Tension along the border

Last week was not without sadness. Hilda spotted Toby, the feral cat that had been hanging around this summer, lying stiff in the road Tuesday morning. She kicked him/her to the side of the road. I walked down to say goodbye on my way to work. I was surprised at how small he was, maybe not even a year old. Poor little guy. I thanked him for his good work keeping the ground squirrel population under control. Terry laid him to rest under a tree later that morning.

Friday night, we rounded up six of the laying hens for the butcher. All of the Welsummers went. Behag and Fiona had virtually no feathers on their necks and backsides.  Morag was beautiful. Our suspicion was that Morag pecked the others. One of the Americauna, Lidia, and a Buff Orpington, Nelly Elly, were also missing feathers, so they got on our hit list. Finally, Anna Vic, the broody Buff Orpington, had to go. Yes, Gracie gets broody too, but the Silver Crested hens are just too fun to put down. If we are wrong about Morag being the meanie, we have just gotten rid of all the submissive hens and may be in for some serious chicken fights as the new pecking order gets established.

When I went out Saturday morning to do my chicken chores, I heard car horns at regular intervals. Had someone put up a “Honk if you love Jesus” sign in their yard? After a particularly long honk, I looked down the road to see turkeys running for the shoulder. Of course.

I opened a passage way between the pullets and the remaining layers. All day, each group stayed on their sides. On Sunday, Hilda threw scratch grains along the border. Both groups ate together uneasily. Gracie took it upon herself to chase off one of the Rhode Island Reds.

Tension along the border

Gracie flares her tail and chases off a Rhode Island Red

I thought I’d better put in some pictures of the Americauna pullets before their cheek feathers get pecked off. I have noticed that they don’t seem to have the luxurious beards for very long, which is too bad. It certainly give them a look.

Chloe has the best beard

Antonia doesn't have as fluffy a beard as Chloe, but she is the boldest of the pullets

Lillian does not seem to have much of a beard, which is not typical of her breed. It will be interesting to see if we get any colors besides green. In theory, blue and pink eggs are possible from the Americauna/Aracauna chickens.

Lillian (right) has virtually no cheek feathers. Isabel (Rhode Island Red) is on the left

The days have passed. Today Hilda reported that she thought all the chickens were together in the shade under Coop 2. The layers have also been eating the pullet’s food. This is too bad, because what really needs to happen is that the pullets need to move to the layers’ coop and run. All in good time, I suppose, but there are still two coops to clean every morning.

We’re getting our fill of raspberries. I experimented with a raspberry pie on Sunday. I can’t blind bake a crust to save my life. It always slumps down the sides. I passed enough raspberries through a sieve to get one cup of juice. I heated the juice with sugar and corn starch until thickened and folded in fresh berries. It was awesome, if I say so myself, especially with whipped cream. 

My raspberry pie in its slumped crust. Still tasted great!