Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Spring chickens


It doesn't really take much to have a chicken fan club.


Before you know it they'll be eating out of your hand.


Chicken dance lines involve a bit more training.

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Why do you think they call it henbit?


A mouse does not make a good pen.


Once more, from the top


"Sure, they're both European invaders, but the flowers taste really good to chickens. And the square stems are pretty cool too."

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Submitted to the Friday Ark.

19 comments:

anne said...

Love the chickens! We're taking care of my father in law's flock right now - he has ten Rhode Island Reds, one white leghorn, and a passel of little guys including Polish crowns, a number of hens with the "frizzle" feathers, and a few with feathered feet. They're all just beautiful.

Funny you should photograph these things side by side - my brain almost *always* says, "Henbit!" when I see dead nettle. And then I look again and see my mistake. They are similar, but not so similar that I should make such mistakes!

Anonymous said...

Great shots of beautiful birds :)

Truly, one of my absolute favorite things is walking out to the orchard and seeing all my girls make a mad dash for me.

If only I could get mine to line dance...

Rurality said...

Anne, I wish we could find a chicken-sitter! (And dog sitter, cat sitter, duck sitter, parakeet sitter, and gecko sitter.) We might actually go on vacation once in a while. Those plants do look a lot alike -- I thought it was the same plant for years. Most people just call them #&%^$* weeds.

Sarah it was either you or Shannon who first introduced me to the idea of a chicken fan club I think! I'm sure you have yarn fans like I have soap fans, but still, there's just nothing quite so gratifying as chicken fans. :)

Alan said...

Let them see you come around the corner with the scrap pan in your hand and those birds will dance aplenty.

Good looking chickens.

.....Alan.

Anonymous said...

That is a nice looking flock!

Nothing makes me feel quite as good as having a wave of chickens run down the driveway to meet me when i get home from work. They still haven't figured out that I don't have any treats in my car.

Rurality said...

Thanks Alan and Lucy. Chickens would be a great cure for depression, I think. What a great spirit of abandon when running towards treats. Oh and my second favorite game they play, Hide the Worm (or grub or moth).

KFarmer said...

I laughed so hard when one of my little bittys threw her wings back, lowered her head and took off running through the pen- I've not seen that in ages :)

When someone tells me good news and I respond with Hoo Hoo! Bring on the dancing chickens, they look at me rather funny (which makes it all the better:)

Cathy said...

I'm just catching up on your blog. Spring whispers in your ear soooo much sooner than it does mine, so it's nice to enjoy your observations. I could smell the grass from your hubby's first mowing. Ahhhh.

Chickens are fun! I love the flower pictures and am so happy to be introduced to "Henbit".

Lucky, lucky you - warblers, thrushes - I'll just keep dreaming.

mountainmelody said...

Nice chickens! :)

About the cow...it's very close to me. I commented more on my blog.

Have a great day...I love looking at your pics!

Annie in Austin said...

I've got the henbit - but no hens.

This is an absolutely classic post, Rurality. Informative, hilarious and great to look at, all at once.

Annie at the Tranplantable

Trailhead said...

Sigh. I so want chickens, but only ducks are allowed in my town.

Rurality said...

KF, one of my favorite "teenage chicken" moments is when they first discover that they have wings. "Have we not wings? Can we not fly?!" Yea baby!

Cathy if you don't have henbit all over your yard, consider yourself lucky. Though I have to say that a field of it, from a distance, looks very nice.

MM, thanks! Now go get that cow! Like I said, you're younger and can run faster. :)

Thanks Annie! I'll confess that the hens don't really eat that much henbit. But you could probably get some anyway. :)

Trailhead, no! Blatant chicken discrimination. When you think about it, it's really roosters that they should ban, if they're going to ban poultry.

meresy_g said...

Lovely chicken post. A good looking bunch you have there. Lately my girls have been scouring the yard eating the seeds from black locust pods that are all over the place. They must taste really good.

Turtleheart said...

Love, love, love chicken pictures! Mr. Rooster in #2 is quite the handsome fella.

Rurality said...

Meredith, I thought those were toxic! The squirrels love the honey locust pods here.

Turtleheart, hubby named him "Eagle" because he looked so fierce as a chick. :) He was a mistake... a cockerel in an order that was supposed to be all pullets. But now I'm glad it turned out that way.

Alison Peters said...

I am so envious. I'd love a couple of chooks in our suburban backyard but I have a husband, a yappy dog and several neighbours to contend with. Now that I've discovered your site, I can love yours from afar.

Unknown said...

These beautiful chickens were features on ChickenFlicker.com's One A Day, where we feature a chicken related post a day.

http://chickenflicker.com/1aday/

--hen

Emily Cole said...

Those chickens are so adorable... I'm working on getting a permit for some for our backyard! I love the photos of the henbit and purple nettle! Great job! We have tons of the henbit in our yard too!

Rurality said...

Thanks y'all.

To clear things up, I'll also mention that Henbit is Lamium amplexicaule and Purple Dead Nettle is Lamium purpureum.

They are both slightly similar to Ground Ivy, which is Glechoma hederacea.