Saturday, April 27, 2013

Spring Chores, continued



You recall last year I told you to embrace your children and let them share in helping out in the garden.  Of course I was referring to the assistance that was provided by Wee Chick and the puppy.  As he has grown so has his exuberance for helping.
Like any child, one needs to help focus the enthusiasm or in this case, dig where necessary and not just randomly make holes.  Today we transplanted roses.  He happily dug a nice deep hole.  We happily put the rose into the hole.
Even the girls pitched in.  Buckets of weeds and tufts of grass were removed from around trees and from the planting areas.  These were brought to the girls for yummy salads and good snacks.

Update from Chickenland: We candled the eggs again this last week and found that  so far 17 out of the 26 eggs are showing signs of life. Five of the eggs are far enough along that the little peanut inside was seen to be wiggling about (as if to say, "turn out the light!  We're trying to sleep in here!").  It's hard to embrace the old adage to not count one's chickens before they hatch, but previous experiences have taught us now to be patient.

Out in the yard, some of the girls are gaily dressed in their little aprons.  These are called Chicken Saddles and are used to protect the hen while her feathers grow back after rough housing with the boys.  One of the local smartypants suggested that I give all the girls red capes with their initials emblazoned upon them (big "G" for Goldie, "LM" for Little Miss, etc).  Personally, I think they're much happier with what they have. 

chicken saddle
The chicken saddle was pretty easy to make.  It's about the size of a potholder.  Elastic bands snap in place underneath the hen's wings for a snug, yet comfortable fit.  I originally heard about these from a poultry rancher.  He had some champion birds that he kept special for shows and going to the fair.  In order to keep his girls nice and pretty, he used these little aprons.  When I noticed that our girls were looking a little rough around the edges, I looked up the pattern online and put these together.  Like any kid in a new outfit, there was a certain amount of tugging and pulling, but when they realized that it was on to stay until Mom took it off them, they settled right down.

Of course I suspect the ones that didn't get an apron are now wanting to know why they don't have one.
 

1 comment:

Sue Daurio said...

They do look mighty fancy strutting around there! Love the green and yellow apron :) My husband just got a book on chicken coops, we'll see where that leads us.