at home today

venus

a few things from a sunday at home -

flash

the most ambitious, flash flew over our fence recently.   lucky for us (but not for flash) she landed in a tangle of blackberry vines, got stuck, and flapped around trying to return to her flock until neighbor kids came to her rescue.  they came to my door, sweaty and out of breath, yelling "your chicken's in your flower bed!!"  i had a quick vision of myself chasing a chicken down the street and i was so relieved when i found flash caught in the bush.  she wasn't hurt.  and it was still an adventure returning her to the back yard.  she hasn't tried it again... but i am looking up wing clipping instructions just in case.

hero

venus and her impressive red comb - she is laying for sure

apple cores are a favorite treat

i bring the chickens fruit and veggie scraps from the kitchen every day.  they love them so much (i like to think they love ME so much) that every time i open the back door they come running from around the yard, hoping for something tasty.   apple cores are a big favorite.  singer likes the seeds best and she will relentlessly dig them free.  sometimes i pull them loose and give them to her so the others don't get them - they are the only thing singer has happily taken from my hand.

red

red is laying eggs now too.  she has become much more calm and more interested in me.  yesterday she acted like a cat - walking underfoot and rubbing against my legs.  weird for this hen who was so skittish.  today she stayed right near me, pecking at my jeans and inspecting me.  i sat on the ground for a bit and she almost touched her beak to my nose!

red

quinn

lois lane

no matter how much clean water they have, they prefer to drink from this pot of rain water

nico

nico

nico

my flock

clementine

clementine has healed miraculously.  and so quickly! there are new feathers and everything - you would never know she was injured.

i found a pecked egg today.  it looks like the chicken pecked at it, but did not eat it.  hopefully we don't see this again - i've read if a hen starts egg eating it can be hard to stop.  i think this was likely the first egg from one of the younger hens.

everdeen

i take little credit for the oranges we grow.  but i will brag about them.

the orange tree was here when we bought this house.  for a couple of years now we have protected it through hard freezes and the summer drought.  but it was already established.

the oranges taste like sunshine.  they are fantastic.  so fantastic that i almost don't want to pick and eat them.  if i've ever shared them with you, i must really like you :)