Monday, June 20, 2005

Chicken chronicles - June edition



I'm not sure if it's the chickens' dust bathing area or Jasmine's.

I guess they made it right by the front door so that our guests would feel welcome to use it too.



Poor little Baldy, looking half-plucked:



I wonder if she'll get sunburned before they grow back.

I'm beginning to suspect that some of my pullets are in fact cockerels.



The only one who's supposed to be a male is the one with no tail. (The other chicks conveniently plucked it all out for him.) But the long tail and saddle feathers on this Marans (the black and white one) and Easter Egger (the black and brown one) are making me suspect that the hatchery owes me some money back.

We were supposed to just be fostering the Rhode Island Reds. But the guy never wanted to come get them (or pay for them), so I guess they're ours. I never would have ordered them, but as it turns out I like them quite a bit. The no-tail cockerel is one of the friendliest chicks in the bunch, but I don't imagine he'll stay that way... RIR roosters are notoriously mean.

10 comments:

Karen said...

Ohhh! Jasmine all dirty! I guess she's more of an outdoor dog, right? My dog is brown so the dirt doesn't show as much (I sounded just like my mother there, didn't I? :)

Rurality said...

Yep, she's totally outdoors. I hate to think what might happen if we let her in! She's a drooly slobbery chewing mess.

Anonymous said...

Do you chickens play with basketballs? (top photo) They lead an enriched life, but I suspect that will make the meat stringy. Don't know for sure though.

Rurality said...

DPR I didn't know if there would even be enough meat on him to bother with!

Pablo, I'm trying to entice them to lay bigger, more colorful eggs... Nah, really they are just some of Jasmine's free balls that have washed down from the neighbors' yards.

Happy and Blue 2 said...

Those are great pictures. As usual..

Mrs. Fordtastic said...

You have a wonderful blog.
I love your comments on life.
Thank you for sharing.

-a wanderer from another blog.

becomingbeing

Karen Schmautz said...

Well, well, well...Ms. Fancy Schmancy "I have DSL and you don't". How's DSL going to save you from this little dirty dog adventure, huh?

(Hitting "Login and Publish" and waiting...waiting...waiting...)

Well...okay, then.

Maktaaq said...

I too was impressed by your basketball-playing chickens.

What's that blue thing in the first picture?

Rurality said...

Thanks H&B and JC.

Hick you wouldn't believe how fast Hello is now. Bwa ha ha!
Blogger itself is about the same though since all the waiting is on the other end I think.

Maktaaq the blue thing is a Spiderman ball, also courtesy of the neighbor kids. Jasmine also has a soccer ball that came via the same route (the ditch). Since we're at a low point, we get all the debris from the whole area.

megabeth said...

I love your chicken updates. Those chickens are so funny.