Zina finished up some very exhausting accounting work on Friday.   I have been obsessing over the government shutdown wondering just what these fools are going to do and what I can do to help my clients in the event that cooler heads don’t prevail.  We came out here and crashed.  Saturday (today) after spending the morning with coffee and the iPad for news, I fired up the tractor and went out and continued to dig postholes for the garden fence.  Zina rolled out of the house around noon and cleaned up the coop.

It looks like we are going to need some chicken chaperones!  The maturest rooster is now crowing.  I don’t know why people find that sound annoying… I think it sounds… farmy.  Ask me again in a year or so when they won’t shut up and I may have a different perspective.  He is hilarious though.  They are all 13 weeks old this weekend and it sounds like if you simply convert weeks into years the roosters are 13 year old boys who’s voices are starting to change.  They are getting their shiny rooster plumage as well.  Their voices, combined with a maturing body they don’t know what to do with, makes for some entertainment.  The hens DON’T agree however!  While the roosters are trying their “techniques” the only thing happening to the hens is loss of neck feathers.  There is screeching and kicking and more of a fight than finesse.  The roosters come away looking pretty stupid and the hens, disgusted.  I remember just what they are going through! ; )

Here are the latest chicken shots…. this time mostly roosters.  The one hen (that we have named “feets” because of her orange legs – all the others have kind of a tan color) that has sort of bonded with me still runs out to greet me every evening and hops up on my shoulder and spends the evening whispering little chicken nothings in my ear.

Sorpresa (spanish for Surprise) is the stand-off-ish lady.  She very much does NOT want to be held.  Tonight she had to earn her corn treats and let me hold her.  There was much squawking and feather flapping but she eventually settled in.

So we are expecting to start seeing some eggs in about two months.  It may take longer though because that puts them around mid – December.  The days are short then and hens need 14 hours a day of daylight in order to lay eggs.  Thats ok.  Now that we understand the whole easter eggs delivered by bunnies in the spring time (new borns in the spring?  Chicken eggs starting up again in the spring because of longer days?  Not the cross and resurrection myth?) it will be fun to have the new and old garden up and running and collecting fresh eggs to boot!

Fresh eggs:

Beloved farm wife bundled up and feeding corn treats:

Feets and daddy:

Rooster centerfolds:

One rooster with a little class (hey baby wanna nestle up together?).  Sorpresa’s his babe:

The whole crew: