One of the pure stock Brown Leghorns hatched in Batch 1 is a friendly girl we call Tatiana (“Tati” for short). She has beautiful wild coloring and a funny floppy comb – just like her mom did – that hangs over her eye and looks like 80’s bangs.
We’ve found BLs to be good foragers and great layers, but Tati’s mom, LaToya, was a flighty hen, and at the bottom of the flock’s pecking order. She was also mean to the ducks, who probably thought she was crazy. We didn’t expect that one of LaToya’s chicks would grow into a hen who follows us around, pecks at our toes, and lets us pick her up. Continue reading “Chicken Spotlight: Tatiana The Friendly”
We’re in the midst of a heat wave here, and that means sunny days, perfect for making sun tea. Why not harness the sun’s energy (if only a tiny bit) to make what will become refreshing iced tea? Plus, sun tea jars look cool.
Coraline’s babies will be six weeks old tomorrow, and they sure look different from the yellow and brown puffballs they were not so long ago. Their color has changed significantly: now, they’re predominantly brown, and a few have white chests. They’re about half Coraline’s size (a couple are larger), and very curious about the world outside their run.
Our chickens and ducks free range, so they’re always looking for tasty snacks. We finally created our compost heap a couple of weeks ago, and they love it. They pick stuff out of there we wouldn’t have guessed they’d seek out (like sweet pepper seeds and scraps), and when the gate is open, they scratch in it like there’s no tomorrow.
Coraline’s ducklings are just over two weeks old now, and they’re healthy, active, worm-eating machines! Since the weather’s been so wet, the worms are practically crawling into our hands, so it doesn’t take much effort to collect quite a few for the ducklings.
