Fuzz to feathers

These little would-be egg layers are getting more hen-like every day... the first images are from four weeks ago. The fuzz has filled in with feathers. In the singular portraits, that's Rupert in my fist and then Pip this morning on the porch. So far, they've eaten 10 pounds of chick starter (we get that from Cordray's... looks like Grape Nuts), and every day they forage in the yard. So far, wild pea and clover are their favorite greens. They also chase and peck at bugs and worms, but I haven't actually seen them eat any. Yet. Besides general curiosity and pecking at everything, they also take plenty of bare-ground dust baths and naps in the shade.


The garden is growing well, too, in all this good sunshine. Had a surprise when transplanting the cucumber seedlings we'd started from seed... when I lifted out the plants to put them in rows, I could suddenly smell fresh-cut cucumber. It was the roots(!) with that clean, crisp cuke smell. Very cool.

Bloom and till

The azalea and dogwood blossoms made a big show in the driveway while PFE tilled up new rows in garden. Some new techniques are in place... we don't till until we're ready to plant, and this year, we're not tilling at all between rows. The idea is to let the chickweed and grass grow and then mow there if it grows to high, or let the chicks forage down the rows in that row-wide, easy to move pen that PF has plans to build.

Lady Farm

PF made this photo post and titled it... he calls it "Lady Farm," I think to encourage my interest and work in the dirt and plants. He doesn't have to. I'd be in this garden all day if I could.

Rabbit surprise

PFE and I were planting a tiny peach orchard - three trees - in the sideyard yesterday when Sparky, who's typically a mellow hound, started getting very excited, like he was on game. Turns out he was, he'd found a rabbit's nest in a hole under the pine straw, fuzzy white fur at the entrance. He was sniffing and whimpering like crazy. Everything happened very fast... bunnies no bigger than a fist started popping up from the hole, hopping one-by-one in a scatter across the yard. We put Spark in the house, grabbed a camera. One, we immediately called him "Fred," worked into a corner before finding his way.

This morning the hole is quiet and empty... where's the mother, have they moved to another nest?

Chickweed, chicks grow like weeds

The chicks have nearly tripled in size, gone from all fuzz to lots of feathers. They are starting to look like hens. We've fashioned a corner of the garden with chicken wire so they can spend as much of the daylight hours on open ground as possible. The chickweed and sunshine have helped, I think, with their happy, healthy growth. We need to take some new shots to show their now-teenager size, but for now, here's Goldie, still in fuzz.