Pullet egg!

 We have been getting a little rain here and there. It’s enough that the chicken run isn’t bone dry. I have no desire to repeat last year’s leg mite fiasco, so I deployed the dust-bath-in-a-tub. At first, the chickens merely gathered around to peck out gravel for their gizzards. Eventually, Silvia hopped in to investigate. One of the Wyandottes hovered nearby, wondering what Silvia was up to.

Investingating the dust bath

It took a few minutes, but Silvia geared up for a vigorous bath. She began by ruffling here feathers.

Preliminary feather ruffling

Then she started kicking up the dust.

Kicking up dust

She really got into it, rolling around as the sand and diatomaceous earth flew.

Dust flies over her back

I’ve seen Goldie bathing as well. Other than that, most of the chickens prefer the dug-out spot underneath one of the shade shelters. As winter progresses, I expect that more will make use of the sand. We’ll see.

It was an exciting day yesterday. I’d seen Silvia displaying the beginnings of the “come hither” squat for a couple of days. Yesterday morning, she was firmly ensconced in a nest box when I went out to do the chores.

Silvia in a nest box

A few hours later, there was a cute blue pullet egg in the tray. I show it here next to Goldie’s full-sized egg.

Goldie's egg, left; Silvia's first egg, right

Silvia doesn’t have the color down just yet. The ends of the egg are splotched with bits of white showing through the blue overlay.

Uneven color deposition on the end of the egg (plus a tiny streak of blood--ouch)

Here is a picture of her egg in the egg carton. So cute!

Silvia's egg, top row, left, with hen's eggs

Silvia is the only pullet that is showing any interest in growing up. They should all be the same age, and we have two other Ameraucana pullets. Nothing to do by wait. They will start laying in their own time. By now, we are certain that we have no roosters.

It was supposed to get cold last night. We are generally colder than the forecasted temperature, so I hastened to harvest the last peppers. I hadn’t picked many bell peppers because I was hoping (in vain) that they would turn red. I had no more time to wait. Most of the peppers were small, even though they were all labeled “California Wonder” when I bought them at Farm and Fleet. You may recall that the rabbits bit off every last one of my carefully nurtured babies, and I had to replant. The plant on the north end outdid itself, producing four giant, thick-walled peppers. I put one of the ordinary peppers in front for size comparison.

Back row--four huge California Wonders from one plant.
Front row--puny pepper for comparison.

I cleaned out the high tunnel last week. I had planted some Daikon radish in early summer and forgot about them as they grew, flowered, and set seed. When I dug them up, many were carrot-sized (right in the picture), but two were enormous. Of those, one had split and rotted. So sad. I’m not sure what I will do with the other one. I saw a recipe for pickling Daikon in Hobby Farms, and I may try that.

Monstrous Daikon radish next to puny ones

The frantic rush of tomato canning is over. I’m taking next week off because I am so sick of washing jars and standing in steam. I need a rest. After that, the apples.