Karla's Cottage

A Chicken Swing for the Ladies

When I mentioned to Rich that a friend told me she had seen chickens happily swinging at a botanical park, he went right outside and made one for our sweet hens.

So far they aren’t impressed, interested, or even intrigued by the idea.  I heard you need to give them time.  My thoughts are that when they are in their enclosed area or the coop, it would get more attention because they would have less entertainment in those spaces.

This is set up in the open fence where they are constantly busy, scratching and looking for tasty treats, so they are just way, way too busy to kick back and relax on the swing.  

We will see how it goes.  We like it set up where we can watch them, but this might not be the spot it needs to be in.  I’ll update you as spring progresses and we are outside more to observe.  

Gosh, is spring really ever coming?  This has been such a dreary month of March.  I could use a little chicken fun to brighten my day.  Get swinging, little ladies!

The ladies get a treat

This time of year, once the family has packed up themselves and their gifts and headed home, I am itching to pack up the holiday Foof that fills my home and get my halls undecked.  I am ready to enjoy simple surroundings with items like this elegant bloom.

The opulence in the cottage makes me so happy, until it doesn’t and all of a sudden, it is clutter to me.  Then I right then, right now, want it gone.  Typically, Sugarwings wants me to leave it up til after New Years so I do. Right now, I’m busy with getting ready for the next Good Juju sale, so I am honoring the grand fairy’s request and keeping my priorities in line by making price tags instead of hauling tubs of glittering pretties to the closet.

A compromise in starting the undecking was to clear out the gingerbread houses. When the kids were little, we’d take them to the woods for the fairies to live in.  Now, I had them over to the hens to peck at and enjoy.

I’m not sure how much they will eat, but they do enjoy the novelty.

And I enjoy having just a little less stuff on my dining table.

 

Queenie

If you are squeamish, you shouldn’t look at these pictures.  I’ll tell the story, then leave a gap and have pics at the end.

Poor Queenie, the other chickens pecked her head raw after her foot was injured and she was weak.   I named her that because they messed up the crown of her head, and also in honor of the passing of Queen Elizabeth.

We were babysitting the neighbors flock while they were away.  This young chicken got her foot stuck in the fence and hurt it.  Rich got her down and put her back in with the others after contacting her family.  But wanted to put her out of her misery, he did not think she would make it.

The next day, she was discovered with the horrible wounds from hen pecks, and he brought her home, made a special pen for her.   She was hand fed, and pampered.  Her poor leg was swollen three times it’s normal size and her head was raw.  Rich, again thought she might need to be euthanized.  But I thought that her eyes were bright and inquisitive, and she seemed happy for attention.

Then, a door was left ajar, I think it might’ve been me.  Sugar got out, knocked over the pen and ran away with Queenie.  The poor bird was terrified and my husband was crushed. He cares so deeply for our pets, and any small creatures he finds around here.  He and Sugarwings had a big adventure with a box turtle named Sonny just the other day, and they still talk about that rescued turtle like he was part of the family.

Once again, I looked into Queenie’s eyes.  They still seemed bright and friendly, even though her body was limp.  There was no blood on her, just a lot of dog slobber and a few missing feathers.  Rich felt little hope for her after pulling her out of the dog’s mouth, but he set her special pen back up and he caught her a few grasshoppers.  She has an appetite, and he has been cutting up pork chops, fresh veggies and other treats for her, which she seems to like.

I think she will make it.  Our friends do not want her back, but I don’t know if our flock will accept her either, she might need to be someone’s single chicken as a pet.  Other hens always seem to bully the younger, weaker girls.  Until her head heals and re-feathers itself, and she can walk again, we will keep her safe and segregated.  

I think she is a lovely bird, with her jet black feathers and sparkling, black eyes.  All of our other ladies have orange or yellow eyes, these shiny, black ones are lovely.  And she seems to like us.  Fingers crossed that this sweet little gal does okay!

 

See what I mean?  What a pretty face she has! Even with her injuries, she is a very, pretty chicken.

 

New in the studio

Did I mention our new peeps?

They arrived on the day before Easter, and it was right after I got whacked in the head, so I was resting and still in bed.

Rich walked in with a box shaped like the kind Duncan Donut uses and I thought he was bringing me breakfast in bed since I wasn’t feeling so hot, quite a surprise!

But these were an even better surprise.  They named after donuts because of my first impression of them.  

Eclair

Glazey

Cruller

Blueberry

Long Jane (I guess I could’ve named a hen John, but thought this was cute, I just call her Janey)

Maple

We enjoyed the new peeps so much we promptly bought six more, this time “Olive Eggers.”

Here is a more recent photo, they are starting to feather out and learn to fly.  We put a grate over then pen to keep them in.  While I do not mind sharing my studio with them, to keep them warm, I don’t particularly like the idea of them having free range of it.

They have the sweetest songs as the peep and tweet all day.  It’s been such a relaxing sound to have in the background as I work.  I will miss them when they go to live in the coop with the big girls.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The life cycle of a pumpkin

Last fall, we took a trip to the pumpkin patch, after an extremely LONG time of no regular outings. The grand fairies and I typically had a schedule of getting out and exploring on a regular basis. In the summer, it was the pool, park, zoo, and more. In the fall, we'd go to the pumpkin patch multiple times and host pumpkin craft parties after. 

2020? not quite the same.  But we masked up, and social distanced our way through the punkin patch, and made the most of a day out.  We were pretty happy to be there, too, even with the restrictions and changes that had to be implemented.

 

We probably bought way too many pumpkins, hoping to have a carving party with Fin and Clover, but the weather didn't cooperate, and we couldn't get together outside, so I made use of the gourds as best as I could. 

When the pups were tiny, I liked to do photo shoots with them for their new families, so these were great to use as props for posing puppies.

After Halloween, I spray painted some of them white and added a touch of glitter to the tops, and placed them into flower pots in front of the house.  Others got turned into pies.

(The white pumpkins make the best pies, uhm, not the painted white ones, the REAL white ones.)

Now, it is time to clean up the front porch and get rid of the pumpkins who have seen better days. They are squishy and wrinkled, but instead of tossing them out, they went to the hens.  The birds don't eat the rind, so didn't even bother with the painted exterior. They went right for the tasty seeds inside.

I guess I didn't have too many pumpkins after all! At least the chickens didn't think so. We have been giving them a couple a week and they are pretty happy with the treats.

Cooped Up in a Positive Way

Our coop has been empty for over a while now.  Sadly, each season there was always attrition in the number of birds.  So every spring we would buy more.

Due to my husband’s previous travel schedule for work, then his amped up travel plans for retirement, we decided to not replace the flock a couple of years ago.

As you all know, everyone’s travel plans are different now.  
It looks like we will be home a while....

So we took a trip out to the country and loaded up a dozen hens.

We debated getting more than 12, since all of the raccoons, hawks, and other critters on our land will be every bit as glad to see the hen house fill up as we were.

But, while having a few chickens to keep us entertained and provided with eggs while social distancing, that same confinement means less trips to the feed store.

And 12 can produce a lot of eggs to keep us, our family and friends well supplied.

We already got 4 the first day!

After frying them up, I wondered why on earth we went without chickens for so long.
You really can taste the difference.

 

Welcome, Ladies! The Cinnamon Queens are here

I'd never heard of Cinnamon Queens before.  (The name sounds like a drag show in New Orleans or something).  But once I looked up the name and found out what they really are, I was thrilled to be getting a boxful of them.

These gals are half Rhode Island Red and half Rhode Island White.  

Our first hens were dainty reds, and since then, we have had many other occupants of the coop. But none of the newcomers ever measured up to the sweet nature of the little red hens we started out with.  

(You can see how clean and pretty the coop used to be and how happy we were when the very first red beauties came to live with us here.)

I'd been excited to get some pretty blue eggs and we switched to Ameraucanas for the color.  We also got a few other breeds, including red and black sex links.  None were friendly, no matter how hard I tried.  Each time I'd go into their home, they'd act like I could only be there to butcher them, not feed and pet them.  

They were loud, big, and nervous.  And big hens mean bigger piles to be left behind, so stinkier too.

Here is one of the unfriendly ones. Doesn't she have a look in her eye that says she isn't very trusting??

And here is one of the new girls.  She looks bright, curious, and sweet.  

As we opened the cage and let them out, they didn't make a sound, no screeching in terror (like the other chickens do when anything changes, if feed them, if I look at them, if the door opens, etc), no flapping around and trying to escape, no distrust at all.  Each one started to explore their new space and seemed to be adjusting just fine.

Now, this behavior is not due to the farm they came from.  For the last few years, we have dealt with a nice family who raises birds, and buy a few hens from the same place each time.  The difference seems to be the breed, not the people who bred them.

Not that I'm giving up on the other chickens. They will always have a home here, and I will pet their heads and rub their warm tummies when I get eggs from them.  I keep trying to convince them that I am their friend.  

They don't believe me so far.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the Cinnamon Queens will prove to be better pets for me.  If they aren't, well, I hear that they are excellent layers, with extra large eggs, so that isn't so bad.  I'm glad that they are here.

And if they decided that they want to perform some sort of drag show/dance review that suits the name  "Cinnamon Queens", I'm going to be supportive.  If they do, I think they might need some sort of Moulin Rouge style individual names, right?   Here are some from the movie that I think will suit them:

Satine

Baby Doll

La Petite Princesse

Nini

Antionette

Pearly Queen

Production: There are several breeds that are referred to as modern day brown egg laying strains. These are breeds that were developed for their abilities as layers, and each hen will lay between 250-300 eggs annually. Temperament: CinnamonQueens have a reputation as being particularly sweet and docile birds.

https://www.purelypoultry.com/cinnamon-queen-chickens-p-375.html

 

The new hens are settled in

Could there be a more beautiful shade of blue?

Our new ladies in the coop are doing a magnificent job of keeping us supplied in these pretty eggs. Good girls!

Hoppity Hearts and Whammy Time

We've been spending a lot of time outdoors this summer.  Breakfast in the fairy play yard, bubbles in the Food Forest, swimming at the lake, and just plain soaking up some daylight and goofing off.

There has been a lot of side walk chalk involved in our summer fun too.  We have always liked hopscotch, but around here, everything needs to be cranked up a notch.  So, we came up with Hoppity Hearts. It's like hopscotch, but with heart shaped steps. That go on and on and on across the drive way.

And leave it to Sugarwings to add yet another element to a game.  If she isn't making up guidelines, she isn't happy.  So, soon a dress code was added.  Although Dewdrop refused to submit to the dress code, which is why there are no photos of her. All she was wearing was mud.  And lots of it.  While that was pretty cute, I didn't think a totally naked baby was blog material.

Boxes full of blueberry plants had arrived for the Food Forest, and Sugarwings gloms onto any empty box to transform it into part of her games.  And these seemed to be a perfect fit.

The weather has been perfect too. The forest and the work my son and our Gypsy have done is just blowing me away.

There is something tasty to add to our dinner every night, as well as a garden so pretty that I just want to go out and stand there and daydream instead of work.

I love the mix of wildflower seeds in with the veggies.  We have done pretty well bugwise, with the good bugs to eat the bad, and with flowers that keep the nasties away.  It seems to work much better than I'd thought, but we are having trouble now with some squash vine borers.  But pesticides don't work on those anyway, you  have to do surgery on the joints of the vine to cut the varmits out.

I've decided that I'm soaking up the fun, the beauty, and the opportunities around me this summer.  I'm taking some time off and saying YES to adventure.  Even if it is as simple as laying on our backs and seeing fluffy shapes in clouds. I'm also planning on taking the girls out at least once a week for a field trip.  And I'm going to try to travel with my husband more too. 

I swear, that little break from work while my wireless was wonky and my hard drive died, has given me a new outlook. I'm all in for summer now!  A little taste of leisure and I'm hooked. I tend to be a bit of a work-a-holic, but that is on hold for a while.

Summertime, LOOK OUT!  Here comes Whammy!! (Dewdrop can't say Grammie, she calls me Whammy, and I kind of like it, it sounds much more adventuresome than Grams)

 

Waiting for Spring

Hope you had a happy May Day! It's one of my favorite days of the year.  As a kid, it meant it was almost my birthday.  So, that is always nice, but it also means SPRING! At least it should, but this year, I don't know if Spring will ever get here.

Before going out of town, my husband and I had nice day out at the Topeka Zoo with Sugarwing's class. It was soooo chilly, we had to bundle up in lots of layers. I thought I'd be peeling off layers throughout the day, but instead, I was wishing I'd piled on a few more. 

We also made a trip out to the country to pick up some new ladies to join the Coop Group.

We aren't sure what kind of hens they are, only that they produce a pink, a brown and a blue egg.  And that they are very pretty chickens. 

Yes, I did say PINK!!!!!!!!

One of those new ladies is laying pink eggs. What a delightful surprise! We also picked up 6 little red hens who lay brown eggs.  It's a full coop now.

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I've been working on this wire birdcage tutorial, and now have it ready to send to you!  You can get the details here.