Good morning from Chicken Paradise — it’s me and Pen-chan on a cloudy day. Today I’m doing something a little different and showing you the chickens from my own point of view.
A mealworm mystery
First, Dolly’s welcome. As soon as she senses a human coming, she comes out and shouts at us — and goes quiet once we get close.
Then, a sad discovery: the bag of mealworms I’d bought was torn open and scattered everywhere. The likely culprit ran off that way — a wild chicken! Balloon, Monarch and Cho helped clean up the spill. These three are so laid-back they never run away, so they’re fine outside.
A chick playground
Our four chicks have grown, so they moved to a new, bigger playground. Ilima is a little bigger and older than them, and I hoped they’d all get along, so I put them together to see. Ilima ended up fighting with them, so back to Mom she went. The four on their own are great friends and play happily.
Today’s garden
The cucumbers have about five true leaves and proper cucumber tendrils. One of the mugwort plants looks a bit droopy — maybe the strong sun and not enough water — but the other has new shoots. The cabbage white caterpillar on our lone broccoli has grown quite big. The hopelessly wilted lettuce has new shoots, though the lower stems are leggy. I think it didn’t get enough sun; with enough light, the leaves grow close together, and without it you get gaps between them.
The tomatoes have their true leaves and are a little over 10 cm. Even the ones the chickens nibbled are growing, and so are the potted ones and the left-alone squad — maybe it’s time to thin them. The sweet peas are about 15 cm and tangled together, so I want to untangle them and give them somewhere to climb. Someday I’d like a flower garden.
Meet Grey
Grey is a Lavender Cochin Bantam — see those feathery feet? His first family got him as a chick, not knowing if he’d be a rooster or a hen. They hoped for a hen, he turned out to be a rooster, so they gave him up and he came to us. He’s been here since early on and is now a real leader, about number three in the flock, guarding the big hens in the big room with Sonata and the other roosters.
When he first arrived he was only about half-grown, still peeping, and so scared that he hid behind people’s legs, crying. Now he’s the one chasing people around.
Thank you for watching Chicken Paradise! See you in the next episode.