-hime and Imelda.

    BillyAndHens

    The sun came out, and this hen spread her body against the warm pavement to soak in the heat.

    HenOnPavement

    The skunk cabbage, lysichiton americanus, are up. They do smell like skunk, though not nearly so strong, though sometimes when there is a breeze blowing from their direction, you wonder what has died. Lysichiton camtschatcensis, the variety which grows in northern Japan and far eastern Russia has white blooms.

    SkunkCabbage

    This time of year, there is so much happening. The arugula I planted last week is up. Much of the arugula you find in restaurants this time of year comes from the deserts of California. On a recent field trip to Charlie’s Produce in Seattle, I learned that due to the warmer than usual winter in California, farmers there are having a hard time growing this cool loving crop.

    SproutingArugula

  • Hazel

    Hazel is nine months old. Here are some pictures of her from June of 2013, July of 2013, December 2013, and March of 2014. She has stunning patterns on her feathers, and with her naked neck, she cuts quite the pose. At a man and his hoe®, every chicken is special.

    Hazel1306
    Hazel1307
    Hazel1312
    Hazel1403

  • Working Mother To Be

    So what is life like for a mother-to-be hen? Most of the time, day and night, it is sitting quietly on her eggs. She is also gently turning the eggs many times a day. This keeps the embryo centered in the egg and prevents it from sticking to the shell membrane. She also protects the eggs she is sitting on and will keep other hens and predators from getting into her nest. (The squiggly lines on the eggs are ones I drew to mark the eggs she started incubating.)

    EggsBeingIncubatedOf course, a hen doesn’t have a servant to bring her food and water. At least once a day, she has to leave the nest to eat, drink, go to the bathroom, and get some exercise.

    OutEatingAfterwards, she is back on her nest until the next day.

    BackOnTheNest

  • Maple or Ina?

    Ina

    It’s easy to tell chickens apart when they are as different as Ina and Maple. But how does one tell chickens apart when they look very similar?

    Maple

    Chickens of the same breed have slight variations in their color, shape, size, and personality. One thing that is unique to each chicken is the size and shape of their comb. When you look directly at their face, which is how chickens recognize each other, each chicken looks very different. There are flat combs, straight combs, wavy combs, spiky combs, wide combs, narrow combs, and on and on.

    MapleMidgeMolly

  • Mother and Daughter

    The relationships mother hens have with their chicks can be rich. Watch hens interact with their chicks, and it’s clear that chicks need their mothers.

    [wpvideo q1ngb4y6]

    HenWithChicksInSnow