A Tale of Two Chickens

Where do I even start with these two? 

Way back when we chose our original six birds (after much research), we settled on 2 Welsummers, 3 Easter Eggers, and a Lavender Orpington. The former 5 were chosen for temperament, the type of egg they laid, and their breed heartiness. The Orpington was chosen purely to be my special "pet". 

Her name was Mrs. Rachel Lynde. 

Sadly, Mrs. Rachel died when she was very young...before ever coming to live with us. Apparently it can be common for Lavenders to have weak constitutions when they are first born.

Fast forward through Pippa's convalescence, to when it was coming time for her to rejoin the flock. She needed a buddy to be reintroduced with (FYI- you should never introduce a single chicken into a flock by themselves). - This was my chance to find another Orpington! Hurrah! I searched and searched, finally finding a local(ish) breeder of BBS English Orps. We went to look through her babies, and found one we thought might actually turn out to look like a Lav (she was only two weeks old). While visiting their farm, we saw the few Polish they had been recently dabbling in, and she told us there were a couple, including a stunning Tolbunt, she was planning to sell that didn't conform to their breeding standards. I had read a bit about the breed prior, and hers were so sweet, I quickly rationalized that I didn't have any white egg layers in my flock, aaaand one chicken instantly became two (chicken math is a real thing).

She held onto them for a few weeks for us while we were traveling abroad, and when we came to pick them up, the Lavender had a little flesh wound from the others picking on it, but this beautiful snow white chick (who ended up being a Light Splash EO) completely stole my heart in her stead. We called her Mrs. Rachel the Second. 

On the ride home apparently, these two entered into the unbreakable sisterhood of BFFs for life.

(this and the next two pics are of them playing together in the yard)

And my goodness. Never were there two chickens who were more joined at the hip! I wish I had pictures of them as babies when we first got them, but because they spent most of their time growing up in a tractor, it was really hard to snap any good ones. I have a few on my phone, but that's it. 

Rachel was so much smaller than Josephine (the Polish) at first. She would snuggle underneath her to sleep. It seemed that Rach was the brains of the operation, and Jojo would happily go along with whatever she hatched up in her gangly, comical way. They would often stroll around together, wing to wing, scoping out the place for bugs, and cautiously watching the original flock from afar.

Once Jo got a concussion and was feeling under the weather for several days. The usually very active Mrs. Rachel spent so many hours cuddled up by her side. Whenever she would get up to eat or drink, she'd often go back to the corner Joey was laying in to check on her between bites. I even saw her carry back a blade of grass to offer to her friend. Their sweetness just about killed me.

In those early days, I was trying to hold Rachel as often as I could to get her used to me (and start her "pet-status" training). Whenever I had her out, Jo would peep angrily at me until I put her back down. Once, she even tried to fly up and land in my arms beside her best buddy!

By and by, it came time for their introduction to the big girl coop. As predicted, Rachel was soon easily lowered to the bottom of the pecking order (as is common of Orpingtons...they're pushovers). The older girls picked on Josephine a good deal too - taking out some of her back feathers, and using her limited sight to their advantage. But one day Jo decided enough was enough, and she started pecking back. Usually at their feet because that's all she could see. Hahaha!

The sad part was that she also started pecking at Rachel to climb her way up the social ladder. It about broke my heart. The big girls soon accepted this bossy poof-headed chicken into their pack, and even let her think she was in charge sometimes (just to save their toes, I think). Rachie was often left alone, but still she stayed loyal to her first friend. When it came Joey's time to start laying eggs, Rachel would go into the coop with her to inspect the nesting boxes. Often they would dust bathe together - away from the rest of the group. Jo was always the first one to bed at night, and she'd call out loudly to Rachel until she came in after her.

Things have settled into a nice balance with the flock now, I think. Since we lost both head hens (Brooke and Marilla), there really isn't a clear leader in the group. Jo doesn't feel as threatened, so she spends more time with Rachel. They still go on walks together from time to time (though now Rachel is three times the size of Josephine!). They still peck for bugs in the same square inch together. But often Pringle can be found sleeping between the two of them at night, and Rachel likes to play with Tillie out in the yard some days.

Overall I'm pleased with how the four of them have adjusted to the new normal. It's a sweet, if slightly ditzy (!) flock we have now.

But I'll never forget the precious bond those two little birdies have shared from the very start.

A Day In The Saddle

Horses from afar can be such sweet-looking pastoral creatures... grazing away contentedly in a field of clover.

But once you're sitting high in a soft, worn-in leather saddle a horse becomes an amazingly overwhelming beast of a wild animal who chooses to be gentle, friendly, and submissive.

It's humbling, exhilarating, and peaceful all at the the same time.

And reminds me of an Anne quote (as things often do...):

"I think I'd like it if he could be wicked...but wouldn't."

There's just something about that choice... It's powerful, isn't it?

Molting Is For the Birds

There are so many things about raising chickens I feel like nobody (books, blogs, articles, chicken keeping groups...) can fully prepare you for.

Molting is one of those things.

I mean you can read about how rough a molt is on a bird, but then when you actually see your sweet little feathered beebees explode before your very eyes, slowly becoming a sickly-emaciated-drowned-rat-zombie looking version of themselves, suddenly stop laying eggs, run from you like the plague, and start acting like super grumpy old goats... well, how can you possibly be prepared for all that?

These pictures were taken on the upswing of The Great Molt of 2018. At one point they both had zero tail feathers, and were all tuft-y and full of porcupine quills. No more fluffy butts... it looked like their backsides had been in a pillow fight! - And our girls didn't even have it that bad compared to some I've seen.

We only have two molters left in our flock: Tillie and Pringle. 

Marilla, sadly, needed to be rehomed because she was being picked on during her molt. Granted, it did looking like she was growing a pile of sticks out her back, but the others couldn't resist constantly messing with them until they were all bloody. At her new home she unexpectedly passed away. I have since read that during molting season, their bodies are under such a huge amount of stress that a change of that magnitude can be simply too much for them to handle. 

Duly noted. :'-(

Fly high sweet Marilla. You were a smart and gentle leader of our little flock, and we all miss you.

Brooke also left us after a bout of impacted crop that I worked tirelessly on trying to resolve. After a week, we thought we were through the woods, she was back to nomal - horray! Then one day, right before we were set to go on a short weekend trip, she took mysteriously ill. Our local chicken angel said she would watch her for the weekend (we couldn't leave a sick bird with our house sitter), and we weren't even sure she would pull through... She also, had just started molting. - Still touch and go at this point, she's alive, but we won't be able to take her back even if she recovers because we don't have a quarantine tractor anymore. We'll be working on that in the spring... It's something we didn't know just how much we'd need.

Annnnnnyway: back to molting.

So, everybody said birds don't molt their first year. Right. Our older girls were born the last week of January, and all of them (well, we don't know about Muriel who's living the country life now) did indeed molt. 

Josephine had a soft (juvenile?) molt about a month ago, and she's the only one still earning her keep around here: laying an egg every other day at least. Mrs. Rachel was a spring chicken, so she is still happily in full fluff, and doesn't understand what all the others are going on about.

Each girl pretty predictably stopped laying right about 2 weeks before their molt began in earnest. None of their molting patterns were the same. They all lost and gained in different places in different orders. We upped their protein to 22% (meat bird rations) to help with their feather re-growth, and give them mealworms as an occasional high-protein treat.

Just this week (almost two months in), we finally seemed to take a turn for the better. Pringle, who is usually pretty social, has been avoiding me at. all. costs. But a few days ago she started back her silly little habit of grooming me while I'm cleaning out the run, AND she started to squat again. I'm secretly hopeful that means she's thinking about laying, but I know full well she may be on sabbatical until spring. Tillie still bolts in the other direction if I so much as look at her, but she did start her molt significantly later than Pring, so she's still got a bunch of pin feathers coming in. I also caught them all enjoying a good dust bath together for the first time in weeks!! Good sign!

(Tillie's full neck and poofy cheeks pre-molt)

(and during molt)

Bedtime drama seemed to amp up during molt too, and Tillie has taken to wanting to sleep in the nesting boxes every night (chicken sleep regression?). We have to chase her out and back up to the roost several times - hoping that when she's fully back to herself, she'll stop with all that young bird nonsense. Geesh.

Hope all of that helps those of you yet to experience your first molt know some of what to expect. It's a rough season for the girls, but it's gotta end sometime, right!? Fingers crossed we're nearing the other side!

Scrumpy Cider

Where is your place?

The place your mind jumps to when every one of your senses seems to need a tender hug? 

Taste. Smell. Sight. Touch. Sound.

You know those weeks: when life is everything

 loud, dramatic, stressful, exhausting, too. much. stimulation...

Where is that place you dream of running off to? Your place to be soothed.

Mine is a little challenging to get to in a hot minute - it's actually an old English pub, "a local". Deep in the countryside.

One that serves scrumpy cider preferrably.

There is just something found there that ministers to all my HSPness.

They're dimly lit. There's nearly always a fire (or two) going. Often a dog (or 10) lounging at their master's feet. Quiet, interesting conversation to be had. Delicious, filling stew on the boil...

It's just everything calm and cozy and peaceful and intimate and flavorful and wonderful to me.

These English country pubs...

My tangible place - the place that soothes both body and soul the instant I walk under the low-framed stone doorways. They slow my heart rate. They calm my frazzled nerves. They let my inmost being breathe deep and slow.

And I'm curious: what's yours?

Noraleigh's Mountain Vacation

 Now that we find the crisp days of autumn nipping at our heels, I wanted to relive some of my favorite summer memories through words and pictures before we officially trade in the long golden days of "making hay" for sweater weather and pumpkin-everything!

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The second week of August was the most delightful, action packed, sleep deprived, memory making, fun-filled, adventure seeking, exhausting week of the summer. Hands down.

It was the week that our three year old niece Nora came to visit.

This was to be her longest (and furthest) time away from mommy, daddy, and Lolo (her little sissy) and we knew the probability of homesickness was high. But that notwithstanding, my sister (her mom) and I thought we'd give a week a go - knowing full well we might end up delivering her back to her own bed several days earlier than planned if she just decided she couldn't handle it.

But "handle it" she did! This girl was livin' her best life up here in the mountains!

On the drive to our house, Nora kept commenting on how big the mountains were. And why were there so many? And were we going up them? When we confirmed that we did indeed live where the mountains were, she started referring to her time here as her "Vacation in the Mountains". I'd ask her what she normally did for this or that, and she'd say, "Well, I don't know! I've never been way up in the mountains before, so maybe I do things differently here!". She was delighted to discover that we actually have a Target store in the mountains (girl's got priorities), and on every trip around town she was constantly on the lookout for both the mountain signs that point out local sites/attractions, and Mill Mountain, our cities central hill with the huge star on top.

My goodness, did we pack in the fun! Coloring, painting, chalking the sidewalk, scooter-ing, swinging and sliding at the park, egg collecting, coming to work with me, visiting her Great Aunt and Uncle, going to the library, eating mini cupcakes, splashing at the water park, poking around the craft store, having pizza and movie night...  Whew! And that was just some of what we did!

Knowing myself as I do (someone who could slip into obsessive photographer mode at the drop of a hat), I purposefully decided to leave my camera in its bag for the entire visit, and really try be present. Noraleigh soaks up quality time like a sponge and having people play with her is her jam, so I wanted to give her the best version of me. Not the "smile!" or "could you do that again and hold it" version of me...

I did take a few quick cell phone snaps throughout the days to send to her momma who I knew must be missing her like crazy and wondering how she was doing. But that was it. No social media documentation, no selfies, no big girl cameras snuck out at all.

And ya know, it made me soak...slow down...savor every little memory to tuck away in my mind in vivid detail to remember once she was back home in South Carolina and we were missing her.

There was one exception though. On an evening where there was still a hint of magic left clinging to the long blades of grass after a quick summer storm, Nora indulged her Auntie with a full on photo shoot. We dressed her up like a princess, complete with sparkly crown, and though she was not convinced that her mom would actually know it was her in the pictures, you could tell she was lovin' every minute of wearing make-up, having her hair done up fancy, and slipping into an impossibly enormous ball gown.

She has no idea what a gift this was for my romantic fairytale photographer's heart.

So, all the other memories, they're not sitting on my phone for me to scroll through whenever I want. But the many sides of Princess Nora that we captured during our shoot that evening, will help bring each and every one rushing back to mind in the crystal clarity that only memories made while being fully present can provide.

Hard for a taker of pictures to adopt that m.o. sometimes. But I'm glad I did. And I hope in the future, I'll choose to do it even more.

The Hens of Ingleside Update | Tillie

 Time for another hen update!

Before I get to Tillie, I feel like I should quasi-update the general status of the flock: in the last couple of months we have lost our little Pippa (more on her story later...), and Muriel - one of the Welsummer twins - needed to be rehomed because she grew some kind of wild hair that made her suddenly want to attack Brooke regularly to the point of drawing blood. We tried everything we knew to do to break her of it, but she was unable to kick the urge. So she now lives on a farm in the country, where we can visit her regularly. 

We miss them both.

But back to our little Till-Bill.

This girl was our first hen to successfully lay an egg! Because she is an Easter Egger, it was anybody's guess what color she'd lay, but to my delight, her eggs are the most beautiful robin's-egg blue!

Tillie's story has been full of twists and turns to be sure. She was the bird who got most ill during the coccidiosis outbreak in the spring. There were a few times I really didn't think she'd make it. But she pulled through, and is healthy and strong now. Thank goodness!

During her illness, she picked up the bad habit of feather plucking. Likely because she felt bad, and wanted to take it out on whomever happened to unluckily be close by. When her health improved, so did her plucking, but I'll still catch her every now and then walking by another hen, and casually reaching over to pull a beakful of feathers out of the unsuspecting victim's back.

When Pippa came home from her convalescense, Tillie was terribly mean to her. Much more violent than the usual "pecking order" bullying. Because of that, she had to spend nearly a week in chicken jail (living in a dog crate inside the run). It seemed to reform her though, and she came out a changed bird. She and Pip got along pretty well after that, until Pip's untimely death.

When Muriel started going after Brooke, Tillie seemed to be unable to keep herself from chiming in the fracas. But thankfully, once Muriel went to live at her new home, Tillie settled down. It seemed she was just following Muriel's lead (not instigating anything) so they seem to be friends now.

In fact, here are Brooke and Till having a little gossip-fest the other day:

Human-wise, she's a very submissive bird. She knows we are her "head" and won't challenge us. She doesn't really like to be held though, and can be a meany to the other girls at bedtime.

One characteristic she's held onto from her youth is loving to fly! She is probably our most mobile bird still, and when the girls are out free ranging, she will frequently fly up on the railing to say hello to us and get some pets. She is one of the two that enjoys swinging on the swing in their run, and also likes to fly up to the highest roost, maybe 3 or 4 feet off the ground, and take in the aerial lay of the land.

Daily though, she's generally a peaceful member of the flock. Still has luxuriously fluffy cheeks. She waddles like a duck when she runs, and it cracks me up every time. In keeping with her first-to-lay-an-egg status, she's often the first one to lay in the mornings. I'd say she's averaging 5-7 eggs a week right now. Somewhere near the bottom of the pecking order...she and Mrs. Rachel can have power struggles from time to time. Rachel usually wins. She's still super vocal with her old lady scratchy Easter Egger voice - I always think it sounds like she's complaining. 

And she probably is. That's just Tillie for ya.

Watermelon Gazpacho

During one of our stays at our beloved Keswick Hall (in Charlottesville, VA), the Villa chef made a delicious version of this cold soup for lunch. It was love at first bite (sip? slurp?) and I was determined to find or create a similar recipe when we got home. After a little experimenting, and using other recipes I found as guides, here is my final product. We love it, and think it tastes even better if you let the flavors meld overnight (the onion mellows the longer it sits, so don't freak out if it's strong when you first make it). So easy, light, fresh, healthy, and delicious, everyone should put some Watermelon Gazpacho on their menu for the week. Great as an appetizer, first course, BBQ side, or paired with a panini.

Watermelon Gazpacho

1 large tomato, chopped
1 serrano chili seeded and chopped (in lieu of this, you can use 1/2 t red pepper flakes)
3 cups watermelon, chopped or balled
1/4 cup sweet onion (or less, if you don't like an oniony after-taste), chopped
1 small cucumber peeled, seeded, and chopped
1 medium yellow bell pepper, seeded, and chopped
1/8 cup fresh mint leaves
3 T fresh lime juice
2 T raspberry wine vinegar

Use an immersion blender to liquefy all ingredients -OR- blend all ingredients together in small batches using a blender or food processor. Combine all batches, stir well, cover, and refrigerate until serving. Garnish with mint if desired. Tastes even better the second day!