It’s me and Marron on a cloudy day.
A bitter first harvest
Remember the lettuce I planted? For some reason a few plants are starting to flower. Please don’t do things without asking! Lettuce that’s about to flower (gardeners call it bolting) gets too bitter to eat, so I picked those for the chickens. Our first harvest — though it’s barely a harvest.
I warned them it would be super bitter, but at least they’re eating it. Lettuce we worked so hard to grow! The ducks got some too. Want some? Of course you do. Slow, aren’t you? Here you go — please enjoy!
The rest of the land
Before heading out, I spotted a little swallowtail caterpillar — so cute. Once I’d had a good look, I put it back.
Today Taro came with me on an adventure. The other half of the land, still uncleared, has had its grass cut, so let’s take a look. Above my head is an African tulip tree. It’s enormous, and every so often it blooms with beautiful red-orange flowers. It isn’t blooming now, but I hope to show you someday.
Homemade feeder
Ta-da: the feeder I built yesterday. The back is slanted, so when the chickens peck at the front, the feed flows out. I added about 15 cm of height to keep dirt out.
I usually buy 22.6 kg bags of feed, and it holds about one and a half bags — roughly 30 kg. It can get a little damp, but when it runs low I scoop out what’s left, turn it into wet feed (mash) and add fresh feed. Done that way it stays fairly dry, and the chickens don’t complain. Right, Kuro? You’ve got grass on your face. So far, it’s working nicely.
Meet Poppy 2
The long-awaited Poppy 2! I’ve introduced a chicken named Poppy before, so this is Poppy 2. She’s one of the 20-something Easter Eggers I bought, so she doesn’t have many special features, but she lays lovely olive-colored eggs.
An Easter Egger is a cross between an Ameraucana and an ordinary laying hen. Ameraucanas are famous for fluffy cheeks, but some Easter Eggers get the fluffy gene and some don’t. Poppy 2 didn’t, so she has a plain, flat face like a regular chicken.
She’s popular with the roosters, who are rough, so the feathers on the back of her head get pulled out. They grow back every year, though. Side by side with Poppy 1, their back patterns are nearly identical — but Poppy 1 has fluffy cheeks and Poppy 2 doesn’t.
Thank you for watching Chicken Paradise Hawaii! See you in the next video.