Pippin and dumplings

Last night I ate someone I knew for the first time.  I had wondered how I would feel about this experience.  It was strange and yet good.  Didn't seem to bother the children or dh a bit.

Our rooster Pippin had been patiently waiting in the frig for his time.  Yesterday was his debut on the dinner table - his first but not last.  As I sampled the first bite before putting it on the table to make sure that it was salty enough and edible, I thought, "This is good.  It tastes like chicken and dumplings.", and it did and it does.

Cannibals we are not.  It is just odd to eat something that you fed and watered and watched and had eye contact with.  Something new.

First Rooster

Friends of ours blessed us with chickens last fall.  Hens and a rooster.  Another first for our family, we soon found that we liked having them around.  Our rooster enjoyed being the sole man in the flock after competing with two others at his former home and losing.  One evening he was atop the coop crowing to his heart's content when the master tired of waiting.  It was time for that rooster to go in the coop for the night, and he decided to hurry him on his way. 

OBT grabbed Pippin from the roof of the coop and stuffed him inside.  Well, that must have hurt Pippin's feelings for he did crow again for the longest time.  Then one morning when I was in the chicken yard, Pippin found his crow.  I laughed again and again as he crowed over and over.

Pippin had his favorite hens, and he took good care of them.  There were others though that he attacked.  For a while after a neck mauling, one hen stayed out of the chicken yard and became more tame than the rest.  She stayed close to the house and even ate from the bird feeder.  As time wore on and our rooster attacked another hen, the head roo decided that Pippin must go.  He was captured and cooped up in the coop for a while with food and water.  At first his girls lingered near the coop in hopes that he would come out and watch over them again.  It was not to be.

Then the master found out about another rooster, reputed to be gentle with the hens.  I offered to pick it up since I would be in the area and did.  He too was in the coop when we arrived.  The children and I enjoyed his crowing on the way home.  Then it was decision time.  Time to get rid of the old rooster so that the new rooster could take his rightful place.

OBT used his hatchet (Every blade we had was dull) to chop away at Pippin's neck.  He soon went to sleep for good.  OBT had talked to his co-worker who grew up on a farm about how to properly do this; I had Living With Chickens from the library on hand.  He bled the bird while I boiled the water.  We dunked his feathery body in the hot water, and the feathers came right off.  In the house he went to be cleaned and gutted.  Then in the sink in an ice water bath, drained, and in the freezer until cooking time.  At church last Saturday I told some of the older sisters about him, and one of them said that rooster made good chicken and dumplings.  That sounds good to me, and so Mr. Pippin, soon into the pot you will go.  I sure hope that you taste good!  Oh, and by the way, the new, gentle roo is doing just fine.

Larva and Pupa

Last week after opening the front door for the Schwann's man, the children spotted a caterpillar.  We brought him in and by the next morning he had transformed into a chrysalis.  My best guess is that he is a Buckeye which seems appropriate seeing that we live in the Buckeye State.  If he emerges (hopefully in the next week or two), then we should be able to easily identify him.

Then one morning this week while Cheez Wiz and I were outside tending to the animals, CW heard the electric fence popping.  When I took a look, some Queen Anne's lace, wet with dew, was touching the fence and what was on the Queen Anne's lace?  A Swallowtail caterpillar!  I knew that they ate Queen Anne's lace and have looked for them off and on since we moved here (there is an abundance of QAL growing where we live).  This is the first cat I have seen.  We brought it in and fixed up a place for it complete with plenty of leaves and stick.  What more could a caterpillar ask for?

As of today it is in position and looks ready to form a chrysalis anytime now.  I would not be surprised to find one in its place tomorrow morning.  We hope!

What's your name?

When I was growing up, I remember seeing a beetle in our backyard but did not know its name.  I still see this beetle on occasion where we live now.  Last week when I was looking at the latest issue of "Birds and Blooms", what do I see?  This beetle identified for me!

Meet the Pennsylvania leatherwing beetle!

A wild hen chase

Pippin is our rooster.  His name came with him.  He is a Black Copper Maran.  One of our hens is the same breed so it seemed only fitting to name her Merry.  One day I noticed that Merry had been attacked.  The nape of her neck was bloody.  Researching this problem, I found that it is a common behavior among chickens.  Besides that corn can make chickens aggressive, and OBT had recently switched to a new feed containing corn.  Also Rhode Island Reds tend to be aggressive.  We have three RIR hens.  Uh oh.

At first Merry would hide in the woods during the day.  If the other chickens were after me, I would probably hide in the woods too.  Still and quiet, I would no longer be under attack.  Ah, but they also strike at night, and Merry's chicken instincts tell her to return to the coop when the sun goes down.  Once she is roosting, she becomes a sitting duck.

Instructed by my dear husband to catch Merry one morning, I chased that bird for many minutes fruitlessly.  As she ducked underneath the fence and back in the goatyard and meandered through the brambles and thorns in the woods, I did my best to catch up to her.  By the time I decided to give up, I was sweating, and Merry was no worse for wear.  When OBT came home, we resumed the chase.  I was to guard the back of the fence so that Merry would not gain access to the woods once more.  A fairly easy task.  OBT ":followed" Merry as she wandered around the goatyard.  Finally I asked if I could get Gal and sic her on Merry.  This has worked in the past.  Gal is small, fast, and likes to chase the chickens.  She also has not harmed one yet (surely due to the fact that she is restrained from doing so by being staked).  So off Gal went and in no time flat had that hen stopped in her tracks.  OBT rescued Merry and put her in the kennel where she has been recuperating

Eggs!

Yesterday we brought home six chickens that friends of ours gifted us with - two roosters and four hens. This afternoon while I was helping OBT reassemble the 10' X 10' kennel, I went and peeked in the chicken coop. Two tan eggs smiled back at me. I whooped for joy - eggs! Fresh eggs! Our hens are laying on their first day here. OBT and I paused to thank the Lord for His goodness in blessing us again with good friends and good eggs.