Tropicals & Tender Perennials: Hows everyones co op plants, 1 by lakesidecallas

lakesidecallas wrote:
Yes, we have chickens! Dreaming of daily eggs, my husband bought 6 baby chicks at a Tractor Supply Store. Let me just tell you all, this is not the way to buy chickens! We ended up with 5 roosters and a.... well, to be politically incorrect, a retarded chicken. Lyle is very cute and sweet but seems to be very, um, slow. He sits on the edge of the coop all day. If we put food and treats down on the ground beneath him, he'll coo and chirp, and look down, but he doesn't seem to know how to get down off the 4 ft tall coop. We have a chicken coop inside a 6x12 dog kennel. Everyone gets locked up at night and gets to wander around and knock over pots (their specialty) during the day. The roosters are all eager to get out and wander around in the woods all day, while Lyle sits on the coop.
It's been quite the adventure- one of the smallest bantams has taken to terrorizing me. I have pots along a wide path through the woods, and Mousey has taken to lurking in the woods behind the path. He'll leap into the path and chase me. I'm very disappointed I can't outrun a chicken!
Oddly enough it reminds me of a movie- "Better off Dead" with John Cusack. Everywhere he goes he is followed by a paperboy on a small bike, wanting his 2 dollars. Before Mousey started the actual attacks I thought he was just being friendly and following me- ha!
Yesterday I discovered something- if I yell for the other bantam rooster (the other 3 are fat birds) Chippy, Chippy will run over to us and jump at Mousey and drive him away. So that's making life a little easier.

Oh, and to keep this on topic, my Colocasia Cranberry were the first plants to really take off and grow, but now they aren't growing any bigger and seem to be failing a bit. They might need more light- I had to move most of my plants into the forest path because 2 months of 90 degrees almost every day, no clouds, no rain, was killing everything. Even the bananas can't take the full sun. This weather!!!!!

Here's a photo of the path through the woods, with Mousey acting all innocent, pecking around. What he is really doing is blocking my path back to the house.
Yes, he's been kicked, poked with a stick, and other deterrents. Right now, Chippy is my best defense, followed by waving a big butterfly net, and flapping a shirt or towel at him. No, we aren't going to eat him.