The Girls Have Moved

The girls have moved to Franktown, a community north of Colorado Springs. They didn't just pack up and leave in the night.

Here is the story:

My house is for sale and I am moving to South Carolina. I put a winterized chicken waterer for sale on Craigs List. An interested lady emailed me. Ironically her name is Deanne and her email address is Deanne@deannesgarden or close. She is a part of http://www.localharvest.org/farms/M28418. I love these cosmic coincidences. We talked on the phone. She expressed interest in my girls. She has something like 100 chickens, many of fancy bloodlines. She even has a quarantine area (not for bird flu) for those who don't feel well. I didn't ask if she gives them chicken soup. Hildegarde was not feeling well and Deanne was willing to try to bring her back to good health. It helped that she has an Americauna rooster who might marry Hildegarde. Deanne drove her big honkin' truck to pick up the girls. They rode in the cab of course. Since then she has kept me posted about their progress. Hildegarde sat on a nest for the first few days. Deanne put some eggs under her thinking she was broody, but apparently not. My 4 girls come to greet Deanne when she comes out to feed and she calls them by name: Hildegard, Rosie, Lacey and Goldilocks. They joined right in to the larger family and have made many new friends, telling them about life in the big city.

I miss them but am so thankful they have a great home!

Rosie wins the prize

Running, running, running, running, running, running, running, running, running, running around and around and around and around and around, Lacey chasing Rosie. Why? Rosie caught a mouse. It must be dead by now, if not from a blow from Rosie’s beak, at least from fear while dangling from Rosie’s beak and being grabbed at by Lacey. I watched the final act of this play. Rosie swallowed the mouse whole. Like a snake she worked it down a bit at a time. I suppose Rosie’s eggs are no longer organic, certainly not vegetarian.

Ivy's opinion of gardens

Gardens are nice for people. Gardens make people happy. I will wait inside doing chin-ups until later in the day when I go out to watch for little meeeses who may come out to play!

4 Hens in a Row

The big attraction for these four ladies is the remnants of an overturned flowerpot full of potting soil and whoknowswhat!

Did you taste that worm?

That was no worm. That was a piece of vermiculite!

Oh, yuk. I already swallowed it.

Pictured are L to R: Goldilocks, Lacey, Hildegarde and Rosie.

Earth Day Fair

[Photo of cat face decoration on hen pen has nothing to do with Earth Day, just thought you should see it] Goldilocks and Hildegarde were the belles of the ball at the Earth Day celebration at Cornerstone Art Center on the Colorado College campus. Hildegarde: The crowd really loved me. The photographers were pushing and shoving to get close shots. Did they take one of you, Goldilocks? Goldilocks: Sure they did. How could they resist my golden feathers? Everyone knew exactly who I was. They saw our nametags and all knew which I was. Hildegarde: Oh, Goldie dear, of course they did. (cough, cough) Goldilocks: The kids always chose me as their favorite. Hildegarde: Oh really? It was the adults who chose me. They recognized my incredibly subtle coloring and feather arrangement. Goldilocks: I wouldn’t be so sure they were choosing you for your feathers. I heard them talking about KFC.

On Our Way to the Earth Day Fair

Hildegarde and Goldilocks have been preening all day, every day in preparation for their excursion to the Cornerstone Art Center at Colorado College for the Earth Day Fair. Hildegarde has been so nervous she has been unable to lay her normal one blue egg per day but she will not let anyone see she is nervous. “ I don’t know when I’ve had such stage fright. Me? After all my years on Broadway? Getting top billing is such a responsibility. I’ve had to learn all ‘her‘ lines too, just to be sure the play goes on.” Goldilocks has been in a ditter. “Oh, dear, oh, dear, do you think I need to wear shoes? You know how I hate to wear shoes. They never fit right and I never walk right in them. Oh, dear. Oh, dear.” Rosie and Lacey, the two hens who will not be going to the fair have been as kind as possible (not very), trying to hide their envy, giggling quitely and only occasionally pulling on Hildegarde’s feathers, or tripping Goldilocks as she runs past. Hildegarde to Lacey “ Dearrrr, you need not wear shoes. We will be indoors in a very lovely building…..and, the only shoes you have would not be appropriate.” Lacey asks “What’s wrong with my shoes? Everybody I see wears rubber galoshes. They must be in style.” Fans of TheThreeChickenFarm Come to The Cornerstone Art Center at Cascade & Cache le Poudre, Saturday, April 25 from 10-3 to visit these funny chickens. They will be at the Earth Group booth.

The Hens gossip about Michelle and the Queen

[pictured, Goldilocks]

In her haughtiest nasal European voice, Hildegarde spoke down her beak to the other three hens, "The Queen is receiving Michelle Obama today, you know." "Oh, really" said Rosie trying to use her most interested voice. 'Yyyessss,"swooned Hildegarde, "and they'll probably have tea and crumpets." "Crumpets?" asked Lacey, "Is that something to eat?' "Yyyessss, crumpets are wwonnnderfuuulll, and she'll probably served foie de gras,' responded Hildegarde. Rosie (being able to read spoken words in the air) excitedly asked "Grass? We haven't had grass since Camille poked some weed scraps through the pen." "Grass? Grass? squawked Lacey. "My last boyfriend did time in the slammers for grass. We'd better stay away from that stuff." "O, no-no-no-no, we aren't going to have that kind of grass," Hildegarde assured them. Later, when Rosie was alone resting on the nest, Goldilocks came up to her, looking worried. Goldilocks whispered to Rosie, "Who is Michelle Obama?"

New friends on blogspot

Great news! My good friends, Richard, and his daughter, Tara (my Godchild) are gardening. They've had a variety of gardens for several years. Now we can benefit from their experience and experiences. They, in New York state, climate-wise are a month ahead of us in Colorado. They are starting indoors. Sounds like fun. Stay tuned and we will see how seeds, seedlings and little plants develop. Looks like they have really been successful!

Somebody is going to Earth Day

Somebody is going to Earth Day...

"Whaddaya think that means?" "I don't know, doesn't sound good." "Yeah, but it doesn't sound exactly bad." "Well, 'earth' is good; 'day' is good, but I think 'going' might be trouble."

"We have nothing to wear!"

New Girl Name Game

The New Girl Hen was the prettiest one in the chicken house, so I chose her to come and be number four at TheThreeChickenFarm. She has beautiful slender black and white pinstripe feathers diagonally swirled around her head and neck. Her ample body is covered with dark rust brown feathers decorated with faint white spots and silver edging. Her fluffy hen butt is a lovely mix of charcoal and chalk gray feathers. Next time you have a chance, check out a fluffy hen butt. It is fluffy-full of the softest feathers. They must be for cushioning eggs in the nest. Her strong legs and four long claw-tipped toes are pewter gray. Her wattle (the hangey down under-the-chin-stuff) is red. Her small, narrow red comb is perched a bit forward touching the beginning of her rather large beak. Large? It says ‘Vicious- keep your fingers away.’ It has a long, pointed hook, definitely a recessive Eagle gene in her DNA. It emphasizes her eyes that look at you with ‘I can see a mouse at 2 miles and swallow it before it reaches the safety of its hole.’ I scrolled through some chicken picture sites on the Internet. Her closest resemblance is to a hen whose mother was a Golden Phoenix. Wow! Apparently New Girl’s father had flown in on an afternoon breeze from some mysterious island. AND New Girl lays blue eggs. She has not completely fit in with the other three hens but is holding her own. They try to intimidate her because that is what chickens do, but it rarely works. She often stays atop the run overlooking her hen pen sisters, Lacey, Rosie and Goldilocks, probably imagining them as distance mice. If you are inspired to offer a name for this lovely hen, please add your suggestion in the ‘Comments’.

Baby goat boy at the farm

One of the perks of visiting the farm in Calhan is petting the many goats. This recent visit included holding, petting, kissing and cooing over a 5 day old baby goat….OK, a kid. He is glossy black with a few white hairs on the back of his ears. He had no name because he might not stay and they did not want to become more attached to him than they were. It’s hard to look at him without getting attached. He is soooooo cute! As we walked around looking at the chickens and big goats, he and Dreamer (my little Pomeranian) played around at our feet. They were the exact same height. Little goat boy thought Dreamer must be another little goat so he lowered his head and butted. Time and again he walked around in front of Dreamer and ‘Bonk!’. Dreamer would look questioningly at me but did not ‘butt’ back. After a while little goat boy stopped taking time to get in front of Dreamer to butt him. He would stand along side, lean his head to the side and ‘Bonk!’. Sorry, no true photos. We were so engaged with the animals I could not pull away to get the camera.

[The photo shown is NOT goat boy. I added it because I felt I owed you a goat picture. I don't know who it is.]

The Newest Girl

Here she is! Hopefully future photos will better show her lovely feathers. She is dressed in an interesting costume. Her crown is a narrow red comb. Slender black and white feathers swirl around her head, neck and shoulders. Her body is covered with silver tipped 'partridge-like' brown feathers. (The red and white to her immediate left is a plastic waterer.)

As typical in chicken life she has had to fight for acceptance into her new home. Goldilocks, the teenage smart aleck, was the first to challenge the New Girl, and after a couple of pecks ran off singing a song of acceptance. Rosie was subdued almost as fast. Then there was Lacey. Remember Lacey...she came from the farm a few months ago where too many roosters were 'using' her. Consequently she is a real scrapper...."I don't take nuthin' off nobody!" They fought a few rounds, wings flapping, feet raised and clawing, beaks trying to draw blood. New Girl ran into the hen house for a breather. At that time I remembered to get the Rescue Remedy to spray a bit on everyone, including myself first. After a direct spray into Rosie's mouth, she walked past New Girl with an exprssion that said 'I know I had something to tell you but I forgot what it was.' After the homeopathic wore off Lacey started bullying again but less seriously. When darkness arrived they all went into the henhouse and slept overnight together. The following morning New Girl strategically kept her distance from Lacey, so everything is going fine according to typical chicken time.

Umar returns to the farm

Big Umar....all 15 pounds of him returned to the farm. He looked very much at home just seconds after he was put over the fence into the big corral full of chickens, other roosters and lots of goats. He was not confounded by the mix. He challenged another rooster who backed down. It felt OK to leave him. On the way home we stopped for ice cream to celebrate. Umar will be missed, but early morning cock-a-doodle-dooing will not be missed. Fortunately the neighbors gave us a pass for a few weeks but there was no denying his presence.