Our Hens

Hi everybody,

Although it feels like just yesterday Carl, Jemel, Nell and I were packing unfamiliar chickens into plastic boxes, or that we really appreciated them for the first time as they shook off their wet feathers, or that we all sat in the fireside lounge excitedly claiming feeding-schedules, it has actually been well over a month now that we have had our feathered friends. The scent of jasmine at the farm reminds us that time and weather are changing, as do the ever-increasing vertical leaps of the chick-o's.

I think it's not a bad time to ask ourselves how we feel about the chickens, the coop, and the Order. We are not dealing with the same shy hens anymore, that's for sure. Since we've been free-ranging them, they crowd the door when you approach and try to scoot past the entering caretaker - and how they've gotten noisy! Nor are they shy in the nest-boxes; in one instance I saw four eggs in a box and once I saw five. Paula still acts like an outcast bitch-maverick.

The coop is looking and feeling more and more like a home. The tree inside is budding, the jasmine blossoming, and curious projects sprouting all around the run. A beautiful, eccentric and flattened hen welcomes visitors. The poopie-hay is a reminder, if not for everyone than to me at least, that I have no idea what the processing of composting actually involves.

And we are living with the chickens. Free-ranging them, naming them, listening to them; but also they are scurrying around us, learning us, clucking at us. I'm glad we have such an energy.

All in all we need to touch base. Since I've written this post (I'm editing it now) a chicken has disappeared. Maybe this was beyond our control, I don't know, but I want to be sure of it - we can't let it happen again!