A Bully in the Hen House

bul·ly

NOUN

1. a person who uses strength or power to harm or intimidate those who are weaker.

   
   

VERB

1. use superior strength or influence to intimidate (someone), typically to force him or her to do what one wants:

There is a bully in the hen house at Turkey Creek Garden!!  What's worse is that she is one of my favorite chickens! I didn't realize that Dolly was a bully until, due to the recently passing of Tanya (God rest her soul), I introduced a new hen to the flock. Meet Connie, named after country music's Connie Smith. 

Connie's name at her first home was "Sofa". I keep forgetting to ask Kathy about the backstory on that.

Connie is an Americana and was given to me by my good friend, Kathy Davis. "You need a chicken that lays blue eggs", Kathy said, and Connie's eggs are a pale shade of aqua blue/sea foam green.

So I had done my research on how to introduce a new hen to the flock. Connie had to be kept separate from Dolly and Patsy for the first week. The following week I let them out into the chicken yard together and there was much puffing of feathers and loud, raucous squawking as the girls began establishing a new pecking order. The old hens did chase Connie, but she soon found a safe hiding place behind the compost bin.

As the days went by, Connie came out of her hiding spot more and more. Patsy, the Barred Rock, was fairly tolerant of the new girl on the block, but Dolly, the Light Brahma, began to enjoy her role as top hen, and soon we had a bullying situation on our hands. Dolly had to be isolated!! I threw together a make-shift pen far away from the chicken yard and put her in solitary confinement. She also received daily bullying lectures.

After a few days in "time-out" Dolly calmed down; she needed to brought down a notch or two. Then I started letting the three of them free-range in the big garden. With so much space and so many more sprouts and bugs to eat, Dolly seemed more intent on eating than bullying. Connie is laying regularly which is a good sign, so I think we have gotten over the hump.

Yesterday in the heat of the day, I took them out some cold cantaloupe and I was pleased to see all three hens run up together and happily feast on their little snack.

Now the only lingering problem is roosting. Dolly and Patsy don't want Connie on the roosting poles. I tried adding a partition, but that didn't work. So right now Connie gets the coop and roosting poles all to herself at night, and the other two are sequestered to a roosting pole down in the run.

Sooner or later we've got to figure out the roosting situation. I am hoping the girls will do this on their own, but we'll see. Until them I am keeping a close eye on things!!

I let the girls each pick out the quotes for today's post.

Bless their hearts!

Love ya'll,

Shelli

Connie

I know God will not give me anything I can't handle. I just wish that He didn't trust me so much. ~Mother Teresa

Dolly

Be bold, be bold, and everywhere be bold.  ~Edmund Spenser

Patsy

In union there is strength.  ~Aesop

Rooster In The Hen House

Our hens are laying machines. Due to shorter daylight hours this winter, friends told me not to expect very many eggs from the girls. But, bless their hearts, they have out done themselves!

I've been able to give eggs to neighbors, Sunday School members, and Bible study friends. James and I have enjoyed some delicious egg dishes, too.

Peggy, one of the OBCs, was asking about the girls and their laying.  Upon hearing how well they were doing, she responded, "That's because you don't have a rooster!  They're not stressed out!"

Hmmmm.................

Is there an marriage analogy to be made?

 No rooster in the hen house, so the hens are able to get more done......

I'll let you decide!!

Love ya'll,

Shelli

In a time when nothing is more certain than change, the commitment of two people to one another has become difficult and rare. Yet, by its scarcity, the beauty and value of this exchange have only been enhanced.
 ~Robert Sexton

Sometimes I wonder if men and women really suit each other. Perhaps they should live next door and just visit now and then. 
~Katherine Hepburn

It destroys one's nerves to be amiable every day to the same human being.
 ~Benjamin Disraeli

A happy marriage is the union of two good forgivers. 
~Ruth Bell Graham

Clip, Clip, Freedom!!!

Hey, everybody!! 

Dolly here with some exciting news.......

We are free ranging!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That's right!!  Mom finally clipped our wings and we are free to roam all over the garden - scratching, pecking, and foraging to our hearts' content!

Now you might be wondering what took so long, so here's the scoop.....

I hate to say it, but our mama is a chicken!!  Of, course I don't mean literally, well, I guess our mama back at mypetchicken.com literally was a chicken; but I mean our mama here at Turkey Creek Garden. She's a chicken too, because she kept saying that she was going to clip our wings so we could free range, but then she would chicken out. (There are just way too many chickens in this paragraph, but since this is written by a chicken, what did you expect!)

Anyway, the girls and I were beginning to wonder if we were ever going to run free and then we heard that our grandfather, Tom, was coming to see us.  This was great news because he is a Ballard Road country boy and we had high hopes that he would shame Mama into 
getting this free ranging business underway.


Sure enough, after pecan pie and a good cup of coffee, Tom and Mama came out to the coup and the clipping commenced!!  Clip, clip, and we were free!  Out in the garden there were delicacies everywhere; you just can't imagine it. Worms, grubs, muscadine leaves, you name it.  We roamed around for about an hour, then Tom and Mama started calling us to the coop.  Of course, I knew just what to do and went right in the door.  Reba came in behind me.  Tanya and Patsy.......well, let's be kind and say they just got a little confused as to where the door was.  Tom had to herd them in with a rake.  It was all very undignified. 

The next day, Tom was gone and Mama didn't come out until about an hour before dark to let us do some free ranging.  We knew what we were supposed to do this time and hurried right out into the garden to start scratching around.  Mama sat down to relax and read her Kindle, but the girls and I got together and decided to stress her out just a little; you could call it pay-back for waiting so long to clip our wings.  We headed straight for the fence closest to the dogs and started acting like we were going to try to flap up over the gate.  You should have seen her come flying out of that chair in a blind panic!! It was epic! 

Mama's dogs, Fred and Ethel. Mama loves Ethel, but I've got to say that I think that is one ugly dog.  I mean really; she's colored just like the bark on that pine tree!!

She let us stay out until it started getting dark.  Then we realized what she was up to.  She was trying to find out if we would head for the coop on our own when the sun went down.  We decided it was probably best to stay on her good side, so we headed to the coop when it began to get dusky dark and she started ringing her bell. (Did I mention that Mama thinks she has trained us to come to the coop when she rings a cow bell.  Bless her heart! She came home one day, several months back, wagging a cow bell.  Morning and evening, she would ring that darned bell and stick her hand filled with hen scratch in the run.  We'd all go eat out of her hand. but it had nothing to do with the bell; we just like scratch.) This time Reba and Patsy followed me inside the coop, but poor old Tanya got confused again, and Mama had to actually catch her and throw her inside.  I'm going to have to have a talk with her!

So there you have it, free at last!

Love ya'll, 

Dolly

We hold these truths to be self-evident:

 that all men are created equal;

 that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights;

 that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

-Thomas Jefferson

Hen Scratch

Hey, folks!! It's Dolly here with some hen house updates. 

(Fred and Ethel get way more print than me and the girls.  I'm just saying!)

But anyway, things are going great in the coop.  We have gotten into a good routine. We get up early in the mornings and wait around for Mama to come let us out of the coop.  Then we head down into the run to scratch around for the goodies she puts out for us like cantaloupe, apples, and tomatoes.  Of course, we enjoy the hen scratch she gets for us at Tractor Supply, too. One day we had a grand old time eating worms. Mama insisted it was just leftover spaghetti, but we knew better! We are fourteen weeks old this week, and should start laying eggs in about six more weeks. 

Mama still gets in the coop with us from time to time and I'm always the first one to get up in her lap. Patsy is usually right behind me, but Tanya and Reba are more skittish.

The rumor around here is that we are going to getting our wings clipped soon.  Apparently that has to happen before we get to "free range" (whatever that is), but it sounds like fun...free ranging, that is, not clipping!!

Until then,

Dolly

Oh, give me the country! where grass is green;

      Where the roses bloom with satiny sheen;

      Where the modest violet lifts up its head,

      As on it the warmth of the sun is shed:

Give me the country! where all is serene;

      Where the air is pure and fragrant and clean,

      And noise of the city is far away;

      Where gaiety thrives through each night and day.

God made the country, so lovely and fair!,

      Its wide open spaces for all to share;

      Where joy and contentment each one may find

      If he, earnestly, seeks for peace of mind.

~Gertrude Tooley Buckingham,

 "Give Me The Country!" (1940s)

Scoop From the Coop

Hey!!! How ya'll doing?! 

Things have really been happening here at the coop.

Let me fill ya'll in...

  First, it wasn't just a rumor!  Four of us were sent to live in  Homer.  But it was the nicest family and they have the cutest little girls to play with, so we weren't too sad to see our sisters go to such a good home.

Then as soon as our sisters were gone we moved into the coop.  It is so big and beautiful!!  Our bedroom is upstairs.  There are two nice roosting poles positioned right in front of a big picture window.  We can sit there and watch the sun rise and set.  We love it!   On one side of the room are the most beautiful draperies.  Mama says something special is hidden behind them, but we won't find out until we are older.

And the food they serve here is amazing!!!  Every afternoon we get a treat!  We have had watermelon, meal worms, lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, apples, even yogurt.  We are living high off the hog!!

But the best news is that we got names!!  Mama decided to name us after famous female country and western singers.

I'm Dolly; named after Dolly Parton.  Mama said it was because I'm the biggest and Ms. Parton has big somethings (I didn't really understand).  I have fancy feathers on my feet and Mama says Ms. Parton is all about being fancy.  I love my new name.

This is Reba; after Ms. Reba McEntire.  Mama says Reba has red hair and my sister is definitely a strawberry blond.  I think her name suits her.

This is Patsy; after Ms. Patsy Cline.  Ms. Cline had black hair and was a classy lady.  Since this sister is feathered out in classic black and white, her name fits her to a T.

Now my last sister is the Golden Laced Wyandotte.  She has gold tips on the end of her feathers and it makes her look fierce and sassy.  Mama's neighbor said she needed to be named Tanya; after Tanya Tucker.  He said that Tanya Tucker and Glen Campbell raised a ruckus over in Bossier City one weekend and the police were called. Mama looked it up and sure enough!!  See for yourself.....

https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2199&dat=19811001&id=Ccs_AAAAIBAJ&sjid=RucFAAAAIBAJ&pg=3630,14659&hl=en

You may have seen from the pictures that our Mama likes to get in the coop with us, but she isn't the only one.  We have had other visitors, too.  But let's just be honest, who wouldn't want to hang out with us!!

Talk to ya'll again soon!

Love, 

Dolly

A Day At The Spa

Hey, everybody!!!  It's us again....the girls!!  A lot has been going on here and we've been looking forward to sharing with ya'll!

First, our coop got a make over!  We had new flooring installed, pine shavings.  We couldn't have them at first because we didn't know the difference between flooring and food, so we had to prove to Mama that we knew what our food was and that we wouldn't be trying to eat the new flooring.  We love our pine shaving!!!! We can scratch around in them and nestle down to take a nap.  Deluxe!!!!

We also have roosting poles!  It took a while to learn to balance on them, but now they are our preferred place to sleep.  We feel like big shots when we roost!

Mama also installed a different kind of waterer.  When you  peck at this one, it dispenses a drink.  We love it!!!  It's so much fun!!

But the best part is that we have been going to the spa!!!  We all get in our white SUV that Mama calls The Laundry Basket, and off we go! 

The ride can get pretty bumpy and Mama yells a lot at these big, scary, things called Fred and Ethel. They were really scary the first time we went to the spa.  They barked and whined the entire time!! It was stressfull!  But now they have calmed down a lot.  They just lie around and keep an eye on us. 

By the way, we're not chicks anymore. We're pullets!!!!

Anyway, the Chick, Chick Spa is wonderful and we would recommend it to anyone. First of all it is big and roomy, so the first thing we do when we get there is flap our pretty new wings and fly around!  Next we enjoy pecking around in this wonderful stuff called grass.  It is cool and soft and has all kinds of nifty stuff hidden down in it like bugs and seeds and whatnot.  There's a breeze blowing at the spa in the early morning and being there is simply divine.  Mama sits in there with us sometimes and we love to sit on her bare feet and peck at her painted toe nails. 

It's great being a chick at Turkey Creek Garden, there's just one problem.  We've heard a rumor....   Four of us are going to live in Homer, La. Apparently, the coop (that's the mansion we'll move to once we feather out) is only big enough for half of us.

 But it's probably just a rumor....

Talk to ya'll later,

The Girls

I heard it through the grapevine,

Not much longer would you be mine...

-Marvin Gaye

Meet the Girls!

It's time to meet the girls!!

Hi! My name is Yellow Chick.  I'm looking forward to a new name 'cause this one is just so plain and I am anything but plain!! I mean, seriously, look at my new tail feathers!!! Right?! My sister and I are the only two yellow chicks in the brooder box. That's because we are Buff Orpingtons and when we grow up we are going to look like this...

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Hey! My name is Big Chick. I am really glad this is a temporary name because it has all kinds of bad connotations, but my mom says new names for all of us are in the works.  Thanks goodness!!! I'm already developing an inferiority complex because not only am I the biggest chick, but I am also the only chick in the brooder box without any new tail feathers!!!   Anyway, my sister and I are Light Brahmas and we will look like this when we grow up..... 

(Mom says we get lighter by the day!)

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Hello, my name is Racing Stripe. You can't tell it in this picture but I have a pretty distinct stripe on my back; thus the name.  I hope my new name doesn't have anything to do with my stripes, but reflects how pretty I am in the face!!  My sister and I are Golden Laced Wyandottes, a long, important name for a very important chick!!  By the way, check out my new tail feathers!! When we grow up we are going to look like this...

www.mypetchicken.com

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Hey, ya'll!  Spot Head here!  My mom calls me that because my sister and I have a spot on our heads. I guess that was restating the obvious.  Mom let me pose like this so I could show off my new tail feathers too!!  Our poor sisters, Big Chicks don't have any tail feathers yet; bless their hearts. Anyway, we are Barred Rocks and when we grow up we are going to look like this....

  

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Mom says next week the brooder box is getting a makeover and we are going to the Chick, Chick Day Spa!!!  We are all very excited and will let you know how it goes.  Until then....

Love ya'll,

The Girls

Twistin', shake it shake it shake it shake it baby
Hey we gonna loop de loop
Shake it out baby
Hey we gonna loop de la
Come on let me see ya shake your tailfeather

Come on let me see ya shake your tailfeather

"Shake Your Tailfeather" 

  Ray Charles

Pooping Machines!!!

Time for a chick update; those sweet little pooping machines!!!

The brooder box is set up in the dining room which I have to say makes my husband, James fairly uneasy.

I've covered the bottom of the brooder with shelf liner - the kind that has a waffle pattern.  I read that baby chicks need a slip proof surface for walking so that they don't develop spraddle leg.   The shelf liner is very easy to wash, and reuse. There is a layer of paper towels underneath. The temperature is 95 degrees and will be decreased by 5 degrees each week.  Electrolytes and probiotics have been added to their water. Lord, I hope I have done everything I am supposed to do!!!

They are so sweet!!!!  Only a couple of pasty butt issues.

It took a little while to get used to how the chicks look when they fall asleep.  They suddenly stop running around, start to sway gently back and forth, and then plop down into a round glob of chickness.

One website I visited said to add marbles to their water so they don't drown in it.  Well, that seemed a little far fetched, but I did it and was glad I did.  One of the chicks literally fell asleep with his head propped on a marble!!

They enjoy pecking at the side of the cardboard box, so I drew them a little garden to peck at.  I should have also drawn bugs to get them started early on hunting down all the harmful insects out in the real garden!!

Love ya'll,

Shelli