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Float On
4-20-12, 7:09pm
749

8 of the 12 new ones decided to line up on the top of one of the benches this afternoon. The older hen came along and really gave them a talking to for taking her favorite perch spot - but she gave up and just sat down. Guess she realized the 'babies' were growing up and she was out numbered.

peggy
4-20-12, 7:17pm
What a hoot! I noticed they pretty much have their backs turned to you..or is it the old hen!

Mrs-M
4-20-12, 7:19pm
What a gorgeous picturesque setting. Straight out of a photography book.

Float On
4-20-12, 7:27pm
Thanks Mrs M. We have several of these 'natural' shelf rock patios. I build lots of little rock walls when we first bought this place 19 years ago.

Mrs-M
4-20-12, 7:34pm
I can't think of a better retreat (hideaway) from the relentless summer heat, than one of your stone patios, Float On. Wish we had something like that. One of my weaknesses related to gardens and greenery, meandering pathways, stone steps with gentle rises, and terraces.

CathyA
4-20-12, 7:42pm
They're really growing fast! How old are they now?
Cute pic!

Tradd
4-20-12, 7:44pm
Great pic!

Kestrel
4-20-12, 8:11pm
Wonderful picture. Thanks for sharing. I miss chickens ... :~)

jania
4-20-12, 9:47pm
Wish I was sitting with them drinking my morning coffee. This spot looks so cool and inviting, I guess that's why the chickens love it.

Mrs-M
4-20-12, 10:26pm
But where is Loosechickens?! LOL!

Mrs-M
4-20-12, 10:28pm
Yes, definitely, Jania. It would be my spot too, to indulge in my morning coffee.

Float On
4-20-12, 10:59pm
Ummm....just watch where you sit. :|(

Float On
4-20-12, 11:02pm
These little ones were born Feb 13 and the following Tuesday (two shipments).

The cornish are so fat. They just walk a little ways and then sit. They'd love to join the others up high but there is no way they can jump up there.

Mrs-M
4-20-12, 11:05pm
Ahem... I never gave any thought to the mess. :)

Selah
4-21-12, 1:52am
I love the picture and I really miss my chickens Pat, Kramer, Bob and Honey! :)

iris lily
4-21-12, 7:49am
They are beautiful! Silly chickens must be fun.

goldensmom
4-21-12, 8:17am
Ahem... I never gave any thought to the mess. :)

Cute picture, I wonder what they are looking at behind the bench? Having many years of experience with chickens and cleaning up after them the second thing I thought of (after cute picture) was the mess.

CathyA
4-21-12, 9:11am
Isn't it about the end of the road for the cornish?

Float On
4-21-12, 10:21am
Yes it is. In fact, I've let the last few go a little longer than I intended. The boys schedule is running me ragged.

Blackdog Lin
4-22-12, 6:54am
What an adorable photo, and what a pretty setting. Thanks for sharing.....

Float On
4-22-12, 9:00am
No more cornish.....
I'm keeping two of the turken awhile longer. I think one is a hen. They seem all legs and neck at this point. One of our favorite Americanus started crowing yesterday so it looks like we've got a rooster. I'd paid extra for all pullets (hens) so a bit disappointed.

CathyA
4-22-12, 9:12am
Sometimes hens crow when they're young........maybe its still a hen?
When I first ordered chickens, I ordered 15 pullets. I was really hoping for 1 rooster. I'd always heard that you never get all pullets, even if you order them (it can be a challenge to sex them at 1 day old). Well, I got 17 pullets! I should have been happy, but I always wanted to have a rooster crowing in the yard. haha
How did the processing go this time?

Float On
4-22-12, 4:41pm
It went fine CathyA, pretty quick.
I just did up a whole crockpot full for shreaded. Freezer is stocked again.
We'll keep an eye on Penelope. I hope you are right.
We had the nicest rooster 2 years ago and I should of kept him, he was more of a pet. I think he thought he was a dog. Maybe if I keep a rooster, we'd have more early warning of fox.
I just worry about the neighbors thru the side woods, but I guess if one really bothers someone they'd come and tell me.

Gregg
4-26-12, 9:53am
I love the picture and I really miss my chickens Pat, Kramer, Bob and Honey! :)

We had Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice when I was a kid. My folks never saw that movie, just thought the names were funny. They tried so hard to be hip. We had fried chicken the night after my Mom found out what the movie was all about...

CathyA
4-26-12, 10:46am
Float On........I would love hearing a rooster! When our neighbors through the back woods had them, I loved hearing them.
I've heard they are very protective of the girls. Some of them can really be a pain in the butt (no pun intended) to the girls though. They can just about kill them.
I think if you really want an alarm-chicken, you should get some guineas!

Float On
4-26-12, 10:49am
No guineas for me - way too noisy.
When I was little we had a rooster that would fly up onto the back porch roof and wait for me.....so he could flog me. I don't know what he had against a little 4 year old but he did not like me. He ended up in a stew pot.

We already hear a lot of roosters from down the valley behind our house but one right outside the bedroom window is really loud. They are very protective of the girls and they love to find treats for them and call them over.

leslieann
4-26-12, 11:36am
Lovely! They look so squooshy...and I can almost hear them...

Sissy
4-26-12, 1:12pm
That picture would be great for Country Magazine!

Speaking of hens crowing, I have one. She crows when she lays an egg. The eggs are small and her crow is not very robust either. She is some kind of exotic ( they were all given to us) and I think she is identity challenged?

CathyA
4-26-12, 3:30pm
Float-On........I can remember when I was little and we got 2 of those pastel-colored chicks at Easter. When they were larger, we took them to a chicken farm that was behind us. When we were there, a rooster attacked my legs. It was pretty scary! Seems like they are either real brutes or real gentlemen! (but mostly often brutes).
This is a little off-topic, but when I was on a chicken forum, one woman was telling about how one of her ducks would attack her feet, every time she would wear white vinyl boots outside. haha Maybe you had something on that pushed the wrong buttons for the rooster? :devil:

Float On
4-26-12, 5:21pm
Maybe, I was pretty partial to wearing my little red and white cowgirl outfit daily!

We had one black angus cow "Muggins" that was very particular about what aftershave my dad wore. She's wait at the fence for him every morning and would give him a good sniffing. If he was wearing one she like she'd rub up against him and moo so low it was almost more like a cat purring, if he was wearing one she didn't like she'd toss her head and prance off, look back and glare. After all that....dad never could sell her.

CathyA
4-26-12, 7:28pm
LOL.....that's so funny! Muggins was very particular! haha

Float On
7-24-12, 3:39pm
chicken update - all the new girls are laying. I've got one that is becoming an egg eater so I'm seperating her and hoping I can break her of that habit or she'll have to end up in a pot.
Just got a call to adopt 4-5 chickens tomorrow from a friend who has changed breeds. These girls are 1-3 years old, two lay green eggs he says so that will be nice again, lost my last green layer to the fox.

CathyA
7-24-12, 5:35pm
Keep them separated for awhile, to make sure they aren't going to give your flock anything funky.
My girls are in henopause and haven't laid for awhile. But yesterday, Skunk put out a beautiful blue/green egg! Why? You'd think this heat would convince her to stay henopaused!
I knew something was up, 'cause she'd squat when I would go towards her. Very strange to have her lay an egg now.
Sorry about your last green layer.
I have to say, the easter-eggers seem to be the most hardy of all the others I've had. They have more personality too.
Good luck with your new ones.

catherine
7-24-12, 5:49pm
Just caught up with that old post... That is ADORABLE! I'm thinking there's probably a hidden TV in the bushes that they're watching, like Animal Planet or something. Or maybe something like HouseHens of Orange County, where young chicks are into it but the old hen is just wishing they'd switch to TMC or Green Acres or something.

The Storyteller
7-24-12, 8:35pm
Just got a call to adopt 4-5 chickens tomorrow from a friend who has changed breeds. These girls are 1-3 years old, two lay green eggs he says so that will be nice again, lost my last green layer to the fox.

Congratulations on your acquisitions. We like lots of different colors in our egg cartons. Dark brown, light brown, green, blue, pink, white... DW works hard to divvy them up in a nice arrangement. It's a nice touch that sets us apart.

Spartana
7-24-12, 11:18pm
I've got one that is becoming an egg eater so I'm seperating her and hoping I can break her of that habit or she'll have to end up in a pot.


oohhh, cannibal chickens! Maybe I should visit this forum more often :-)!

Lainey
7-24-12, 11:47pm
Float On, have you read the memoir "Still Life with Chickens" by Catherine Goldhammer? She moves to a semi-rural area with her daughter after a divorce, and they start to raise chickens. She has a hilarious paragraph on what chickens think about, based on her observations of them:
"Worry. And then don't. Look, a goose. If someone else has it, check it out because it might be good. Or it could just be a stick. If she comes out of the house, she might have bread. Oh no. She doesn't. When you lay an egg, make noise about it. If there's someone in the nest, go in there anyway. The dog is eating grass on the other side of the fence? Go on. Stick your head out there. Peck the dog's tongue. It might be a worm. Jesus Christ, it's the lawn mower. Eat almost anything. When it gets dark, go inside. Huddle up. Everything is exciting. Fly when you can.

So hilarious, I almost fell out of my chair laughing.

Wildflower
7-25-12, 1:49am
Your chickens are pretty colors. :)

CathyA
7-25-12, 7:13am
LOL Lainey.........that IS funny!
Chickens are so silly at times. I looked out my kitchen window the other evening, seeing if they were out of the run and inside the coop yet. They weren't.........and it was late. That meant something was scaring them.
I went out to make sure there wasn't a predator, and all I could find was the peel from the quarter watermelon I had given them earlier. I had set it in the coop and they ate all by the rind. But the rind had flipped over and was sort of in front of their door. It was scaring them. hahahahaha silly girls..........