My fine feathered friends...

I just got through reading an excellent little book that any chicken lover would like. It's called "My Fine Feathered Friend" by William Grimes. In 85 charming pages William Grimes weaves an entertaining, soul-touching and witty chicken story. It all starts when Mr. Grimes found a little black chicken in his tiny backyard in the middle of Queens. He has no idea where "The Chicken" came from. The Chicken ends up hanging out and eating with the stray cats that Mr. Grimes feeds. The Chicken ends up being a very tough girl. She survives ice, snow, low flying police helicoptors and roosting in a pine tree. It doesn't take long for the author to become a chicken fan. Mr. Grimes is soon on a mission to learn as much as he can about his new chicken. He fixes The Chicken a make shift roost and nest box where The Chicken rewards him with delicious fresh eggs. The Chicken also provides entertainment as she chases one of the cats daily for fun. Then as quickly as The chicken appears, he disappears. This book has a charming cover and very cute illustrations throughout. Any one who loves birds, has chickens or is considering getting them would love this great book. Another thing I love is that this book doesn't have any cursing or foul language. It would be a good gift for a preteen up to an adult. "My Fine Feathered Friend" is one that I will keep in my library for years to come.

So cluckin' crazy

This summer has been soo wet and humid and the perfect weather for snails and mushrooms, as you can see in the photo! Since this weather is forcing us to stay inside, I've been doing way too much Ebay shopping for chicken collectibles. So far I've bought chicken quilting fabric, chicken china, chicken jewelry, chicken socks, chicken pajamas, chicken paper.... and the list goes on and on and on.

I've got to put some of my treasures on Ebay to raise money to visit my grandma in Arkansas come September. We've been tring to sell our house to move down with her and help her out, but to no avail.

Well, I'm tired out tonight, the chickens are all tucked in and I'm headed to bed.

Chickens are restless

The chickens are restless today, it was very rainy and windy last night so their yard is a muddy mess today. Weezy is in the coop declaring her unhappiness with the weather. I can hear her on the baby monitor clucking with distain. Weezy very much likes to be out in the sun.

As I am starting this blogging experience, I'm looking forward to posting the rest of the photos of my girls. Unfortunately, the laptop with all my chicken photo's has had to visit the computer Doc. So... you'll meet the rest of the gals later on!

To make matters worse today, Ole' Bitty has gone BROODY!! She wants to be a mommy sooo badly. If only we had more room and lived on a farm, I'd have some fertile eggs under here already. This is the second time that Ole' Bitty has gone broody. At first I thought Ole' Bitty was egg bound. I when out to the coop armed with Vaseline, rubber gloves, mineral oil and my chicken 1st Aid Kit. All prepared to do battle with the offending egg, so I could save my Ole' Bitty. I couldn't feel an egg with my fingers in the vent and I couldn't feel any when checking her abdomen area. So, I hoped and prayed that it was only her broodiness coming on. Thank God it was!

Weezy the Dominique

Weezy (named after Weezy Jefferson) is a beautiful Dominique hen. She is very intelligent and gets easily bored. Sitting on shoulders and pecking at your shiny human eyes are just a couple of her hobbies. Weezy is the queen of the coop with only one chicken that ever gets her goat. When she was 3 days old I started holding her in my hand, close to my face, while talking softly to her. In doing this I hoped to make her nice, tame and easy to handle. It worked...Weezy is very gragarious!!! Weezy lays a medium to large size brown egg. She is an excellent layer, usually laying one egg a day even through her molts.

Introducing the Urban Chicks

As any parent would tell you, they have a favorite child that they always keep closer to their heart than the others. My favorite chicken child is Phoebe. Phoebe is a Buff Orpington. She celebrated her 2nd birthday on July 19th. She's a very gentle, loving, curious and well behaved girl. She lays very large light brown eggs. Phoebe is always the first to see me coming out with a yummy treat. Usually, she will jump in front of her pen mate Scroungey to steal her treats. Since Scroungey is the Boss hen it's a brave thing for Phoebe to do. Sometimes Scroungey will give her a good swift peck on the comb if Phoebe gets to brazen.