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.

Back from Asia

The Mother Hen and the Rooster have returned from their trip examining chickens in Asia. While we were gone, the Ladies continued to grow and pretty much look like full sized chickens. Apparently, the next big change will be when their hips start getting wider, which portends the arrival of eggs. At the least, they've completely stopped cheeping and are now sounding entirely galline.

When we went out to take these pictures, Ringo had decided she was better off looking down on everyone, so there she is. This other picture is to try and show how big the Ladies are, but it may be hard to tell with nothing to scale. We'll post a new video soon and get one of us in there.

Last Post from Asia

We leave tonight after two weeks of jet-setting all over southeast Asia. It's been a wonderful trip and we wish we could stay a couple extra weeks to see some more. 

This final picture was taken in a grocery store in Singapore... They have everything here! If only the Rooster had known about this handy invention, he might never have agreed to four live chickens.

Singapore Chickens!

Singapore is a very different place than the other countries in which we've travelled. In short, there are no chickens walking around the streets of Singapore. If they were, they and their owners might be caned for the offense.

The picture above is of our friends who live in Singapore enjoying a local delicacy known as Chicken Rice. You'll never guess what's in it... chicken and rice (and probably a cup or two of MSG). The secret is in cooking the rice in the chicken fat and oil.

This picture is of our friends with Terrence, the owner of a stall at the Hawker Center where we had the Chicken Rice, as well as Chili Stingray, Fried Rice, and some big Tiger beers. The Hawker is where locals in Singapore go to grab a quick meal, particularly late at night. It's basically an outdoor food court without a mall around it. There are close to a hundred individual stalls selling every kind of food you can imagine. Terrence has become our friends' favorite vendor, and he knows their regular order without even having to ask.

This last picture is of meaty goodness that we're bringing home to share. This shop basically grills and sells squares of pressed meat with chilis and sauce soaked in. It's like thick bacon made out of every kind of meat you can imagine, including chicken! We bought a couple vacuum-sealed boxes, but you'll have to come to Nashville soon if you want any; it won't last long.

Cambodian Chickens!

We're back from Cambodia and again have pictures of chickens and other animals.

To start, here's a pictures of how we saw most of the chickens in Cambodia. There were a couple wandering around, but most of them were ready for dinner. This is in the Old Market of Siem Reap, a mixture of cheap textiles (the Rooster got some cool fisherman's pants and the Mother Hen got a lot of scarves), raw meat, and local veggies. Apparently, you'll want to stay away from the Thai produce because it has chemicals on it.

This next picture is obviously not one of chickens, but there are some other animals around Cambodia that deserved to be photographed. We didn't see any of these guys until right around lunchtime, when they all came out to beg food from whomever was nearby. We each had a monkey grab our leg and try to take a bite.

This picture may need a bit of explanation. It's an ancient 1000 year-old carving from Angkor Thom of cock-fighting. If you know what to look for, as did our guide Morin, you can see the Cambodians and the Chinese people in the carving betting on which rooster will win.

To end, here's a picture without chickens but one to prove that we're seeing some cool stuff. This temple used to be called something else, but now it's called the Tomb Raider temple because this was used in the filming of the movie. We can't wait to get home and re-watch it so we can say, "We've been there!"