Yesterday was a BEAUTIFUL day!! In fact, one of the principals in our state, Washington, gave all the kids a day off as a Sun Day. They have had no snow days this year, so he thought it was only fair that the kids and staff get a day to celebrate a day without rain and with a lot of sunshine. With the announcement he included a picture of himself on a motorcycle with sun glasses and thumbs up. I love that story!
Yesterday I was unlucky in having to be at work, but lucky in that I was out doing site visits so I got to enjoy the day at least a little. When I got home I gather up my little chicken (which are getting bigger every day!) and took them out to the temporary run while I cleaned out their cage. By the end of the process, I was sunburned and my little girls were in chicky heaven pecking and scratching away outside.
There is something elementally calming about watching chickens with their tails in the air scratching the grounds and pecking our nummy morsels. Not to mention the Keystone Cops comedy of antics when one of them finds an especially juicy worm and the others give chase. Inevitably the worm will be dropped and they will all scramble for it, ending in another chase.
They are getting pretty big now, and have just about lost all their baby chick fuzz. They look like small, skinny versions of adult hens at the moment. This is their awkward stage, also known as the ugly stage, or adolescence. They are getting braver and starting to stretch their wings. In fact, they are trying to fly. They all excited and will actually get off the ground, but I think when their feet leave the ground they get a little freaked, because they will suddenly freeze, drop and then look around like they’re asking, “What hell was that?”
My cat is both fascinated and confounded by them. Bird watching has been a longtime preoccupation of hers. She loves to site and watch them through the window, and will track them if she is outside. Up until now she has never really gotten close to any. She loves laying on top of their cage and just watching them. She can do it for hours. She seems totally confused by them.
Yesterday while the girls were in their temporary coop outside, she found a loose place in the fencing and stuck her head in, then freaked out when the girls ran over to check her out. Poor Hinata, she doesn’t have a brave bone anywhere in her little body. I’m afraid she’s going to have to give up her cat card any day now.
Last weekend when I had the girls out in there temporary coop, my sister’s big ole red dog, Rusty, managed to find a way in. So, here is this huge dog in a small coop, with six small chickens and anywhere else this would there would be some serious feathers flying, and really fresh doggy treat. Not for our Rusty! He was too busy trying to convince the girls that he is their new best friend, as they whines to them and licks them. The girls were unimpressed and unafraid. They just kept on with the important work of being a chicken, scratching and pecking.
It’s always something!
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