Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Day 195: Chickens!



I usually take it easy the first day after a work run. A personal Sabbath. Just a couple of doggy walks around the ridge.

Our chickens are getting big. Welsummer chickens. In a couple of months (should they survive the predators around here), they should start giving us eggs.

Having chickens is new to me. The six chickens we have are quite good at scratching about for food. They delight in finding an anthill. It certainly saves on the cost of feed. They also are quite social: When I come home from my travels they run up and greet me like a dog.

As for the dogs? Abbey, the new puppy, loves to chase them around. Takes great joy in this! Right now the chickens outweigh the pup, so it is an even match. Angel has adopted the chickens as more creatures in her brood to protect. When the chickens turn in for the night in their chicken coop, Angel will stand on the deck above the coop and keep an eye out, occasionally barking, warding off skunks, bobcats, mountain lion and other creatures of the night.

So far, the chickens have escaped the red tooth and claws of nature.

These are happy chickens! They roam all around the property during the day. They siesta under the Apricot tree during the noon time heat. At night they put themselves to bed in their "bomb shelter". Joni closes the hatch and tucks them in. Angel watches over them from above. So far, so good.

3 comments:

lph said...

Cool! I hope they are savvy enough to hide from the shadows above their heads.

Jacqueline Donnelly said...

I've always thought of chickens as very amiable creatures. I'm glad you have such nice ones. May they stay safe.

Allan Stellar said...

Hi Larry and WW..

I've been reading Kingsolver's book on eating locally. She talks about industrial chickens that no longer can walk. Nor scratch for food. How sad...

These chickens are social, forage well and seem to have more common sense than some people I know (including myself). Tis fun!