Today has been a day with no appointments or commitments or errands or urgent 'things to do'.
So I have been puttering.
A little of this and that.
When it was lunch time, I made a tuna sandwich and went out to sit by the chicken yard and watch the show.
By now, all the girls expect treats when they see me, so I had to fork over a few bits of bread and tuna. Sunny gets some too. Good thing I made a big sandwich.
The top hen, the honchita, the big kahuna, was standing just on the other side of the chicken wire waiting for some tuna when I asked her if she wanted to tell me her name. You know, if she was ready to divulge this important piece of information. As she calmly walked away from me she let it slip.
Ms. Ambercrombie.
Were she a rooster, I'm sure she would like to add … Esquire…. to her name. She has an air about her of no nonsense.
I think we shall refer to her with a more informal… Ms. Amber in day to day encounters. We'll see if she will permit this familiarity.
But believe me, she is the boss. She is the first to notice anything that might be considered dangerous or alarming. She has an eagle eye and it's hard to fool her. I've given up.
Life in the chicken world is not democratic. It's not a republic. Heck, it's not even like a parliament.
It is a rigid hierarchy that you mess with at your peril.
Ms. Ambercrombie eats first, drinks first, shows up at the gate first when I'm coming in, and generally rules the roost.
(You are SO obvious today.)
I'm just telling it like it is.
Here she is drinking water from the soaker hose, one of her favorite activities...
And one more...
It's hard to get a picture of her without Sunny in it somewhere. She has not gotten one bit bored with the chickens. I'm not sure WHAT she wants to do with them, but I have to keep them strictly apart.
So there you have it. The situation in the hen house today.
Oh, just for fun, I am keeping a little log of how many eggs I gather every day. Last night I added them all up and since the 9th of May my hens have given me 42 eggs.
They may be democratically challenged, but they know their work, and do it well.
Were she a rooster, I'm sure she would like to add … Esquire…. to her name. She has an air about her of no nonsense.
I think we shall refer to her with a more informal… Ms. Amber in day to day encounters. We'll see if she will permit this familiarity.
But believe me, she is the boss. She is the first to notice anything that might be considered dangerous or alarming. She has an eagle eye and it's hard to fool her. I've given up.
Life in the chicken world is not democratic. It's not a republic. Heck, it's not even like a parliament.
It is a rigid hierarchy that you mess with at your peril.
Ms. Ambercrombie eats first, drinks first, shows up at the gate first when I'm coming in, and generally rules the roost.
(You are SO obvious today.)
I'm just telling it like it is.
Here she is drinking water from the soaker hose, one of her favorite activities...
And one more...
It's hard to get a picture of her without Sunny in it somewhere. She has not gotten one bit bored with the chickens. I'm not sure WHAT she wants to do with them, but I have to keep them strictly apart.
So there you have it. The situation in the hen house today.
Oh, just for fun, I am keeping a little log of how many eggs I gather every day. Last night I added them all up and since the 9th of May my hens have given me 42 eggs.
They may be democratically challenged, but they know their work, and do it well.