Halloween project
It’s Halloween season, so — ta-da! — I bought pumpkins. In Hawaii (probably all over the US), everyone goes all out in October. Supermarkets are full of huge pumpkins, sold by weight.
Even when it’s the season for new feathers, Yukinko’s don’t grow back much, so she’s ragged every year. Anyway, this pumpkin is bigger than Yukinko — bigger than most of our chickens, actually. Pog is staring hard. That’s just dirt on the pumpkin, Pog.
A surprise inside
My plan: split the big one open as usual, and give the small one a little pattern. The skin is so thick it takes forever with my saw-like knife, and I can’t cut straight… done! Let’s open it — and the seeds have sprouted inside! That seems to mean something, so I’ll plant them.
Pumpkin, everyone! They’ll all eat it on their own, and I carried some to the little ones’ room, too. Fujiko tears off a piece. Lavender gets mad for some reason. Nuts is crunching away on the seeds. Pumpkin seeds are said to help against worms — I’m not sure if that’s true.
Piccolo, you’re a rooster, so you have to share! There’s far too much to keep to yourself. Then Yukinko, who’d been watching, kicked everyone aside to eat — no need to be mean, there’s enough for all. And Pineapple picked up a piece and gave it to a guinea fowl. Pineapple, that’s not a hen, you know.
The prince, the princess and the retainer
Here’s the young rooster who joined us this year — he’s become a fine big brother. And these tiny chickens: the smaller one is the Prince, and the slightly bigger one is the Princess. They should be grown by now, but they’ve hardly grown and they’re very weak. They came from the same place as Niji, so I wonder if it’s some kind of genetic dwarfism. Next to them is the Retainer. (There are two more Knights, too — not that those are real names.) A big pumpkin is great for the little ones: they can peck at it slowly without the big birds grabbing everything.
My first jack-o’-lantern (sort of)
A jack-o’-lantern usually has its lid cut off, the inside hollowed out, a face carved, and a candle inside. We let the chickens eat ours, so I just carved a face. Triangle eyes… the angle’s off. I’m bad at this — and it’s not a job to do surrounded by chickens! Ta-da: I even jammed in some fangs. A little Halloween-ish!
I have no time for a costume, so I bought some candy instead. Have a safe Halloween, everyone!