No cock-a-doodle-doing here!!!!

You know when you get a little male puppy, they don't know how to lift their leg right away?  I remember our dalmation as a puppy, I thought he'd never potty like a big dog, but eventually he figured it out!!  Sam, our border collie was a quick learner and trust me, not a wheel rolls on our driveway but it gets peed on!  He thinks it's part of his job description around here.  He also breaks up cat fights and he and Eeyore have discussions at the corral gate whether a donkey should paw at the lower bar!  Eeyore says 'I will if I want to'  and Sam says 'not on my watch you don't.... get your hoof offa that gate!!'  Eeyore will ignore his grain to aggravate Sam at the gate.  It's like a game and he knows it bothers Sam, so he does it on purpose when Sam's right there.

Once upon a time there were 9 Cornish hens looking for a home.  My friend, Neta, called because she knew Mike was building a chicken house and wanted to know if we'd like to adopt them.  The yard wasn't fenced it yet and we didn't have any supplies, but how can you turn down a gift chicken that's about 6 months old and just starting to lay eggs!!  So he put wire up and we got a makeshift bowl for water and we were in the chicken business.  At first we got 1 or 2 small eggs a day, but I think they like their new home because we've picked up on the number of chickens that lay every day.

For your edification.... Have you ever had something 'stuck in your craw'?  I've heard the expression, but since we've had the hens, I've learned what a craw is!!!  If you look at the left-most hen, you can see a pouchy area below her throat.  You can see it on the second hen too.  That pouch is a 'craw' and when they eat insects (like GRASSHOPPERS) they go first into the craw for the first stage of digestion.  Since I am overrun with grasshoppers, my hens walk around with thier craws full most days and I can see which are quickest and best at catching those nasty grasshoppers!!!! 

Neta's husband, Junior, brought gifts!!!  A bale of hay for their nests and a bucket of wheat for treats!  They had to come visit and see the chickens.  Neta also has a family heirloom for me ... her dad's chicken laying station ( for lack of a better term)  It's actually pretty nice though it needs a little repair.  A week later I got another call from Neta... "Do you want a rooster???  Junior got one for you if you want him."  Now don't laugh, you'll hurt his feelings!!  Something almost had him for dinner and instead got a mouthful of tail feathers!  Poor Cogburn.... no tail feathers until he grows new ones.  We figure we saved his life by letting him come here with our 9 hens.  And af far as 'cock-a-doodle dooing, he doesn't!!!  I guess it comes with maturity.  Mike's waiting for the morning he gets awakened with a cock-a-doodle-do!!

In the meantime, we've grown to 4 or 5 eggs a day and they've gone from small eggs to medium and large!!  I weighed them the other day to compare to a 'large' store-bought egg, and I'm getting at least one large egg everyday and a few mediums!  Compared to store bought, the yolks are yellow-orange in color.  It's awesome having free-range eggs.  They make beautiful deviled eggs!