Husbanding Floyd: New Girls in Town

Anita was moving to her new home around the same time that our flock got decimated.  Since our girls were gone and she couldn't take hers with her a few of her hens (she had around 60!) moved to our coop!

Anita's hens are truly free range.  They've been out foraging and flying all their lives although they do know what a coop is for and come back to it at night.  "Born Free" is they're theme song.  Other descriptives might be "wild" or "feral".

Husbanding Floyd: The Dark Side

Remember these guys?

Well, they've had a really rough winter/early spring and yesterday disaster struck.

Husbanding Floyd: "Girl, You'll Be A Pullet Soon"

Technically, I suppose they already are.  Pullets, that is.  In a few days they'll be 9 weeks old and they are doing great.

Hi Mom!  Hi Dad!

We were told that the chicks imprint on and call Mother the first thing they see after hatching.  If that isn't a brooder hen it's whatever's available.  We figured for our chicks it was probably a pair of hands in white latex gloves.  Judging from the way they act when we approach their coop, they really did imprint on us!  As soon as they hear our voices, they run out of the coop or away from whatever they're doing and gather in the corner closest to our approach.

Husbanding Floyd: Da Girls are in da House!

Remember these cute, adorable little balls of fluff?

A few days ago around dusk I heard them kicking up a fuss and went downstairs to find them out of their pens perching on the mantel, the china closet, and any other tall available space they could wrap their birdy feet around.  The instinct to roost had kicked in!  "Okay," I told them, "You're big girls now.  Time to move to the big girls house!"  Thank god.  Brooding them in the downstairs suite wasn't one of our better ideas.

Gardening Floyd: Mid-April

The garden is beginning to look like a garden again!  We've had lots of rain, hail, and high winds, even some tornadoes which are unusual in the Blue Ridge Mountains but we've also had warmer temperatures.  The plastic is off three of our hoop houses (Mother Nature insisted in the form of wind), the earliest spring and cool weather crops are growing well, and the herbs are coming along nicely.

You may remember this peek inside a tunnel

Here's that tunnel now

Broccoli, Cabbage, Cauliflower