I’m still in the car, and Natsu is outside making a huge fuss: “Someone’s here! Someone’s here!” Natsu, that is not the entrance. Okay — we’ve arrived.
Molting season
Blue 2 is in the middle of molting (when a bird sheds old feathers and grows new ones) and has no tail at all. Interesting look! Growing new feathers takes a lot of food, so I’m putting extra easy-to-digest mash out on the table.
I think Ilima is starting to look a little neater. Nuts is still a bit ragged. Some hens got chased by the roosters far too much in early spring and lost the feathers on their heads, but around this time of year the feathers gradually grow back.
Which means our feed bill can’t keep up! How can they eat so much? Even if each chicken only eats about a fistful, with 200 birds it adds up to an enormous amount. Poppy is telling me there’s food over there. I know — I always put it in the same place.
And here’s Spice, who lost an eye. The empty eye socket has healed beautifully. Show me your good eye — see, so cute! A chicken’s natural healing power is amazing.
Papaya and pigeons
Sorry for filming through the coop net, but can you see that? The papayas are now about the size of a fist. The only question is how I’ll ever pick them — they’re growing very high up. It’s a good tree. And I really need to cut this grass soon.
These are the pigeon chicks I showed you before. They’re growing up together but are completely different colors — maybe eggs from different pigeons got mixed up? Somehow they strike the same pose. One has a little mohawk. This one is Happy’s chick, and Happy took good care of it, with a very motherly expression. The different-colored youngsters have grown and are now the same size as the other pigeons.
Natsu’s big mistake
And here’s Natsu, our cat. Natsu made a big mistake: she tried to eat a bee, and it stung her inside the mouth. Half her face is swollen. It was even more swollen earlier, but I was worried and didn’t film it then. She has zero motivation right now, but she seems fine otherwise, so I’ll keep an eye on her.
Feel better soon, Natsu! Thanks for watching, and see you in the next episode.