But at first it was NOT well received.
Minimum Safe Distance was kept at all times, and even ever-hungry Sora, the white Leghorn, was cautious. Moet the buff Frizzle Cochin and Boots the partridge Cochin, both fearless bantams, were in the vanguard and took point on Operation What The Hell IS It.
Eventually they relaxed a bit and moved in, Sora and Gloria, our two main foodotropic girls, trying an experimental peck. Phoenix the roo is getting closer, but still keeping an eye on The Thing.
Hurrah, The Thing is found to be food and therefore is wholly approved of! Peepsquire moves in to claim King of the Hill rights.
But what we expected to last at least one day was GONE in less than two hours. I blame the Brahmas, who eat like a cloud of 50,000 locusts and are the size of small horses.
From mandrill on LJ:
ReplyDeleteLOL at the last photo. OMG! The light Brahmas are HUGE hulking beasts now! How tall are they?
Is that Rambo in the front? (with the funny tail feathers?) Have any of the "babies" starting laying yet? :)
You oughta see Weedcat! He's like a big walking square. :)
DeleteFrom left to right: Dinner (roo boy), Burger, Rambo (Brown hen facing sideways) and Peepsquire on top of the block. The other chickens in the pic aren't from the Chickam babies from this year.
The babies are now 7 months old, but haven't started laying yet--I blame the move and the semi-dark barn they have to live in for now. Dinner and Weedcat have both attempted matings but got soundly chased for it by the offended hens. Nothing from Rafe yet, he's just kinda hanging out. Dinner has started crowing, though! The Brahmas are getting quite tall, Dinner is a very solid boy. :)
From mandrill on LJ:
ReplyDeleteHey again...
I just got around to answering your reply.
It's just so amazing how huge the babies are now, especially the Light Brahamas -- their dark neck-capes are so pretty! I would love to see a current photo of Weedcat and Pompadour, just to see how big and fluffy the Cochins have become.
I hope that some day (after you find a new house, move in, settle down, etc.) that you might have time to update your web site and add a "Goon Chick" section. I actually read (and greatly enjoyed) the stories/photos of all of your older chickens. I find the Frizzle chickens to be particularly adorable.
Too bad that you lost out on your bid for the last house. It's surprising out active the housing market still is (in certain markets). My best friend has been looking for a new house for the past three years and has constantly lost out on many bids for homes, especially foreclosures.
From Chido on LJ:
ReplyDeleteHi Velvet!
It's me Chido, I'm so glad you guys are doing great! Your comment about the brahmas being the size of small horses made me laugh so much. Roostroyer is a huge bird, so tall and fluffy, and he's already mated with 2 of the chickens we have. He also has a girlfriend that comes visit him, it's one of the hens that a neighbor left behind when he moved and that we haven't been able to catch yet. Silly hen comes, eats their food and roo doesn't waste any time to woo her with cute bokbokbok and his dorky dance :). He's been such a good boy, warning his girls about hawks, making nests for them and call them when he finds yummy goodies. He's so awesome I'm thinking on getting him a brahma hen next year so he has a gf his size to spend time with and give the other smaller hens a break XD.
From mandrill on LJ:
DeleteHey Chido!
This is Inveigle. I'm not sure how the interface between LJ and FB works so perhaps you won't see this message. I just wanted to say "hi" and I'm glad your chickens are doing fine. Take a video of Roostroyer doing his silly mating dance! :)
From Chido on LJ:
DeleteRe: Hey Chido!
Hi! I got an email with your reply :D, I'll do my best to capture Roo crowing and dancing his dorky dance :). My sister saw him dance once and she thought he was having a seizure XD, poor guy isn't graceful at all yet, and he freaks the pullets out, (two of them still haven't laid any eggs).