Meet Clara Barton

Meet Clara Barton.  John named our nurturing bird after the Red Cross founder.  The girls (still females as far as I can tell) have settled in nicely.  They seem to be getting along better.  Less bickering, fewer squabbles.

Poe and Snapdragon tend to hang out together and seem to have forgotten about Mama and their other sibling.

Sweet Pea and Clara Barton are BFFs.  They even squeeze into nest boxes to sleep together at night.  They run together, sides touching.  All the birds like a good dirt bath, and they have chosen a little section of garden at the far end of our house.  They scratch and wriggle around in the dirt.  I saw Poe roll all the way over once.

Let me tell you, chickens can EAT.  They have a feeder in their pen and nibble throughout the day.  Each day I take them treats like these meal worms, arugula, and blackberries.  They love yogurt and bananas, too.  They  run up when they see me coming, and make cute little sounds, muted, bubbly chirps.  They eat bugs and weeds and greens when we let them out of the pen.

We have to alternate their outings with the cat’s time outside.  Amos, our older cat, doesn’t really get too close to the pen.  He watches from a distance, tail twitching, cat eyes following every move.  I think he’s figured out that these are rather large birds, perhaps not the right prey for him.  Rory Gallagher is out of commission for a while, so he is not an issue for chickens.  Our little psycho-kitty tore a knee ligament last Tuesday and has to be confined for 4-6 weeks.  He is not a happy boy.  It’s been five days since he limped up crying, he is still feeling a lot of discomfort.  He tries to escape every day, but he can’t defend himself, so he’s stuck in the house.  It does make it much easier to give the birds free range time, but we miss the old Rory Gallagher.  Amos does not miss active Rory one bit, he finally has some peace for the first time since last June.  In fact, Amos will have nothing to do with Rory now.  He snubs the kitten, I guess because he is injured?

Today the birds are spending their first full day out of the pen.  It’s been raining all day, the rest of us are indoors.  Chickens don’t seem to mind the rain at all.  They just shake the water off their feathers and go about their bird business.  Snapdragon, Clara, Sweet Pea and Poe, are out for a soggy stroll in this picture.  We have a brushy hill by the house and they like to be down there under cover, pecking away.  They seem particularly attracted to our lilac bushes.  I just hope they are eating LOTS of ticks, because the season is upon us and we have a bumper crop after our deliciously mild winter.

Everything is in full bloom in on the Flying L Farm.  Redbud trees, pear tree, apple tree, Japanese Magnolia, azaleas, lilacs.  It’s a pretty time of year.  Almost time to plant the veggies!