Brown on Blue

This is Shug, my golden-penciled Cochin, a beautiful bird, particularly when seen in bright sunlight. I had five cockerels and five pullets, for several reasons not a good ratio. Shug was one of my two favorites. Yes, I said "was." Something odd happened a few nights ago, and Shug is no longer with us.

I'm Sleepy

Chickens that live on a regular diet of chicken feed probably spend their daylight hours somewhat differently than mine. I don’t know that, for I have never observed a flock of chickens that dined on commercial meals. Mine, I require to hunt and scratch for their own food. They are six-months-old and have been doing this since they were month-old chicks. They thrive on the food they scratch up for themselves. From the time I let them out of the coop at daylight until they go to roost at dusk, all they do is hunt, scratch, eat what they find, and occasionally sip drinks from the backyard cattail pond. When they have satisfied their appetites, they find a good spot, and hunker down for a nap. This is the pattern of their activity all day. Well, that’s not quite all that the boys do these days. The cockerels are at that adolescent stage where, like all adolescent males, they strut around, love to do a lot of crowing, fight each other, and chase pullets. Pure adolescence . Every day I see them sleep. I don’t close their coop until they are asleep on their roosts. To get to the point, I know that chickens sleep, but never before had I seen a chicken yawn. It astonished me. For the past half hour I had been shooting photos of my chickens, trying to get a shot characteristic of each of the five different breeds in my flock. I saw this little half-grown Brahmaputra and got him in the camera’s viewfinder. He was looking straight into the camera. I was about to shoot his picture when, to my great surprise, he yawned. Although I’m in my seventies, my reaction time was good enough to snap the camera at the full yawn. Continuing education. I learned that chickens yawn.

Blended Baby Banties

I got a digital camera for Christmas, was busy at the time, but by summer, I had learned some and was using it almost daily. After I retired in May, I bought eight two-day-old Light Brahma Bantam chicks. First chickens I've had since I was thirteen-years-old. I took excessive numbers of pictures, and still do. Later, I learned about the photo editing software on my computer, and began playing with the possibilities it provides. I wanted you to see how well these Brahmapootra chicks bonded when they were only three-days-old.

Link to My Blog on Another Site

http://aintsobad.typepad.com/ikant/

Wild Roost-ers

http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l212/oldwriter/Elevenp-1.jpg My four smallest bantams are a: Sebright, Old English Game, Americauna, D'Uccle. They much prefer high, natural roosts to roosting in the coop. After an owl got two three of my flock, I've been locking them in the coop, but these four have been slow to accept it. Often I have to go out after dark, reach and catch them by the legs, and put them in to safety. I am a kindred spirit, too much of the time locked into civilization's "socially correct."

Three-Months-Old

http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l212/oldwriter/WhoBlinksFirst2.jpg When I retired this past may, I decided I wanted a small flock of banties in my back yard, so in early June I went to a local feed store and was shown what breeds they could order. The Buff Brahmas (the only Brahmas available supposedly) had such a stately appearance that I ordered them. I had never even known there was such a breed before that day. When I looked up images of Buff Brahmas, I learned that there were two other varieties: Light and Dark. When I saw the Light Brahmas, I fell in love and dreamed of the day I might get at least one. Well, as you know, businesses sometimes make mistakes. As the chicks grew, I was overjoyed to find they had sent me Light Brahmas. This week's image shows one at three-months-old. Toughest-looking little fellow, I'd ever seen; I called him, "The Boss." He is now going on six months and has not yet lived up to his name. But judging from this picture, I suspect he still has potential. Brahmas seem to have originated in India, where they were sometimes called "Chittagongs," or "Brahmaputras." When they were first introduced to the United States, they were shipped from a Shanghai port, so in this country they soon and for many years were known as "Shanghai" chickens. "Oh don't you remember sweet Betsy from Pike, Who crossed the wide prairie with her lover Ike, With two yoke of oxen, a big yellow dog, A tall Shanghai rooster, and an old spotted hog?"

How Do I Make It Happen?

I'll post as soon as I can figure how to get a picture through on this Blogger. I can get it uploaded, but don't know what to do after I click "Done." I'll refresh myself from this frustration and try again soon.