Chickens

Sybill and Minerva have been causing quite a commotion for the little chickens. Hawk didn't get enough sleep last night, so we have to put her in a box (She's so tired, she fell asleep on my mom's lap). Mini-Max is faring better, but is still getting bullied. We've tried the usual method, introducing them, letting them sleep in each other's houses, etc. (Here's a page about flock integration, we're only on day 1 of it so dunno how well it works).On Back Yard Chickens there's allot of ideas out there, some quite funny and far fetched , not just smuggling chicks under a broody hen, or sneaking pullets in and making a big fuss the next at at feeding time, but stuff like: Sneaking the little guys in at night, then spraying all the chickens with the same perfume (And your chickens smell nice all day, too!), and apparently quarantine is needed sometimes... Oh, and I like the Chicken Jail idea.... You can't run from the law forever, Sybill!

Edit:
Okay, so this has nothing to do with chickens, but I'm getting back into knitting (I got bored of it once spring came)and I wanna learn how to knit hats next. Hats seem like usefull things.... :)

Sybill

Sybill has been an increasing pain in the butt. A couple days ago, she attacked Sunny (Sunny was unhurt, luckily). And, of course she's been pecking poor Minerva's wing to un-death. And lately she's been campaigning against Mini-max and Hawk.
Here's the story:
We knew that Minerva and maybe Sybill would be the meanest to the newcomers, because they were last and 3rd in the pecking order, Sybill continually pecks Minerva to keep it that way. And we were right, at first we brought the hens up to see the chicks and yes, Minerva was rather mean to them. Sybill wasn't too mean to the chicks, maybe because she wasn't even sure if they were going to be in their flock. But apparently, either Sybill realized she'd have to contest with these fuzzballs in the pecking order, or she's gotten very mean.
We stayed late at a game party last night, the little girls were in the big girl's coop and when my dad and Harry got home, they didn't know that the little girls were in there, so they let the big girls out and they ran into the big coop. The next morning it was pretty loud, and we guessed there was allot of henpecking going on, as we knew about the lucky mistake (We think them going to bed together helped the little girls integrate in to the big girl's flock). And Sybill was probably giving them a hard time, but she even went to the extent of not letting Mini-Max lay in the coop.

I have no idea what we're going to do with Sybill, but one things for sure, if I had to eat one of our chicken's it would be her. *Sigh*

Maybe I should threaten here with debeaking and being eaten or something, not that chickens understand what I'm saying....

Dawn

Bats flutter in and out of the lightening sky as crickets sing their last good-bye's to the night.
The stars and the clouds together in a sea of pastel blue.
No sound but the bat's wings flapping almost silently and the cricket's chirping and the rustle of the wind in the trees.
A bird song in the distance, the sky is brightening yet more and suddenly the air explodes with song. Chirping and singing, birds fly trough the sky greeting a new and a wonderful day.
The crickets tire and burrow deeper into their homes, the stars hide themselves among the sky, the bats retire and fly home with stomachs full of insects.
The squirrels and the rabbits take this as their cue, and emerging from their dens and warrens, begin to forage in the early light.
And gradually, the sky brightens from a dark blue to pastel and then into lavender and pink and soon the sun appears, turning the clouds above it magenta with flecks of gold and orange.
The bird songs become louder, more animals wake up to eat and bask in the morning sun.
The robins and the starlings, the morning doves and the blue jays all come out to eat with the early birds.
Dewdrops form on the grass as chipmunks and squirrels skitter up and down trees stashing nuts and seeds here and there.
The flickers and robins gobble up worms and grubs as they emerge from the ground, drawn up by the dew.
A rumble of a distant car, a bark of a distant dog , a splash of a distant river-- and suddenly it is morning.
The air is damp and cool and the sun shines brightly down upon the earth, the air is heavy with the smell of dew and the songs of birds.
And then the world awakens, people getting up and going to work, people walking their dogs, people watering their lawns, people getting ready for school, people on their front porch sipping their coffee and their tea.

5 Eggs!

Yesterday one of our two pullets, Mini-Max, layed an egg. So that brings our total of laying hens up to 5! I keep expecting to see a blue egg.

Hawk's doing well (Hawk's the surviving Ameraucana. We had a fox attack)

Minerva, our little Black Austrolorp, has been having problems with her wing, the tops of the feathers getting chewed (Or, in fact pecked) off. We only recently caught the culprit. It was Sybill who was henpecking her. Now I've got a pretty good idea of the pecking order with them now (Though It'll change as soon as we integrate Mini-Max and Hawk)and poor Minerva has been nicknamed 'Zombie Wing' because of the Zombie look on her wing, and Sybill's nickname is now 'Death claw'.

Here's the Pecking order we think:
Maxime aka 'Sun hen', Alfa hen.
Ginny, Deputy.
Sybill aka 'Death Claw', 3rd in the Pecking order
Minerva aka 'Zombie Wing', lowest ranking.

And Hawk aka 'The Survivor' is the deputy in her and Max's two-hen flock we think.

Not much more news, it's been quite rainy the last couple of days. The gardens are doing great, a bowl of strawberries everyday. Here's a post about the gardens in more depth. The rats are doing good and sunny's her usual, high strung, barky self.

Awesome Animal Art!

I've been into Werewolf/were-animals lately and I've found the coolest site while web surfing. It's got all sorts of cool fantasy artwork: Griffins of all sorts (not just eagle/lion, but eagle/snow leopard, white tiger, puma, ETC.), dragons, Fae folk (Fairy-like people/creatures), Werewolves, wolf people, animal people-- And there's much more....

But anyway, I'd advise anyone who likes mythical animals, werewolves or were-animals to check out this site , it's realllllllly cool. I think my favorite piece of artwork there is the "Shift Happens" one.... ;)

Anyway, that's all.

Star Trek Foods.

This is a post with Star Trek-Like foods,(any Space explorer Wannabe would like them :D)


Clingon Tentacle Dogs
Makes: 1 serving
Ingredients:
15-20 pieces of spaghetti
2 hot dogs

Cut hot dogs into 1-2 inc pieces, stick 2-6 pieces of spaghetti into each piece. Boil until cooked and eat!


Space Meal
Makes: 1 serving
Ingredients:
1/2 cup of milk
1 banana
1/4 cup of oats
1/2 cup warm water
food coloring

Over a stove heat up the water until boiling, add the oats and continue to cook until the water has mostly evaporated. Mush banana well and add the milk, mush until the milk and banana are mixed well and add 2-4 drops of food coloring of your choice. Mix until the food coloring is evenly spread out, Combine the oatmeal and the banana mixture and eat.


Jiggly, Gelatinous,(tasty) Space Goo
Makes: 1 serving
Ingredients:
1 cup jello
whipped cream

Slice up the jello (With a spoon) into small pieces, squirt on whipped cream (As much as you like!). Mix quickly and serve ASAP.


Picard's Pudding
Makes: 1 serving
Ingredients:
1/4 cup cranberries
1/2 cup yogurt
food coloring (optional)

Mix the cranberries in with the yogurt and stir until well mixed. (If desired, add 2-5 drops of food coloring of your choice)

I'll post more recipes as soon as we invent more! :)

How to Shut up Your Dumb and Anoying Chicken(s)

Have you ever had a chicken (or two, or three, or four, or five, or any other number) that just won't stop cawing? Wether she layed an egg or you locked 'em in the coop and they're mad, WE HAVE A CURE!!!! Yes, it's true, we have found a way to shut up that dumb anoying flightless lump of feathers!!!!! So if you need a cure for cawing chickens, READ ON. ***Not many of you may have anoying, cawing chickens, or care, but still, but you should read on anyway (Who knows, you could buy some chickens and they'd probobly caw like mad)***

If you copy the chickens 'Alarm Call' (it sounds like this: buk-buk-buk-BAGAKK!!!!! they say it over and over) while they're cawing about being shut in their coop on a nice day or letting the whole world know they just layed an egg they'll be quiet!!! So simple, yet so efective... ;)
They seem to start grooming after you do it, I think that the 'Alarm Call' could mean something like this: "Hey, everybirdy, The rooster's coming! Better clean up, you big featherbags, you all look horrible!" and then I think they just forget what they were cawing about in the first place. Who knows? At least they shut their beaks.

***DISCLAIMER: They may pipe up after 15-20 minutes (Without seeing a rooster, that is) if you have no rooster, they will think you are the rooster and be quiet if they see you, but you may have to do the Alarm Call again (Snuggling with them works well, too. Just make sure you're not snuggiling with Sibyll)***

OKAY, NEXT POST WILL HAVE PHOTOS!!!! Unless I have something else to rite about before then! :)