Out of the Coop

The Ladies continue to grow, both into their bodies and into their surroundings. The Mother Hen has begun letting them out in the late afternoon to peck around the yard and stretch their legs. This first picture shows John and Ringo roosting on the rail up to the back porch.

This second picture tried to capture the ladies in motion, but when they're out of the coop they rarely stand still for a picture.

With the video below, we tried to capture the whole process of the Ladies being out of the coop and then led back inside for the night. Highlights of the video include Ringo going after Big Sister and then Mother Hen leading the brood back into the coop with a little treat.

Chickens Everywhere

While in Asia, the Mother Hen and the Rooster realized how much we enjoy finding random pictures that somehow have a galline component to them. As such, we've decided to continue sharing random chicken-ness on the blog. 

For example, here's a picture of the Mother Hen in Dalton, Georgia (the Rooster's hometown). Who knew there was a hospital just for chickens? Not only that, the hospital is a part of a bigger association for the general improvement of all Georgia chickens!

We showed the Ladies this when we returned home, but regretfully had to inform them that we have yet to find a Tennessee Poultry Improvement Association or a Diagnostic Laboratory that would serve Nashville chickens.

It's been awhile...

Ever since we returned from Asia, things have been going a mile a minute, at least for us.  The Ladies' days still consist primarily of pecking around the ground, eating the scraps we deliver, and roosting for the night; they love figs and the peels from sweet potatoes and peaches.  We've moved beyond the chick feed and are now serving the Ladies "Grower and Finisher" feed; we're going for the former rather than the latter.  This will continue until they start producing eggs, at which point they will receive the "Layer" feed that has a higher calcium and protein content.

This picture is of a missionary we support.  We've known Rachel since we were all undergraduates at Vanderbilt.  She's been all over the world in the last few years but finally met John, the other human in the picture, and they are moving to Montana to engage in campus ministry.  Rachel told us she grew up with chickens and has a healthy fear of them, particularly roosters.  This was as close as she would get to the Ladies, even though we assured her they were all females, despite their names.