These fine ladies and gentlemen helped me do some yard work today!
I'm putting some leaves in our gardens before the winter gets going, and these guys just love to scratch. As soon as I started dumping the leaves in a pile they were running over to see what I had. Right away they all started digging through it and spreading it around. Thanks for the help dudes!
Because of the chickens I didn't even have to remove my door stop for the greenhouse...
Our 3 elderly chickens, far away from the maddening crowd.
Oooh those youngsters scratching for leaves...ain't nobody got time for dat.
And then there's Fluffy...
She doesn't even know what she's doing. Scratching by herself in a different garden altogether. Fluffy don't follow no crowd.
Fluffy actually pissed me off again today hahaha, I found one of her massive outdoor egg stashes. She is so sneaky, she makes us go on actually Easter Egg hunts to find her pink eggs and the worst part is that she has corrupted a few of the other gals...Grace...Dawn King...you know I'm talking about you...
Fluffy. The Ring Leader of the Easter Egg Gang.
Dawn King. Fluffy's second in command. She keeps a lookout for Farmer Lyndsay while Fluffy and Grace lay their eggs outside in the woods.
The Queen, looking fresh as always. She also gives zero fucks.
Buddy. Still super small for her age, and she has a scissor beak and walks super funny, like bowlegged. She's very, how shall we say...special.
Puddle Barometer Avec Chicken
Everyone's favourite chicken: Wingboots.
Back To The Chicken Rakes
They'll make quick work of those little piles, but at least it kept them, and me, entertained for a bit. Chickens just get so excited about the prospect of food, it's really cute to watch.
Darth Layer sends her regards @tremendospercy :)
Jimmy sends his love @phoenixwren :)
*This post is Crazy Chicken Lady approved and verified
Don't ever do what I did and accidentally set your post to 100% power up right now with SBD so high
Hey, Hey, The Darth Layer looking double hard!
How lazy are you getting the chickens to do all the hard work?! 😂
They all look so healthy babe, you're regime of yard work and egg laying is obviously keeping them in shape. ❤️
Aw, thanks for loving "The Babes" (as Eddie calls them) <3 <3 Yeah I'm gonna have to go for a walk today to catch up on the exercise that I've been missing!
What lovely helpers. I have a new chicken house for my gals, and gentleman, and now have to build them a large run. Until we figure out how to keep a local fox away, they are no longer free ranging and I hate it. I loved watching them scratch about and they were always a boon in the garden. Oh well. Do you have any trouble with predators and your free rangers?
It sucks so much to have to keep them penned in, I'm so sorry about that fox lurking around trying to make a meal out of your feathered family. We thankfully don't have any predators around here because we live right on the highway on our front yard and the ocean on our back, as well as a very loud and brightly lit factory across the street from us. Trust me...it's the only good thing about living on a highway across from a factory, no predators! They're too scared hahaha!!
City foxes don't care. City foxes dgaf.
(I say this because we've had foxes in the neighborhood and I live near the cross streets of two of the busiest streets in the state. The foxes were seen cuddling in the bed of a truck parked at the hospital where I worked at the time. A human tried to shoo them and they looked at him like, "Yeah, no, asshole, this is our bed now.")
Omg...that's lit! AHAHAHAA!!
I love the daily Easter Egg hunt! Although I'm sure the novelty wears off pretty quick. How does the song go? I wish it could be Easter...every day!
Is she going broody on those eggs or just abandoning them?
They are just abandoning them out in the brambles. Every time I "bust" one of their secret nests they just move it somewhere else LOL! Today I kept them in their run until the afternoon so that those naughty girls would lay in the coop...got 17 eggs today! Buggers! :D :D :D
So many eggs! I'm jealous!
What are the hens saving them for? Do they want to make an omelette? A breakfast burrito?
My latest hypothesis is that they do it so I will scramble the eggs up for them, because that's what I end up doing every time I find a stash!
Ha...this looks like a chicken movie. or um a chicken comic strip. Love that they are helping you.
lyndsaybowes
That is what I miss a lot being here in Florida. The chickens.
Fresh eggs. I do know the difference. Or I think I do. Ha
They do love to scratch. And they eat less chicken feed because of it.
If they are digging. They can't be eating chicken feed. lol
Francis
You are so right @francisk! Way less food costs if the girls can forage all day.
I do have people tell us there's a big difference between our eggs and the store's.
Good job, chickens! And hi, Jimmy! 😃
I love your chicken commentaries and first person perspective chicken thoughts. LOL
Jimmy was hoping you'd see him <3 Hihihi :)
We are still covered in snow but it is due to clear again in a couple of days.
I was then thinking of putting one of the chicken flocks in the raised beds in the back garden to scratch over, eat the bugs and fertilise.
But I do have some cabbages and kale overwintering there. Do you think I can trust the chickens to leave them alone... or will they be just a little bit naughty and destroy them as well?
I don't think they'd be able to destroy the roots of the kale, mine only eat the leaves and my roots are nice and deep. My chickens don't even eat the stems. But they do have a lot of green grass and stuff to eat, so all depends on your chickens lol!
These are quite young plants overwintering for the spring so they might be a bit too tempting for the chickens. I will have to find a way to net them off I think.
Good idea then if they're still not rooted in very well :) Best luck with finding some netting!
I am sure they will behave if I ask them nicely...
Yes! Make them do the work! They have to do their share of work also! They can't live there for free lol.
That title "Chicken Rakes" made perfect sense to me even before reading your post.
Take care that nobody trips on that 'real' rake though. My dad would have scolded you for having it turned that way ;)
Omg haha! Thank you for noticing that :) You possibly saved someone a black eye! I'll go turn it around today!!
It's a pet peeve of my dad's. As a child, even when I positioned the rake correctly, he would ask me and tell me how to do it and then go look. I think he had some kind of trauma with a rake as a child...
Aw... :(
After reading this post, I just had this sudden urge to start raising chickens. I envy the space you have for your chickens. They are all so gorgeous and it must be so much fun raising them. Thanks for sharing.
I pray that one day you can raise some chickens, they are such little Angels!
Most folks don't realize that each animal is an individual complete with its own personality. As a kid we had cows, pigs, horses, chickens and even peafowl, for a while. You really do get to know them. The old peahen was just mean. She'd chase us kids every time she could. She'd even go out of her way to sneak up on us when we were playing. What a hateful bird! But she layed nice eggs. The pigs were by far the smartest animals we had.
Awww, haha sounds like you have some really good memories, and some not-so-good ones too, that pea hen sounds crazy lol!! It's funny though because they lay eggs, we put up with the vicious hens. Hey, maybe she had a rough childhood right?
No doubt she was the only hen amongst a bunch of cocks!
Awesome! Chickens are great!
This reminded me of my childhood...
We use to have chickens and two roosters.
It was so neat to get fresh eggs everyday. You got to watch out for the mean roosters though..we had a mean one that your had to watch out for LOL
That's great that you had such an experience when you were a kid, so many people don't keep chickens anymore, it used to be that almost every family had a few. People were so much more self sufficient back then, and Healthier because of it!
All of our roosters are nice thank goodness, we did have a couple mean ones through the years, and they made delicious stews <3 <3 Bless their hearts!
LOL What a wonderful day.
I fear though you are starting to turn into a crazy lady. You might need some human interaction during the day. Animals are wonderful yet when you start to interact with them as people, well then you get to see those people how have the I love me jackets.
The rooms are nice and soft though...padded I think is the term.
You're right I do need some human interaction during the day, and I'm stuck with chickens...and You! hhahahaaa!!!
If those are your two choices, you are better off with the chickens.
😁
Some how I knew you would take that well :) It's good to know you can not only dish it out, but take it too :) :) :) Now we can be friends hahaha!!
Wow what a beautiful bunch they are !!! Great names too and such characters!! haha and they do the best work scratching and pooping as they go. They really are exeptional and what you get back from a chicken is so much more than just eggs! They really do become members of the family in their own sweet way. I never saw such good looking birds!!
What a big happy family!!
Have a beautiful day Lyndsay xx
Ha~ Good point about the pooping too, I forgot to mention that, their natural fertilizer <3 <3 Thanks for having so much enthusiasm about the chickens SallyBeth <3 It's made me smile :)
Always happy to put a smile on your beautiful face ! ☺️
I would love to practice homesteading as you do, I just wish I had the time. Maybe in the nearest future, I would go into it.
You would love it, plus then you get to eat beautiful organic vegetables, and fresh eggs <3 <3
Wow! I would love that. Are they local breeds ? Can they hatch their eggs?
Our gals are from around here, Nova Scotia, Canada, and yes, we have successfully had the hens hatch 60 chicks now over the last year <3
Lol @ the Easter Egg Gang... maybe they're tired of your eggstortion ...
They heard I was back dealing again and they don't approve.
I like the name Chicken Rakes :) I called my chickens Fertilizer Machines before. Your chickens look so healthy and beautiful and full of personality. They even posed for you to take pictures!
They are such little Angels indeed. Egg laying, pooping, raking little Angels!
What delightful birds they all are. There is nothing like a few chicken helpers in the garden <3
They make my life so much more interesting being a stay at home Mom :)
Heheh I love these hen story posts! They always have something going on 😁
I'm glad you like the gals and my meanderings about them :)
I love Fluffy the Renegade! A gal after my own heart. Marches to her own drummer! lol And I absolutely adore Easter egg hunts. Don't you? The photo of the Puddle Barometer Avec Pollo(Spanish for chicken) is just priceless. lol You just Crack me up Lyndsay! (sorry, I just couldn't help myself)ROFL
Yesss hahaha I always love a groan worthy pun!! <3 <3 <3 You're the best Ceci, and thanks again for coining the term "puddle barometer", it's so key to my life hahaha!!
You are welcome. As I am trying to type this I have a Great Dane trying to climb in my lap because he thinks its cold! ...sigh
Omg that paints quite the image hahaha!! Sending you both BIG hugs!!
Thanks! Hugs to you too. It is cold tonight. 20 degrees...Brrrr. Reaching for my blankey.
Aww, just reach for your Puppy haha!
Funny you mention some chicken has been laying where you can't find them. A YT channel I watch had the same problem and he just started on steemit @fixedbydoc.
Maybe they had a trick to get them to stop. It was rather funny watching his wife try to find the eggs though.
So funny they were helping you spread the leaves! I just love chickens!
Thank you so much for the suggestion, I'll go look at their page!
Awesome post. I let my chickens into my garden as well, but by the time I put leaves down there was a bit of snow and they were not interested in walking over to the garden lol. I am both a crazy chicken lady and crazy cat lady.
One of my hens is having breathing troubles and coughing. I got some anti-biotics for chickens if I need them but im not really sure what the issue is. Have you had chickens with breathing troubles? If a chicken might be sick can I just cull and eat it still?
Hello, fellow crazy chicken lady <3 I'm so sorry to hear about your hen's breathing problems. We've only experienced it happen here once. A couple of our chickens had a rattling in their breathing. We put some apple cider vinegar in their water, and fed them minced garlic until the symptoms went away. This is in no way advice to you though because your situation could be way different than ours.
I also gave them some apple cider vinager, and should chop up some garlic. I think the coughing has subsided, but I haven't been able to catch the hen with breathing troubles. She is such a chicken >.< Hopefully they will be good and I will not have to use antibiotics, which I bought just in case.
I know you'll do great, sending good vibes to you and your feathered family <3
Ooo that sounds like great chicken medicine - good for every living creature.. I swear by both ingredients for all manner of ills ⭐️
Aww..they're such good workers! I love my chickens, too :D
I'm glad you keep chickens :) That is awesome.
Looks like you had an entertaining day with the chickens. They are cute. Yes they do have some great names. Will have to participate next time you have a naming contest. It's always great when you have help even when they don't realize they are helping you. They are just thinking with their tummies. lol
Aw, I'd love to hear the names you would come up with! xoxo
We will do our best to come up with some good ones for you.
You got some great friends.it's feel like family when you are connected to someone for a long time.
You have some beautiful chickens.It should be a great day for you.
Have a nice day.
Thank you so much, you have a nice day too @rahulsaini!
I like that your chickens spread those leaves around.
Ladies and Gentle men...hahaha..
:) Yeah...they're so sweet most of the time, but sometimes can be muthercluckers.
Wow you have a farm?
We hope to one day, for now we are making the most of the area we have to raise chickens and grow food :) We are on about 1 acre of land.
thanks for the new blog. that is great and nice photography.
Hi. Nice looking chickens. :)
regards. STEEM ON !.
- Critic-on