More crowing and commotion

7-8-03

First, she thought she was a rooster, what with crowing and all. Now she thinks she's a parrot. Yesterday, when I went to turn them loose for their evening free-range treat, she flew up on my shoulder and perched there like she was a parrot. When she starts to cackle out sea chanteys, I'm gonna ship her off to one of my shanty-singing friends so they can do a duet!

7-12-05

I've raised a bunch of jealous critters- the cat is the only easygoing one of the bunch! Son called today to see if we'd babysit grandson Brandon for a few hours. Mr. G was working and not due home until close to seven, but I said "Sure, bring him over." Little Bit, the paranoid cocker mix, has always disliked children- I have to put her in a room and shut the door when the grandkids are here. But I figured Brandon (he'll be one next week) would like to check out the chickens, so I carried him out in the yard (his parents forgot to pack his shoes) and sat down in the chair I keep by the chicken run with him in my lap. Well, Sam (who always gets in my lap for his bedtime couscous treat) did not like the fact that I was sitting in that chair with some other critter in my lap, and started getting very perturbed- worked himself up into a regular frenzy and started crowing and carrying on- which started Brandon crying, which got all the other chickens interested and they all started running around and clucking like chickens with their heads cut off. So I had to take little Brandon, squalling his head off, back in the house before the neighbors all got to wondering what the commotion was. Why can't they all just get along? It plumb wears me out trying to be all things to all critters all the time....A friend tod me that she thought Sam had some “problems.” Sam doesn't have "problems," though, Sam has "issues" - Sam is, after all, a 21st. Century roosterhen-a very spoiled, coddled, foo foo roosterhen, with gender identity issues, to hear Mr. G tell it!

7-21-03

We've been giving a lot of Sungold and Juliet tomatoes away- wish all of y'all were close enough to get some. Today I put up a lot of the roma type- made tomato sauce for the freezer, and will probably have enough to do it again in a few days.
The chickens do love tomatoes-especially the little cherry tomatoes- they kick 'em around like little soccer balls before they start pecking at them.
Sam and the girls get our kitchen scraps, too- and they love kale- I hang some from a string inside the run and they bat it around like a pinata, pecking at it till it's all gone- very amusing to watch. They don't care for collards, though (are these birds smart, or what) I'll have to plant some chard to see if they like that - we didn't plant any this year.

7-24-03

That silly roosterhen commenced to crowing just after five! SEVENTEEN crows- we counted 'em! It was nearly time to get up anyway- but I would have liked a little more shut-eye. Around eight A.M. I went out to the run to give Sam and the girls some kitchen scraps. They were NOWHERE to be seen! They had all gone back in the coop and were sound asleep. I woke 'em all up and gave Sam the what-for. If they're going to get the rest of us up at some ungodly hour, the least they can do is stay awake afterwards! I'm fully expecting to hear from the neighbors if this keeps up, by the way....I did ask one neighbor , and she said she never heard anything, so that's a good sign....