It's Spring!

I just love springtime! The grass is green and there are more bugs and worms for us to eat. The trees have leaves now, which help protect us from hawks. The days are longer. It's warmer so the nice lady spends more time with us. To quote a friend, "Life is Good."

Here are some pictures of me and my hen friends enjoying springtime.

I wonder how far the nice lady will let us go before she herds us back to the trees?

There is good stuff under the honeysuckle!

Time for a treat from the nice lady. Please, oh, please.

There has to be a nice fat worm down here somewhere!





Oh, look! Ebony found a snake! It won't last long, and that makes the nice lady really happy. To quote another friend, "All snakes are dangerous because they can all cause a heart attack."

Happy Spring to All!

The Mystery of the Messy Pen

When I woke up Tuesday morning the pen was a real mess! I guess I slept through the whole thing. The first thing I noticed was that our ramp was almost ripped from its resting place.

Then I saw our red feeding pan. It looked like it had been thrown from its usual place on the cement block, and it was empty! That pan is kept in place by some kind of elastic strap. So, how it got loose from that is a real mystery. However, the water pan was in its usual place and hadn't moved. (Right now I'm hearing the theme song from Twilight Zone.)

Under our house we have a very nice wind, rain, and snow break that is held in place at the bottom by flat cement blocks. The blocks are usually propped up to help hold the metal sheet in place. Well, that wind break was loose on the bottom and the cement blocks had been moved.

When the man and nice lady came out to check things over, they noticed that the gate to our side yard was open and the cement block that helps to secure it was out of place.

All six chickens are fine, and I'm not sure what happened. Could it have been some kind of varmint or was it a ......

Ditto's Demise

The attack by the hawk happened before I came to live at my new home. From what I'm told, it was a horrible event--one that still haunts everybody. Here's the story as it was told to me.

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There used to be another hen that lived here. Her name was Ditto. She was a barred rock, like me. Ditto was named after Goofball. Ditto acted like Goofball, but it wouldn't have worked to call her Goofball the Second, so the nice lady named her Ditto.





One day Ditto and the rest of the hens were out on a nice bug and worm hunt.

The leaves had started to fall from the trees so there wasn't as much cover from overhead attacks as usual.

Ditto just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, and the hawk swooped down and attacked her. It could have been any of the hens, but it was Ditto that was attacked. The nice lady happened upon the crime right after it happened. The hawk flew away as the lady walked up to fence, but it was too late for poor Ditto.





Her body was on the ground, lifeless. The hens that had witnessed the murder were in a traumatized state. They were hiding and trying to let the lady know that a terrible thing had happened. The nice lady ran to get the man. As the story goes, when the man picked up the lifeless, headless body of Ditto, he asked the nice lady if they should clean Ditto and EAT HER! (That can't be true!) The nice lady answered, "NO," to that horrible question, and they buried poor Ditto, with her head.

A few days later, our fence was moved and overhead fencing was added so that we would have cover year-round. Now we just have to be careful when we're outside of our pen. The nice lady is usually there helping us keep watch for those predators in the sky.





There is a memorial to Ditto. We hope it helps to keep those hawks away from us.

ESCAPE! or My Adventure

I had a little excitement a few days ago. I had been climbing on the wood pile that is on one end of our side yard.

The fence wasn't attached very well at one end, and I decided to jump right through the hole. Why, you ask? To see what was on the other side, of course.

Once I was through the hole and down on the ground I realized that none of my hen friends were with me. They were all on the opposite side of the fence from me. Well, I surely didn't like that.

But I wasn't able to go back the way I came. So, I started running along the fence trying to find a place to get back in. That's when the nice lady saw me from inside her house and came outside to see what was happening. Since the neighbors have dogs and there is a neighborhood hawk around (more about this another time), I guess she was afraid something might get me.

When I saw the nice lady and man coming towards me, I remembered the wing clipping and started to run. Then I found one of the gates that goes to our pen. My friends were on the other side of the gate, and I was bound and determined to get back to them.

I tried and tried to get through it. I tried one opening and all that would go through was my head and neck. I tried another opening, then another, and I finally found one big enough for all of me to get through. I had to work at it and it was a tight squeeze, but I got through. And was I ever glad to see those other hens! Pshew!





Once I was back with my friends and my heart had quit pounding, I heard strange noises coming from the mouths of the lady and man. The noises sounded something like chickens cackling, but I think it's called laughter. Now, I'm not sure I like being laughed at by humans.

My Distant Cousins

There have been some distant cousins living at our pond for quite a while now. The grass hadn't even turned green when they moved in.

After they had been there for a few weeks, the female laid her eggs, and she has been nesting on the pond's island ever since. I think she feels safe there. And her husband certainly keeps a close watch over her.

Our people have been sneaking down to the pond just to watch those cousins. There were some dogs that came visiting one day, and the nice lady had to shoo them away before they swam to the island. Then yesterday, our people had binoculars, a spotter's scope, and a camera, all just to watch a few baby cousins swimming in the pond.

I didn't understand the excitement until I saw the little things. They're so cute!

This morning, we saw the mom and dad marching those 6 little babies up the hill in the taller grass. I guess they're headed for a different pond to raise those babies. Good bye little cousins. Hope to see you later.

Clean Hay

It's always a fun day when the nice lady cleans out our hen house and puts clean hay in it. When she brings the clean hay into our pen in a cart, we usually come running to see what she's doing. We like to hop into the cart and check out the clean hay before it goes into the house.

But just before she puts the new hay in, I like to try out some of my acrobatic moves and inspect it, one more time.

First she cleans out the old poopy hay. Then she sweeps the floor. There's usually some left over feed and scratch that she sweeps onto the ground for us to eat. Some of that old stuff is pretty rank, so we leave it for the wild birds to eat. (They'll eat anything!) Then it's time for us to inspect the house.

The old hay goes to the compost pile, which is another one of my favorite places. Lots of bugs and worms hide there.

The Hen House

We have a very nice house. It's just the right size for 6 hens. We even stay inside all day on snowy days. (I surely do hope there won't be any more of those for a long time.) There is a stair-step roost and 3 nest boxes with an extra roost on top of the nest boxes.

With all of those next boxes, you'd think 6 hens would spread out the eggs, but we like togetherness. There have been as many as 4 eggs in one next box. We sometimes form a line waiting our turn in the nest box. If one hen takes too long, we try to hurry her along by joining her in the nest box.





Sometimes, one or two of us lay our eggs in a different nest box or in the back corner of the house. The nice lady sure looks funny when she has to climb into our house to get those hard-to-reach eggs.

Only one of us lays white eggs--my WEF. I guess white ears mean white eggs.