This is the first summer Declan has totally embraced playtime at the pool. Buddy Livi has a lot to do with it! He’s had a blast enjoying playdates in her pool at home, and she came to meet us at the county pool last week. When she arrived, Declan went right into the larger of the two kiddie pools there, and announced, “Mommy, now I’m not afraid anymore!”
So, we have good news and bad news in the poultry department. The good news is that all of our chicks are now free-ranging, and they seem to love exploring the property. The bad news is that the grown hens pick on them, making a big fuss when they come too close to a food source, or trying to roost in the coop at night. You know the expression, “pecking order” or “henpecked”? Well, that’s real stuff among chickens!
We also gave a fond, sad farewell to one of our grown hens. She died rather suddenly and unexpectedly last week. I found her in the coop when I was closing it up for the night. We buried her out in the woods, thanked her for all of the eggs, and said a final good-bye. We aren’t sure what happened, since we couldn’t find any trauma like bite marks from an animal or anything, so we’re wondering if it was a heart attack from the recent heatwave we had. She seemed the healthiest among the birds, so we were surprised she died first.
This week I’ll try to do more blogs than usual, so you Georgia folks (hollah!) can see Kyle in action while he’s here! Declan is thrilled to have him around, Quinny has worked her way up to following him around and throwing a ball to him, but she’s still a little wary to get too close to him.
D and Livi at the county pool
Quinn and Norah racing up the slide in the playground area at the county pool
Liberation for the chicks! Free-ranging started this week for them.
