Hello from Chicken Paradise Hawaii! Today I’m trying something new: narration. I’m watching footage my mother filmed for the first time and talking over it.
Feeding time
Lots of chickens, as usual. When I bring food, they come from every direction. We’re under attack! I ask them to move so I can fill the water, but they all stick their heads in, so lots of them have wet heads. The half-grown chicks come begging a lot, so the very ones who shouldn’t get wet do. Ducks join in on the spilled food. And Heart, tiny but very important, comes to tell everyone there’s food. Well done!
Here I’m making mash: regular feed mixed with water so it’s easier to eat. Oh, Barbie almost hopped in! If I leave food in a bucket, there’s a good chance a chicken falls in, and if it’s deep they can’t climb out, so I always empty it before I leave. They look starving, but there’s food in the big dry-food container. They just haven’t noticed.
Why we feed in several places
Before feeding the little ones, I first put food outside and in the big birds’ room; otherwise the big ones come in droves and the little ones are in danger. When I first started the coop, I put the food in one spot and the water in one spot, because it looked tidier. Over time I learned that some birds really can’t eat when it’s all in one place. Once I split up the feeding spots, far fewer birds lost weight.
Guinea fowl and health checks
Lately the guinea fowl seem to be getting ready to lay. Their voices are funny! We have two, and I can’t tell which is male or female, or even tell them apart. It’d be natural to guess the sitting one is the female… oops, interrupted. Roosters can be a bit fierce.
Today, too, I let a broody hen out to eat. She scolds me. Ouch! Long nails here, and Flare is making an amazing face while putting up with a nail trim. You don’t have a name! Go eat. Tsuki, have you come to lay? Star’s beak is long, and so is one of his toenails.
The youngsters
The team of three half-grown chicks is so cute. They came from somewhere completely different and had never seen ducks, so they were spooked at first, but now Barbie is peeking at them. Our Hiyo-chan has grown into a fine young bird, and here he is looking down at me, with his brother Tamamushi and a rooster who still needs a name. You’re doing great, Hiyo-chan. Keep growing!
Thanks for watching! See you in the next episode.