chickens

Hello, we are caring for the chickens now, at this Ojai permaculture farm.  Ming is the main person.  I think he is the Chicken Monarch.  Some roosters may not agree!  Isn’t this a pretty pic?  He’s glowing in the late afternoon light, having just thrown the compost out of the bucket.

We’re doing the thing: symbiosis.  If we eat the eggs, that helps us want to keep the chickens as healthy as possible.  We are interconnected even more.  What an important thing to learn.  I feel overwhelmed with gratitude.

We did have a chicken when I was a kid: Judy.  But she was so finite, one being.  A flock of chickens is many beings, with their own personalities and needs.  But also the flock is like an organism too.

health

Healthy means I hope the chickens get lots of fresh water, fresh straw–not the moldy stuff we were told to use, for the nest boxes.  And tasty foods.

And you know me–I like to sing to them.  That’s one of my favorite ways to give love.  They’re a captive audience!  I also ask them how they’re doing, how was their day, what have they been thinking about.  How’s their mood.

I think they’re still getting used to me.  I’m still getting used to them also.  We were warned that the biggest rooster might peck us.  The other day, the rooster who wishes to be the big rooster pecked Ming’s foot.

That helped us decide that I shouldn’t go in the coop for now.  I still have only sandals–once I get real shoes, I can go in the coop.

eggs

Yesterday we got just less than two dozen eggs.  It was less than usual, maybe because it was hotter.  Do you think they’re pretty?

That was at the egg cleaning station, right before I cleaned off the messy ones.  I think they’re beautiful.

I took this video from outside the coop.  Ming evicts the broody hen who hangs out in a nest box right at the end.  So that’s the drama moment.

She leaves easily–she doesn’t peck.  She flies out, and a rooster herds her for a moment.  I hope you like it.  Ming smiles at me, toward the end.

Am I a real farmer now?  No, it’s still novel.  I’ve still messing around.  When this is part of my soul, maybe I will be a real farmer.