Since Turkey managed to survive her national holiday, I've given her a proper name. Meet Hyacinth.
Her wings make this loud swoosh noise when she flies up to her branch in the evening.
In other bird news, I filled the bird feeders again and when the sparrows were swarming them, I spotted a finch who still had a lot of his red colors. I also saw a flock of geese heading south; incredibly late in the season for them.
Right after I read MamaPea's post about the hawk, youtube put this in my recommendations:
Seriously brilliant. You can always tell a chicken person.
What a weekend! Background: the young roosters were getting a bit too frisky so I had planned to cull the excess next week when the forecast was looking warmish. Then, the weatherman changed his mind on the warming trend and the roosters went into overdrive. It was so bad that the older rooster wouldn't even get off the roost and 90% of the hens wouldn't leave the coop. Culling day got moved up to Saturday.
This is how things look minus six extra roosters.
It will be awhile before some of the hens recover their feathers, but at least they are outside.
Kracken is not only off the roost, but is dominant again (helps when there is only one other).
This is Copper taking up his duties. I will keep an eye on him to make sure he doesn't develop any mean streaks. His best friend, King, moved to the farm and has settled in happily.
A glimpse of a multi-generational meeting. The gray is an ancient. The white hen hatched out the two youths across the pool.
Turkey is still camera shy, but she is much calmer now that there isn't so much fighting in the pen. This morning she was trying to get back inside from my yard. Since I hadn't let the chickens out yet, it was easy enough to open the gate so she could enter on her own. People joke about turkey dinner, but I like her alive too much.
A side note for anyone else who struggles with killing birds they have raised from eggs: look into the broomstick method.
I have a deep dislike of watching ads, partly due to not watching television so not being exposed to constant commercials. I run an adblocker on my computer, but I know ads do help support videos. If I really want to be helpful, I mute the speakers, run a video with ads and go do something else while it plays.
Now I don't do social media, but thought I could share some of my favorites here and maybe others will post channels they watch and I will get more to explore.
1. This is a young British couple who are restoring a 1920's French home. They have wonderful decorating taste and are doing all the work themselves. I'll admit to finding the voice-over on the opening and closing of the videos grating, but the mute button solves that issue and there's nothing annoying about them.
2. This one is a German fixing up an abandoned lake cabin. Definitely start at the beginning to watch the transformation. He has a soothing voice and speaks excellent English.
3. Bird whisperer. I love birds, especially my chickens, but this guy makes me look like someone who barely cares. Something to watch when the world feels harsh.
4. Somewhat an acquired taste, but I'm a fan. The videos of him painting famous pictures in 15 minutes are a great way for him and us to pass lockdown. Not to mention it introduced me to many artists I'd never heard of. He also does walking videos all over England.
5. Time Team episodes in order. I began watching a random episode and was hooked so I started back at the beginning. If you are interested in history and archaeology this is a great show. They spend three days at different sites. Sometimes they know what to expect and other times they are following up rumors and legends.
In other chicken news: last night when I went to close up the coop I heard squawking and found an opossum had two hens on the floor. After rescuing them, I didn't want to leave it alone in there while I went back for a gun so I called my neighbor and asked if she wanted to come over and shoot it. Naturally, as a farmer's daughter, she jumped at the chance.
Fun fact: in Norwegian chicken is kylling.
Something I have changed recently though is to add some boards under the chair base to raise it about 3 inches. This makes a small yet significant difference to how easy it is to stand up when my hips are being arthritic.
We are expecting a week of autumn temps instead of the nasty winter temps we were dealing with. I've got a few outdoor items to cross off my list and this is my chance.
I don't know what this week will bring so, if possible, stay home and stay safe.