Category Archives: Poultry

The March of Dandelion

He marches through the orchard at a slow and stately pace. Head held high, he rocks sternly from side to side as he passes by. Often covered in mud but too proud to acknowledge that he may be anything less than feathered perfection, he carries on. Occasionally he trips over something that didn’t bow to his greatness and move out of his way. Sometimes that thing is a stick, or a log, sometimes it’s a duck. No matter, he marches on, ignoring anything rude enough to get in his path and expressing his disdain for them by refusing to acknowledge anything that creates a bump in his road and simply walks through it. Occasionally he falls down, but his head never bows, and I wouldn’t dare laugh for I suspect he thinks he’s the king of the orchard.

But, I have news for him, I’m the queen. And while he’s been an exemplary gander, he would do well to remind all his subjects that when I say “Off with their head!” nobody gets a trial.

Our pair of geese are just about a year old and we are hoping to hatch babies this spring. They have such different personality and attitudes than the chickens or ducks and I am so glad I was finally convinced to add them to our place. Don’t worry, I truly have no intention of getting rid of my gander. However my orders were carried out this past weekend on a few extra male ducks… It’s advisable to be on your best behavior when you are living under the reign of The Queen of Hearts. 

 

Foraging

The computer is working!

For now…

Having a computer that sort of, kind of, sometimes works is both more useful than one that does nothing at all and infinitely more frustrating.

But, it’s working now and so quick before it crashes I give you….

A duck!
Ancona duck

Not just any duck, this little lady came to me all the way from Washington State and will, if all goes well, be the mama to some new fluffy ducklings come spring.

Actual spring that is, not this 60 degree February nonsense that’s been going on the last week.

The ducks (and the geese and the chickens) have all enjoyed getting out and foraging in this ridiculous weather.  But despite hearing the siren song of spring myself on these last few warm days,  I’m not believing it. I see freezing temperatures in the forecast and no matter how nice that sun feels or how excited I am for fluffy new arrivals – it’s still February.

And there will be no duck babies until real spring arrives!

 

 

Change

When change comes knocking at your door, life often looks a great deal worse before it gets better.molting barred rock chicken

Especially if you are a chicken.molting barred rock chicken

Our chickens are molting, where they quite literally change their old feathers for new ones. This lady looks ridiculous now but give her another week and I’m sure she’ll be turning the rooster’s head again!  

A Questionable Decision

I, like every other mother out there, on occasion, make questionable parenting decisions.

This year, for the first time in many years, we raised broiler chickens. Big, fat, white chickens that eat a ridiculous amount and are ready to put in the freezer in just nine weeks. This last weekend, the nine weeks were up.Jane with chick

“You guys are butchering 45 chickens on Sunday?!? What are you doing with the kids?”

The answer, the many times I was asked, was always nothing. They’d be home, able to be in the middle of the action or in the house, which ever they wanted.

It wasn’t the answer most people were expecting.broiler chickens

Now, to be fair, I’m sure half of the people who asked that question know the difficulties involved in trying to get any task done with three kids on hand, and it’s true, many times when we do big projects we find friends for them to play with or grandma’s to visit.

The other half have probably never been a part of butchering chickens or if they have didn’t have kids hanging around at the same time.broiler chicken

But we have always felt that this is a thing the girls should be involved in so we kept them home and they were still sleeping when we got up to start the process.

All three trickled outside still in pajamas to check out what was happening.  And while they left from time to time they spent most of the morning with us.

Jane, the girl who was very concerned that we were going to eat those cute little chicks the day we brought them home, helped John with the beheading by saying a nice goodbye to a few. She was more at ease with it than many adults I know would have been.John and Jane chicken butchering

Clara got a lesson on how to gut a chicken from her grandma and did the last bird all by herself. She’s six. She’s pretty much amazing.Grandma Mary and Clara chicken butchering

And while Ivy wasn’t as interested in being hands-on, she listened with rapt attention to the anatomy lesson grandma and Great Gramps gave her and now can identify all the internal organs of a chicken, and knows what they all do. I’m sure she does because they quizzed her and I heard her pass with flying colors.Grandma Mary and Ivy chicken butchering

Jane is excited for her Dad to grill her a chicken to eat. Clara is, rightfully, proud of her gutting experience. And Ivy, when asked, cheerfully told me all about how the gizzard is her favorite organ because you can cut it open, it looks pretty and it’s neat.Grandma Mary and Clara chicken butchering

I, like all the other parents out there, make plenty of questionable parenting decisions. But I’m confident that this wasn’t one of them.

Looking For Us?

goslingDon’t worry, we haven’t gone anywhere!

The geese are still growing, the kids are still cute, the dogs are still crazy and I’m still writing blog posts.

Unfortunately, at the moment, all those blog posts are piled up in my head like an untidy log jam but once they make it to the screen you’ll have new reading for a month!

If you are wondering what’s happening around here during these long summer days you can still find us fairly regularly over on Instagram. ( https://www.instagram.com/behindthewillows ) 

Thief

I’ve got a thieving chicken.

But Jessie, you say, you have 90 chickens! How do you know which one it is?

Well…

I do have 90 chickens but I only have six Delaware chickens. And of those only three are adults and two of those adults are bold. Very bold. In fact if they were much larger, or I was much smaller, they would be terrifying.Delaware Chicken

But Jessie, you say, they are chickens! You love chickens! Why would they be terrifying?

Well…

These are the two chickens that I saw catch a mouse out in the open, beat it to death and then fight over it’s remains. These are the chickens that have hunted down toads and leave no doubt that birds are close relations to dinosaurs. These are chickens it would be best not to be a small creature around.

But one of them is bolder than the other, and now I know which one.Delaware Chicken

But Jessie, you say, they look the same!

Well…

The extra bold chicken invaded a little party we were having on the deck, stole a hot dog right of a plate and ran off with it to the cries of distress from the small boy who had just lost his dinner.

She is the thieving chicken.Delaware Chicken

But Jessie, you say, how can you tell it’s her and not her sister?

Well…

Because when you are a chicken and you steal a ketchup covered hot dog out of a bun you get ketchup-ed.

And apparently, ketchup doesn’t wear off right away, it just turns black.Delaware Chicken

It’s true, I have 90 chickens, but this one, is the thieving chicken.