Rural Gardening: Pictures Finally!, 1 by mevnmart

mevnmart wrote:
Hay, I did read your lesson, and it was fantastic information. "Rooster" isn't mean to me though, just those younger Buff Orpingtons.

I'm a little irritated now too, because I got 8 straight run Buffs and when I got them home, I said to myself, "Hmmm...one of these birds clearly has no comb, while the other 7 are far more developed". I figured it was SO unlikely that the girl would sell me SEVEN roos with one girl, since even as a noob, I could tell that was probably the case. I think she was just unloading them on unsuspecting old me. They are sparring now, so I'm thinking that *may* have been why "Rooster" was trying to kick their collective butts. :) Well, two have died, of no apparent cause, even after they were separated. I have no idea what's going on. I hope my whole flock doesn't start falling like dominoes.

I'm putting up the wire on the chicken run today and tomorrow, and so hopefully we'll be done before it rains all next week!

Greenhouse_gal, we've got 22 acres (it's actually my mother-in-law's farm - we live in the guesthouse for now). The pond is 3 acres. Most of the land is hay, and the chicken run is in one of the 1-acre paddocks/corrals. It is absolutely wonderful having my kids living "the farm life". I am intent on having them know where their food comes from and to provide healthier foods for them that we produce ourselves. We go out every morning together and feed and water (and muck, when necessary) and particularly my middle son, Nico, LOVES being out there. His chicken's name is Awesome and she is a bantam that looks like a regular bird you'd see in a tree, not a chicken. We call Nico "the Chicken Whisperer" because he can pretty much hold them however he likes and they just lay there, unperturbed. When we can't catch the ducks to bring them down to the pond, we just ask Nico, and he'll be over in seconds with a duck clutched to his chest. It's pretty funny, but I love it! My oldest, Vinny, has been getting acclimated to the birds as well. He is pretty nervous about them, but has caught and held Junior, Rooster and Awesome since they are smaller and more hand-friendly.

Rorschach is an anomaly. He's black on his back, white on his front, and his bill is speckled. He's got a big tuft of feathers on top of his head. We called him Rorschach because when he was little (and still to a degree now) had what looked like a symmetrical ink splotch on his head.

Thanks for the feedback, everyone. I figured those Polish were girls, because so far, only Junior and Rooster are crowing, and all of those guys are the same age.

Here are all three of my boys helping to unload wood one of our friends gave to us.