Three chickens in a box

They came to me in a cardboard box after dark...:

Three new hens from a friend who has to move and needed to re-home her chickens.

I decided that since the winter weather has been so warm and wet lately and, especially with the addition of new chickens, this was a really good time to dust my birds for mites and lice.

So, on the night the new girls came, everybody got it. A bit of dust, here and there. Under each wing:

At the vent:

Then back on the roost to recover from the humiliation:

Look at my poor friend, Lori. She certainly won't be suffering from any lice or mite problems in the near future, that's for sure:

Even despite the traumatic dusting event, the three new girls jumped down off the roost and gobbled up some pellets before bed:

Here's what I came down to the next morning. New girls on the left. My girls (and Roopert) on the right. How very unfriendly of Team Critter Farm:

This was the scene in the afternoon. New girls still on the left - now up on the roost, my girls all still pretty much on the right, continuing to be rude and unfriendly:

Sleeping arrangements on the second night were creative:

I didn't care for this at all and insisted that everybody sleep together:

Today is Wednesday, day 3 since the new girls arrived and the situation is still the same. Since Skippy, Honey and Thumper are pretty much spending their days on a roost in a corner, I've become concerned about their ability to eat. So...
hand feeding has become the norm:

They're very appreciative:

And since my own flock hasn't been polite enough, please...

...welcome Skippy. Skippy is a white Leghorn hen. She was formerly at the very top of the pecking order in her old flock, poor girl. This all must be quite a shock to her. She will be another white egg layer like Dottie, my White-Crested Black Polish hen:

...say hello to Thumper. Thumper is a Welsummer. She is a quiet girl with a gentle disposition who will, hopefully, be laying some gorgeous chocolate-brown eggs:

...and smile at Honey. Honey is the Buff Orpington with the blurry face in the photograph below. She's just about to fend off an attack from Bippity:

See?:

Not nice. Not nice at all. I'm embarrassed by the behavior of my chickens:

George, the barn cat, came by today to check on things:

He was very interested in all the feather rustling:

..but he pretended not to care when Roopert walked by:

Once Roopert was gone, though...:

Of course, Roopert needed to tell the new girls he's their daddy:

Here's hoping Thumper, Honey and Skippy get to spend a bit more time on the ground tomorrow:

P.S.
That's it now, people. The farm is full. There's no more room at the inn. In the last week, we've acquired a new cat and three new chickens. The Critter Farm family is complete.

There is a down-side to blogging every day

...and that is that I have fallen way behind in answering any and all questions that anyone has posted via comment to me in the last few weeks. Not only that, I am sorely delayed in writing clever retorts to your funny comments and this makes me more than a little sad.

I still fully intend to update my 3 short stories about critters who came to visit blog post to include the name of that really cool little bird (Ruby Crowned Kinglet) that Lisa (who doesn't have a blog) and Linda Benson and Marigold the goat at Goat Philosophy 101 and Matt at Foothills Poultry and Paula at Weeding for Godot and Lynn at Razzberry Corner all graciously identified for me. I really had tried to ID this bird on my own. Google was no help whatsoever. But you all came to my rescue:

So, FYI: I am a perfectionist. This blogging-every-day-thing has been a real personal challenge for me; I am not a speedy blogger.

It takes me SO. DANG. LONG. to write, rewrite, edit, re-edit and - then - well, then there are all the pictures that I (try to wisely) choose to illustrate my stories (photo below taken with my cell phone as all other cameras were posing):

So. What I really want to say in my blog today is that every one of the comments I receive means so much to me. Your comments make me smile, make me snort, make me curious, make me laugh out loud, make me reach out to you, make me look things up and, mostly, above all else... make me feel grateful.

Your comments on my 3-part post on Beau's feet were powerful, informative and moving - I am so thankful to have this blogging medium to discuss my animals' stories. I learn so much from you every day.

I had something else in mind to blog about today:

but I realized this afternoon that, instead, I just really wanted to say: Thank you. (And, also, to please forgive me if I don't respond to questions and comments this month.)

Oh, and I also really want to tell CeeCee from My Little Bit of Heaven and Chris (who doesn't have a blog *yet*) that the type of deer in Story #3 is a Black-tailed Deer.

To "Amy" who has, on more than one occasion, asked me to come read her blog, I've been looking for you! Are you the Amy from Crazy for the Country? Most of the time, the name "Amy" comes into my comments without being a link, so I can't trace it back and I'm not sure whose blog to go read. Let me know!

And I really planned on writing the most humorous response EVER back to Chai Chai at Homestead...from Scratch when I described the roof panels blowing off my chicken run in my 5 Things post and she commented: "I can honestly say that I have never heard of a "chicken pasture" prior to this post. Your chickens have their own pasture?"

All I can say is, inside my head is a really funny place and Chai Chai is just going to have to imagine what HILARIOUS thing I was going to say in response to that. ha ha ha ha! Seriously, though? We have three fenced plots on our property that are referred to as: the "donkey pasture", the "middle pasture" and the "chicken pasture". I can't believe Chai Chai didn't know this yet. Sheesh.
:-)

Finally, for tonight's post on the downside to blogging every day, I want to say "Hi" to a variety of wonderful people who don't have their own blogs yet, but comment so kindly on mine:

JaneK
Dianne
Mindy
Chris
"Jenny in MN (now in AZ)"
Diane (in Illinois) ♥
Martina
Southern MN Ga
Ann in WI
Betsey
Sheila
Suzanne
Beth
...and the numerous "anonymous", sweet commenters...

I love every single comment I get and am so appreciative of your readership, your support, your advice, and yes, your friendship.

Tomorrow: a post about those chickens in the cardboard box.

The Barn Cat now known as George

Do you recall my post called 3 short stories about critters who came to visit?

In Story #1, I mentioned a visiting cat who was leaving footprints on my stock tank ice:

and only allowing brief glimpses of himself:

He was the one I wanted to call "Barn Cat".

Well, we've gotten to know this little guy a bit more since I wrote that post:

We've learned he enjoys napping under our kitchen porch:

He has been here so often these last few weeks. He acts like he owns the (our) place, but any overture from us would make him freeze and then run away:

I saw him hanging out by the blueberry patch the other day, watching the donkeys in their pasture. For the first time, when I called out to him...he meowed back. That's when he stole my heart:

I found a tin of kitty food in the cupboard and took it outside, where he gobbled it up. To thank me, I was allowed to pet him. sigh:


We have been enjoying this cat's work for a while now. Our mouse population up at the barn has dwindled to almost nothing since he's been visiting us and this makes us very happy.

I had a feeling he might belong to a neighbor up the hill, so I gave this neighbor a call. Turns out, this neighbor moved away almost four weeks ago! No wonder Barn Cat has been hanging out in my barn and eating mice, nobody has been feeding him for four weeks.

At my questioning, I was able to find out from stupid-neighbor-who-abandons-animals that Barn Cat is a neutered male cat who goes by the name of George. George is almost 10 years old and lives exclusively outside. Stupid-neighbor-who-abandons-animals asked me if I'd like to assume the care of George. Without hesitation I said yes.

I put a bowl of food out up at the barn the next day and, when I called, George came right away:

He didn't even mind when I decided to sit with him while he had his meal:

After his snack, he sharpened his claws on the pallet I was sitting on:

When I got up to go feed the goats, I figured George would go about his day, but he decided to accompany me down the barn driveway:

and then back up the hill to the goat house. Noting the SEVEN significantly sized mole hills on the way, we had a short discussion about how his responsibilities had just been increased to fight the moles as well as the mice here on the property:

Pete and Reggie had no idea what that black fur ball was following me:

Pete was brave for about a heartbeat. This picture was taken about one second before he turned tail and ran through the goat house and out into his run:

Scaredy-goats:

Reggie refused to come back inside:

When it was time to feed the chickens, George decided to come, too:

Instant silence and verrrrrry long necks greeted us:

George took it all in stride, but the girls were all clearly gossiping about him:

The fact that I have a cat following me around is kind of a big deal. We don't "do" cats here. It's not that I don't love them, I'm just terribly, horribly allergic.

But, apparently, we've got a cat now. Or he has us. Either way, Critter Farm population has increased by one. His name is George:

I ♥ him already.