Archive for January 2021
Early Production
After the appearance of a new small egg a week or so ago, we are noticing more of our young chickens are beginning to lay. I’m always impressed that they actually use the nest boxes, of which we have four. It’s interesting that we commonly find two hens squeezed into the same box at the same time.
Yesterday, Cyndie discovered one of the layers hasn’t figured out the nest box routine and was laying eggs in the sand of the far corner below the poop board, where visibility is restricted.
They didn’t fare well unnoticed for a few days against the frigid winter temperatures.
A small “first-try” egg also showed up in one of the feed pans.
We have a range of sizes showing up during this start-up period.
It won’t be long now and we will be flush with fresh free-range eggs. Hopefully, they will be showing up in the nest boxes more often than not.
Our track record in this regard tells me we have good reason to watch out for out-layers.
.
.
Brutal Honesty
.
good riddance
sociopathic megalomaniac
go away
leave today
end the grift
the whole charade
let my people go
make lying shameful again
bring back decorum
reclaim politeness
arise highest ideals
embrace empathy
authenticity
transparency
altruism
nobility
integrity
truth and honesty
justice
equality
responsibility
hope
healing
it’s all been gone for far too long
let us breathe deep
the dawn of this new day
unite
our greatest of expectations
and face
the challenges ahead
together
amen
.
.
.
New Puzzle
The urge has been rekindled in a big way lately. Jigsaw puzzling has become a daily craving once more. Much to both our surprise, Cyndie has picked up the bug as much as I and for the first time in all our years together, we are sharing the joys of assembling the scattered pieces.
I recently received a hot tip on another chicken puzzle, this one by the Cobble Hill Puzzle Company.
With an all-white border, we are again foregoing the usual norm of completing all the edges before moving on to other details. I’m finding it wonderfully liberating.
An anonymous quote included among the many on the puzzle:
“A true friend is someone who thinks you are a good egg, even when you are slightly cracked.”
Yeah. Like that.
.
.
Bigger Picture
.
come from behind
to defeat odds stacked against us
in a game
or in life
or a philosophy of life
wear the colors
join the chorus
sing praises for victories
feel pain when we lose
except for one thing
life is not a game
between only two sides
to be won or lost
no holds barred
in matters of life and death
it doesn’t work like that
the recommended links
don’t tell us what we need to learn
about a picture
so much bigger than coaches and fans
strategies and plans
greater than statistical digits
hopes
dreams
ideals
love and happiness
we the people
are multitude
humankind will thrive
in extra time
when we open all eyes
to the greatest goodness
way outside the lines
of mere wins and losses
.
.
Good Intent
Think about it. Even people who plot illegal action have in mind outcomes that they see as being good. Admittedly, maybe just good for them, but it provides a perspective from which one can begin to appreciate how something motivates them.
Imagine if humankind were able to reach agreement on an outcome that is good for all of us. Wouldn’t that be lovely? It would.
What if corporate greed didn’t exist? What if power was always willingly given and never forcibly grabbed? What if ice cream was a healthy food to eat?
As long as I’m dreaming, might as well go big!
While debates over the latest dramas across the globe play out, the focus at our home this weekend has centered on clearing the increasingly hardening slop of wet snow that fell Thursday and Friday. I’ve posted frequently about the antics of our chickens and Delilah the Belgian Shepherd shows up frequently in snapshots from our walks, but our indoor cat, Pequenita receives much less press.
Yesterday, she decided to make herself comfortable while I was reclined in my favorite perch beside the fireplace.
She shows nothing but good intent, even when it involves inciting reactions from Delilah. She plays like a cat.
There is a jigsaw puzzle in reach of completion this afternoon and a couple of NFL playoff games available for viewing on television. It will be a challenge to equally share time between splitting firewood and power-lounging indoors today.
My primary intention will be to soak up enough comforts of home to sufficiently carry me through the week ahead.
May all people open themselves up to recognizing probable cause in the actions and behaviors of those with ill-intent and hold them appropriately accountable. Then, let’s get on with envisioning nothing but the best of intent for all.
.
.
Rocky Maturing
Caught Rocky giving a few shout-outs yesterday when I stopped by to check if the brood might be turning in early for the night. I wondered if he might be trying to help me out by calling them all in.
.
.
It turned out they weren’t done for the day and the few who headed inside for a short time were soon back out again. Some decided to scamper up the path toward the barn again. That’s my sign to leave them be and come back when it is much closer to dark.
As can be seen in my video, the added overhang extension performed flawlessly in protecting the chicken ladder from the sloppy, wet snow sliding off the roof. We received a serious dose of “heart-attack” snow that was a bear to plow, but it made for great snow sculpting.
To heck with simple snowmen. Cyndie went with a snowchicken.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
If that isn’t enough to show how much we love our chickens, I actually went along with my wife’s accommodating their tender-footedness and succumbed to her philosophy of shoveling a path to the barn.
Ralphie, is that dorky or what!?
I figure it’s just a sign of true love. I risked my heart for them.
.
.
New Eggs
Our newest batch of chickens appear to be coming of age. The hours of daylight have started to noticeably reveal their shift in duration so maybe that is inspiring our young ones to get on with the whole egg-laying process.
Cyndie reported the surprise of finding two little eggs in the nest boxes yesterday. It’s not entirely surprising, since it is right on schedule for their age. The timing for us with this latest brood is just a little off because they were hatched so much later in the year than the first two batches we’ve raised. We are not used to seeing this kind of laying activity in January.
It’s exciting. And a little mind-boggling, when we consider there may soon be around a dozen eggs a day.
If we keep this up, Wintervale may need to start marketing eggs for sale.
.
.
High Perches
Yesterday, Cyndie happened upon the chickens roosting on the fence and gate under the overhang of the barn. It’s great to see them making themselves at home in the protected spaces we are able to provide.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
They appeared to appreciate the brief visit of actual sunlight. We haven’t seen a lot of sunshine lately.
my mind is able to travel
to visions of high perches
where I see things from a different perspective
insight drips in slow transitions
from vacancy to vibrancy
energized elasticized
drastically fractionalized
collages of distinction
mixed in transfixion
a modal depiction
of a different view
.
.
.
Chicken Entrance
There have been multiple iterations of ramps for the chicken entrance of our coop over the years. Here’s a refresher of the process that got us to where we are today:
The first version suffered a fair amount of abuse from the chickens who took a liking to pulling apart the branches I wove into it. I patched it up once, but then Cyndie smashed it with a shovel when executing a murderous possum that had snuck inside for a night.
So, I built a second one that was much sturdier. Or so I thought. The chickens liked picking that one apart, too. In addition, after several winters of abuse, we grew weary of the ice and snow disaster that built up on it because the ramp crossed beneath the low side of the slanted roof.
Accumulated snow would slide off or drip directly onto the middle of the ramp. Design flaw, I admit.
So, I did something about it. Last May, I completely changed the ramp to a version that ran parallel to the drip line, just inside the short overhang of the roof above.
Okay, how many of you engineering types can see the problem with this solution? Let me give you a hint. How does snow slide off the edge of a slanted roof? (Click here for the answer.)
I had hoped the new sideways design was just far enough inside the dripline. It’s not. That brings us to the latest enhancement. Over the weekend, I built a new chicken entrance overhang to extend the dripline well beyond the ramp.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Using materials we had lying around from previous projects, including a salvaged hail-damaged clear roof panel from the woodshed, I gave the chickens a luxurious awning over their entrance. Makes the place look downright palatial.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
If that ramp still gets messy, I’ll drop walls from the overhang and give them an enclosed entrance. It’ll be their mud-room where they can kick the snow and mud off their feet before going inside.
Let’s hope that won’t be necessary.
We are now awaiting more snow to see how this works out. Stay tuned for future status reports…
.
.
Relative Something 