Look at the late winter sun shining on and through the bottles in my
Blue Bottle Garden. Some herbs are just beginning to poke through the soil, the rosemary is going strong, the lilac in this garden is budding. The temperature has been in the low 60's for several afternoons now, and the sunshine is making my animals very happy and busy about all the activities spring brings on in the animal world.
My free-range chickens spend their nights and mornings in the shed in the left of this picture. I release them after noon to do what they love to do. Scratch the earth for bugs and seeds, interact with each other creating some very interesting chicken drama , nap in the sunshine. A few motherly hens stay indoors to incubate clutches of eggs.
The chickens are scratching through piles of manure placed here for future plantings. These piles are from my sheep pen. My oldest grandson shoveled all the sheep poo for me. Over the past 20-some years my husband has built up the soil in our gardens using the many, many loads of manure from our sheep, goats, chickens, and rabbits. You know of course, there is a lot of hard work involved in shoveling all that poo. We don't have a tractor , shoveling is done by one of us ( me, husband, or grandson) requiring a shovel ,a wheelbarrow, and a lot of hard physical work.
Sheep enjoying the warmth of the sun as they snuggle into a downed tree and stump.
This is a flower bed on the shady side of our home. I dumped 2 wheelbarrows of mostly composted chicken poo into it yesterday. Two of the
twenty-five overloaded wheelbarrows of chicken poo I cleaned out of a chicken pen over a period of 3 days. All by myself, just me and my shovel and wheelbarrow. Shovel, load, dump.Shovel, load, dump...25 times. That is a lot of poo. I have been so tired after shoveling so much poo that I have been unable to stay awake late , very unlike me.
In preparing to sell our home we have been taking down poultry pens and reducing the number of chickens I have. We are down to 2 pens of laying chickens, and my silly frillies ( frizzled bantam chickens ) inhabit the old shed and free-range. No more breeding pens for show chickens. I don't think I'll ever show chickens again but I will keep them for eggs and entertainment.
I cleared out my craft room. Last weekend my husband and I carried all the shelving out to the garage, along with many boxes and bins packed and labeled for the move. The craft room is ready to be painted and re-carpeted . After painting and re-carpeting I'll keep in my craft room only my sewing machine and all supplies necessary to work on a quilt I want to finish before we move. The supplies can all be contained in a big basket.
I have a lot of wool to be spun up into yarn. The 2-ply yarn in the picture above is some of my handspun Jacob sheep wool blended with Wensleydale wool (500 yards of yarn ) spun up in the last few days. I spin most evenings while I watch television with my husband. I can get a lot of yarn spun up and don't feel like I've completely wasted my time when I watch t.v.
My past few days were spent spinning wool, shoveling poo, and packing. I need a nap.
Accomplished This Week~
- Poultry pens cleaned and taken down.
- Goat pen cleaned.
- Craft room packed , ready for painting and re-carpeting.
- Tea-cups packed.
- 3 skeins 2-ply yarn ( 500 yards ) spun up and ready for sale.
Rose the rooster. I did not name him. Rose can thank our oldest granddaughter for his name.
Our granddaughters from the other side of the mountains were here to celebrate the New Year with us, and on New Year's Day they checked on their now-grown chicks. Our oldest granddaughter shown here wearing her New Year's party hat, is holding Rose, her chicken. You might recall this chicken hatched out of his shell in her hand.* (click here to read the story) She was so excited, and immediately named the chick Rose, for she was pretty sure the chick was a hen. Obviously Rose is not a hen, and I have suggested he be re-named , but like a 'Boy Named Sue', I believe Rose is stuck with his name.He will have to deal with it.
Baby Rose, just after hatching in our granddaughter's hand.
Rose is getting checked out by the other granddaughters.
Our youngest granddaughter is not too sure about chickens and keeps a safe distance.
This granddaughter is holding her chicken, a bantam red cochin she named Lucy.
Lucy successfully hatched out and raised a few chicks that another of the granddaughters has adopted as her own.
Rose though, is most definitely a rooster. I think he is a fine frizzled bantam cochin rooster too. Maybe our granddaughter will re-name him, and hopefully the granddaughters will be able to keep their chickens at their place sometime in the near future where Rose will reign supreme and rule the roost - curls , crows, and all.
It's a Rooster Party ! *
I had no idea how many roosters I had until I began to gather them for this party. The real challenge was to edit my collection, and it was a very hard challenge. Not sure I was successful, but as I said, you have no idea how many roosters I have!
I started with our every day dishes, purchased at Fred Meyers a few years ago. I never tire of them, day in and day out, every day meals are served on these roosters.
Then of course there are the rooster napkins, dish towels really, but I liked them so much I bought 20 and use them often as napkins. When they get too dingy to use as napkins I will use them as intended.
This lovely tea pot was a gift from my friend Pam, grandmother of Kathryn, who hosted a tea party for myself and my grandchildren last week. She knows what I like, thank-you Pam!
Bottle stopper, or wine bottle stopper. Here this rooster sits atop my bottle of water. Ahh, roosters AND blue, perfect!
I set the table near my husband's new honey house. He has been harvesting the most beautiful honey I have ever seen these past few days and it is nice to sit at the table nearby to sip ice cold water or tea before he begins again the sweet work of extracting honey fresh from the hive.
This rooster is perched above Lavender plants waiting to be planted in the Lavender bed surrounding the honey house. This rooster is a gift from a friend and sister Jacob Sheep owner, Arlene. Thank-you Arlene!
As I view this table arrangement I see I must learn to edit my settings even more, but it is so hard, I love my blue and white and the roosters.I know, I need a bigger table, yes! That is the solution. A much, much, bigger table.
Of course, anyone who truly appreciates roosters should have the American Poultry Association Book of Standards to make sure they really know their roosters. I have an older version, keep meaning to order the newest, but an old book of Standards is very handy to have. Oh, and don't forget to make sure you have your subscription of Backyard Poultry up to date too. I read these often. Don't you?
Just look at one of the many pages of handsome roosters. If you have never read a book of Standards for poultry you have no idea of the variety of roosters there are. Why, roosters are truly one of the most beautiful, handsome, and varied birds there are.
My rooster table-setting clinging to the shade next to the not-quite-finished Honey House and the not-quite-fully weeded herb garden.
And of course,one of the best roosters for last, Mr. White. My bantam frizzled Cochin. He is beautiful, and he is another post!
~This is one of many little frizzled bantam hens I have. She weighs less than a pound and is at least two years old. Notice the feathers. They are very curly and curl backwards. This little hen is covered from head to tail to feet in shiny blue-black curly feathers. She has several sisters in the bantam pen that resemble her. Isn't she cute?
~Close up of the feathers. "Frizzles are one of our odd breeds, and little is known about their origin." American Poultry Standard of Perfection~
~Close up of the wings and wing tips. " It is not unprofessional to give free legal advice, but advertising that the first visit will be free is a bit like the fox telling the chickens he will not bite them until they cross the threshold of the hen house." Warren E. Burger
~Aren't her tail feathers frilly and flaunting? She is so tiny and soft and curly. She lays eggs too! I still don't understand why more people do not have pet chickens. They are so much less bother than cats and dogs and parrots! Plus, they lay eggs you can eat and they are very funny. Chickens can get very attached to people too and are easily contained should it be necessary. They are cheap to buy and keep, what more could a person want? You can even bathe them regularly to keep them smelling fresh.Hey, some people even dress their chickens in cute little outfits......can't you just picture the rich and famous cruising all the best places with a smart little chicken in their big handbags or sports cars?
