Thursday, May 9, 2013
Alfred Gets his Crow Back!
This is Plucky. We isolated her from the other chickens because she was inexplicably molting (loosing all her feathers) in the spring instead of the fall and in the process was getting pecked by the other chickens. They're growing back now, and she's looking much better. Shawn, the newest work exchanger on the farm, is in the background.
This is Alfred, who is also isolated from the other chickens along with Plucky. A few weeks ago, he was depressed and laying in the corner of the barn all the time. He used to be top rooster, but got into a fight with the other rooster and lost vision in one of his eyes. The hens then all accepted the other rooster as top bird. Alfred was very sad. Now, though, he's doing so much better, and follows us around crowing all day. It's the most adorable thing.
It's been neat hearing Alfred get his voice back. A few weeks ago, he didn't crow at all, and when he started crowing again, it was timid and on the quiet side. Not any more! Alfred loves to tell us good morning.
The chickens love leftover veggie scraps, especially lettuce. It's one of their favorites, along with strawberries, pears, and tomatoes.
Dave sharpened this scythe with a whetstone and used it to cut a long swath through waist high grass in a field before we moved an electric fence we use to keep predators away from the meat chicks.
Dave and I moved the electric fence and set it back up all by ourselves. It was cool to use the skills we've learned and know things have actually stuck in our memory.
After one of his runs, Jeff brought back a morel mushroom he found, and we cooked it up for all four of us to share. It might have only been two bites each, but it was delicious! No wonder they fetch such a high price per pound. (It is very hard to cultivate them, so the only way to obtain these mushrooms is to forage them in the wild during a specific period of the year.)
The gorgeous redbud tree by the barn.
Tomorrow, we're going to a nearby farm to do some paid work, which is really awesome. Then, just three more work days here at WoodSong Hollow before we move on to our next work exchange, which is also nearby, for a week. Time flies!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments
(Atom)
0 comments:
Post a Comment