Weird chicken behavior - updated

A couple of days ago, I looked over at Dolley in her coop/cage.  She (I'm insisting she is a she) was carefully searching through her pine-shaving litter until she found a piece she liked, then she would pick it up, turn her head around and..........carefully place it on her back.  (:-/ ???)   She did it over and over - probably 40 times while I watched her.   Since she's shaped like a bowling ball, her pile would slide off about every third piece of shaving, but she kept at it .......until she caught me watching her.  Then she gave me an indignant look, and  walked away.

What kinds of weird stuff do your animals do?

She IS a girl!!  Dolley laid her first egg today.  No photo, because it looks eggs-actly like Abigail's in size and color.   What a good girl!   WHEW!         

Beginning to put the garden to bed

I pulled up the San Marzano tomato plants this morning.  Once I got the main crop in during the summer, the plants grew a second flush, but they never did ripen - even in hot weather. There were lots of green tomatoes on them, full-sized ones in full sun for weeks, they just wouldn't get ripe.  Out they came.  I picked all the green tomatoes off, and composted the plants.  Compost has become nearly as important a 'crop' as anything else I grow. I found a few red  and ripening ones, a few past their prime to feed to the chickens, and maybe 20 pounds of green ones.  

I will probably make the green-tomato salsa I linked to a post or two back, because it can be canned.   I found about a dozen ripe, or nearly-so 'German Pink' tomatoes to enjoy now, and left the plants in the ground for a while longer. These did very well in their protected place last year.  It was only after a heavy frost that the foliage died and revealed even more tomatoes. 

   

This is just two plants!

After some research, I have found this is a 'vineing' variety.  Simple stakes are useless, and cages aren't much better.  They will just continue to grow taller until killed by frost.  I have thrown the vines over the fence (8 feet tall) and they have still grown another two or more feet on the other side.   The neighbor has been told anything growing on his side is his.  Lessons learned this year:  Get the seedlings started inside and in the ground much earlier so I can enjoy the tomatoes in the summer instead of fall! 



I pulled the hot pepper plants too, mostly because I'm tired of messing with them.  I got another couple of dozen jalapenos and almost that many green cayennes. Green or not, they are still hot, and will dry just fine in the dehydrator.  I got a warning tingle on my hands as I cut up the plants to put in the compost pile.  Apparently even the leaves and stems are hot too - no wonder the insects leave them alone!  I know I got well over 100 jalapenos off two plants and probably half that of cayennes off one plant.  I wish everything I grew was so prolific! 

    

My fall garden has been more failure than success, but I am not discouraged.   Cauliflower and Brussels sprouts in containers started off much better than the ones in the ground, but then were eaten to pieces by cabbage worms.  I didn't plant any companion plants with them, because I didn't think they would grow so late in the year.  The ones in the ground are catching up now, and have little-to-no insect damage, being planted with radishes!  I may get Brussels sprouts for Thanksgiving after all.   Overall this year, I did see a positive difference in outcomes with companion planting.

I am in love with French Breakfast Radishes!  I planted 3 varieties of radish this fall and all are doing well in the ground (they didn't like pots) but the French are the fastest to mature.  I looked it up, and the French eat them raw, dipped in soft butter with salt.  I tried it, but the butter on a raw veg seemed superfluous, so I just eat them the American way, raw with salt only.  They are mild and have a great 'root vegetable' taste, unlike regular varieties, which seem more like a garnish or accent.  I want to plant lots early in the Spring, and in the ground, not pots. 

• Turnips are still promising in the pots.  It remains to be seen if they continue to grow through frosts so I can get some baby turnips before a heavy freeze does them in.  I'm in it only for the roots.  The greens go to the chickens and rabbits, or the compost.    
• Two varieties of kale planted from seed are coming up fine, but will probably have to be eaten in the baby stage. 
• The Bok Choy grew to seedlings, then stopped.  Didn't die, just simply didn't grow any more.  I will try again in the Spring - to be harvested at 'baby size.' and steamed or sauteed with other vegetables. 
• The eggplant have grown fine this fall and have very healthy foliage and blooms, but will not have enough time to set and ripen fruit before frost.  Go back to pots next year - they did fine there. Add companion flowers and herbs. 

 More lessons learned:  Concentrate on what I can grow that will produce the most in the least space or fewest plants.  As mentioned before, squash are out.  Even if I could overcome insects and disease, they are simply too big for my small space. Ditto on the pole beans.  Instead of saving space by growing UP, the plants were just huge, with few beans.  I'm going back to bush beans next year.    

My garden space is not suitable for 'floating row covers,' which are needed to garden well in seriously cold weather - to keep things going after frost and freezes to get full-sized plants and veggies.  The plants need to be grown in - uh - rows to use those. Mine are grown in clumps, more like the square-foot-gardening style. If I had started with rectangular raised beds, it might be different, but my garden stared out as a very big, deep English 'herbatious border' - stylish a the time - that evolved (degenerated?) into my small oval planting plot studded with shrubs and flowering plants, some large, some small.

Chicken update:

I'm going out on a limb and naming one of the Orpington chicks.   I have been calling her Gracie, after   

Grace Coolidge  

Gracie is a cute name that seems to fit the chick, but I confess I don't know much about the real Grace Coolidge, except that she loved animals of all kinds :-)   I chose that name not so much because of admiration for the lady, but because of this fabulous portrait.  It, along with one of  Edith Roosevelt  are among my favorite First Lady portraits.  (Yes Edith, TRs wife, although Eleanor's portrait is very innovative) 

And here she is - little Gracie herself - trying to get away while I try to take her picture.  She is very shy, and hides behind Abigail much of the time. I'm still working on winning her over. I got her on my lap the other night, and after a minute she decided she liked it, and started to trill.  She has no comb or wattles to speak of ......and I hope it stays that way.   

On the other hand, look what Dolley has grown in the last month!  

  

A very impressive set of comb and wattles (comb looks even bigger on the other side where her feathers are flatter)  Even her earlobes are bigger.  She had smaller wattles and comb before, but I could literally see them getting bigger every day.  This change roughly coincides with putting no-name chick in with her.  I don't know if it's a hormonal thing, or if she is really a he!!!   If that's the way it turns out, I'm going to be very upset!!!    These aren't the only indicators of gender.  She hasn't started to crow or try to mount any of the other chickens - but then she's not laying any eggs, either....at about 8 months old!  That's not unheard of, according to what I read on Backyard Chicken Forum - especially this year, there's been a lot of that.  I don't use organic feed.....I wonder what GMO stuff they might be putting in there, and if it's having an effect on our livestock?   Sigh.......if Dolley 'turns into' a rooster, as long as there continues to be no crowing - she's staying.  I'm much too bonded now.

Here is little no-name below.  I'm still waffling nearly daily on this one - does have a pretty big comb, has wattles, but small, pale unless excited, not displaying obvious roo behavior, like crowing or mounting other birds.  It is much more outgoing than Gracie.  Not really brave though, in fact, if I try to pick it up, or it gets upset about something, it does it's best "henny penny / the-sky-is-falling" imitation.  It's hysterical - both the chick's attitude, and my amusement.  Abigail wants nothing to do with it anymore, poor thing, but it's getting bonded to Dolley.    

The chicks are 9 weeks old today, and are nearly the same size as the older chickens.  If you consider Dolley is mostly feathers, no-name probably is the same size. It's amazing how fast they grow.

Holly-bunny (who would not let me take her picture, because she is partially plucked and not looking her best) gave me a scare this week, when it seemed as though some of her legs were partially paralyzed!   After giving her a thorough going-over and watching her move, I think she has hurt her back somehow, but not seriously.  This is not uncommon in rabbits, due to the length of their spine and the extreme power of their back legs.  They can actually break their own back while playing, and die.  Holly is gradually getting better, and while not being her usual snotty-diva self, she has not relinquished her "Princess" title, and is relishing all the extra attention.   

 Those are the updates from Wren Cottage .....

It's been a while .....

I've been SO busy lately.  Mostly at work, but my weekends have been full too. A week ago I went to A Wool Gathering in Ohio.  It was my first time to that festival, and I really liked it, although as we pulled into the parking lot, I realized I had forgotten my camera!

Lisa from Somerhill Farm was one of the vendors there.  She is the breeder of my first French Angoras, Holly and Ivy.  She also breeds show-quality Blue-Faced Leicester sheep, and had these lovely dyed locks for sale, which I snapped up!

Then I stopped by Stephanie's LunabudKnits booth. 

Stephanie  is one of our KSFF board members, and her booth was one of the outstanding ones with all this fabulous color!   

I bought some of this beautiful gold merino top, and another in olive.   I also got some dyed silk hankies from her in shades of turquoise, blues and greens.  I hope all the links will make up for the fact that I forgot to ask before using her images!!!   With all this fiber I'm buying, I'd better get to spinning it!! 

This past Saturday, I went to the Bluegrass Poultry Association show.  I took my camera, but didn't take any photos.  It didn't seem as good as last year, with only about half the entries.  I went later in the day though, and people who had already had their birds judged, might have already left?    Like last year, I was impressed with how huge (and scary) the standard sized chickens are, and glad I have my sweet little bantams.  There were only 3 Cochins there (standards?  A lot bigger than Dolley), the same number of standard Orpingtons, one Polish, a few Silkies, even though they are so popular, but lots and lots of Old English Game Birds, besides the mix of other breeds. 

I also unloaded found a new home for the one Orpington chick I knew was a male.  I was nearly positive, but as a novice, I asked around for someone who could help me tell for sure.  I was finally directed to a man - apparently with some expertise with the breed - who told me no doubt it was a cockerel.  He had a couple of boys with him, about 8 to 10 years old, one who especially seemed interested in the bird, so as I told the man my sob story about not being able to keep it, I said the boy could have it if he wanted it.  Dad said "Go get a cage," and the kid was off like a shot.... so the little boy chick is now living with a little boy in Tennessee.   Cute, and when I said to the little guy I hoped my bird was going to a good home, the little boy said with conviction, "oh, he is."   

I now have 2 in each coop - just right, if the mystery chick turns out to be a pullet.   The pullet I'm sure of is in with Abigail, and the "not quite sure" one is in with Dolley.  I'm willing to give that one some more time, since space is no longer an issue.  It's funny how each chick is being effected by the personality of the older girl in with it.  Abigail is quieter, and picky about what she eats, and the baby girl is following that example.  If her foster mom won't do it, neither will baby.  Dolley eats greens and other things Abigail won't touch, like yogurt, so her 'roomie' does too.  I gave Dolley and 'her' chick some yogurt yesterday and I should have gotten a photo of that!  Both with it smeared all over their faces like toddlers with ice cream cones! 

If I can get rested up and get some energy back, I'll take some photos and post about my fall garden next time.

From Wren Cottage.......

There are some advantages...

...to living in a townhouse.   1) I never have to mow the grass, and   2) when it's time to replace the roof, I don't have to bother with arranging that, it's just done for me.

The view out my kitchen window

Of course it's pretty noisy, with people walking on the roof, the scraping and then the nailing.  At the first unusual sound, all of the cats disappeared into whatever hidey-hole they have found for themselves.   The bunnies are unconcerned.  The chickens did a little frantic "the sky is falling, the sky is falling" skittering around, but settled down quickly and are now ignoring it. As for me, I'm going to escape to a CLUCK meeting for a few hours this afternoon.  A guest speaker is going to talk about feather condition and how it relates to overall health in chickens.     

Abigail is done with the mom thing.   Don't get me wrong, she is still a good mom to the chicks, she just isn't single-mindedly dedicated to them anymore.   One evening when the chicks were screaming and jumping all over her, I thought I detected that familiar harried look one sees on the faces of mothers of youngsters from time to time.  I took her out of the coop and put her on her favorite perch by the window, and could almost hear her sigh with relief. Those perch sessions have become more frequent, and she doesn't act all that eager to go back in with the young'uns. 

Abigail also started laying again this week.  While I wasn't getting eggs, I bought Chelsey's Eggs  at Good Foods.  After viewing a video (which I will NOT be posting here) of a commercial hatchery, I don't think I can ever eat grocery store eggs again.  These come from pastured chickens in Pleasureville, KY.  They are good and very big.  Sometimes the carton will hardly close.   Here is Abigail's egg next to one of the Chelsey ones - 

Store-bought egg on the left - Abigail's egg on the right

Not bad for a bantam, huh!

I split up the little family today.  There was a bit too much sparring going on, and one of the chicks looked like it was having some feathers picked out.   The coop is also getting a little crowded, since the chicks are nearly half the size of the hen now. I split up the two I think are boys, and put one in with Dolley.  After a couple of sharp pecks to let it know who's boss, she seemed to like the change.  Chickens are flock animals, and she has wanted to join the family all along.   This week Abigail actually let her join them in their cage for a little while!  That's how much she has mellowed out.

( I like the big round eyes on the Cochins)

The little one had some periods of peeping and pacing, but also settled down sometimes to scratch and peck in the litter.  I'm less sure this week that it's a cockerel than I was last week.  The comb  isn't growing and the wattles are barely there.  But then I look at the "girl," and she looks very different than the other two.......  See why I haven't named anyone yet?  I am so convinced of the girl though that I have been running through First Lady names, to see if one fits. There haven't been any takers on the feelers I've put out on the other two though.  I hope I have some time to find homes for them before one or both starts crowing or .........you know.

My fall crops have really liked the rain and cool temps we had this week. It was perfect for germinating the seeds.  I haven't had anything to harvest for a while though - no tomatoes in over a week.  I had some San Marzanos I picked last week I hadn't done anything with yet, so I made a pan of these.  When I first the tasted them, the skins were very apparent, and I thought I might try to skin them first if I made them again.  I put them in a jar in the fridge rather than the freezer, since I didn't have that many, and this morning tossed some in the pan with my breakfast eggs.  Yum!!  Skins had softened and they just needed a bit of time to meld the flavors.  Today I made a batch of this.  It filled a quart jar with a little left over.  She's right.  It's so good I wanted to just sit down with a spoon and dig in.  I'm planning upcoming meals with this in mind as a topping.     

For my Sister ......

Who, when she read that I was going to use a 'First Lady' theme to name any chickens I might acquire, said "You've got to name one Dolley!"

Meet Dolley -

And Martha! 

They are Cochin bantams. Dolley is Blue, and Martha is a Splash.  I picked them up from Wildwood Aviary today.  Thank you Twyla!  I am finding out that sexing chickens is not an exact science, especially at their age. Martha has quite the comb, but Twyla said she (?) is not developing wattles, moves and carries herself like a pullet, and she was pretty confident of her gender.  She was generous though, and said if 'Martha' turns out to be 'George,' she will make it right and let me come and pick out another pullet. Several of her other full-grown hens also have biggish combs, so we'll see how it turns out. She can definitely fly though!  When I was setting them up in a coop/cage, she flew out a couple of times.   She is also very chatty -and 'talked' to us most of the way home, with tiny little chirps and cheeps.

Unlike the sprightly Dolley Madison, this Dolley is the more laid-back of the two chicks.  I really wanted a blue, as I mentioned in an earlier post, but was only offered splash in our communication before today. So when we got there and the first one Twyla pulled out to to show me was blue, I was surprised, and not about to let it go!!  She was so sweet, and fell asleep in my hand.   The photo doesn't do her justice.  Even though both are in that gawky, awkward 'tween' stage, they are still very pretty birds. 

PBS did a docu-drama about Dolley Madison in March during their fundraiser, and it was quite good.   When I did an internet search about her, I found even more interesting things, including these:   

Dolley with her neice.

I've mentioned before that I like history, so please bear with me: 

I find it very remarkable that we have photographs of one of the principle people from the founding years of our nation.   They all have painted portraits, but photos, to see exactly what she looked like!   Dolley lived in virtual poverty in her later years.  Her rogue son from her first marriage used up or lost any money she had, until she literally had to sell the farm.  

Slaveowners, she did not free the slaves as was James' intent, but sold them - for the money.  Installed in a house in Washington owned by her brother-in-law, she finally sold her faithful manservant Paul Jennings, although she had already made out a will in which she promised him freedom.  He was purchased again six months later by Daniel Webster, and with Mr. Webster's encouragement, Paul would take her things from the Webster home - such as baskets of food - when he visited her.   He eventually bought his freedom from Mr. Webster, and wrote the very first memoir of life in the White House.  

The narrator of the documentary pointed out that in all the portraits and photos of her in later life, Dolley is wearing the same outfit - most certainly because it was her best, and the only good outfit she had.     I noticed that even in old age, she still had her determinedly black curls showing from beneath her turban. 

But - back to the chickies: 

So I have two new babies, and  couldn't be more pleased with them.  They will be quarantined in a different part of the house from Abigail for a few weeks, and then I will decide how to house them.   Delores and I were both surprised an how small an area they seemed to need, and were quite happy.  I hope these girls are happy here.