Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road?

Cris, you wanted to know if they provided an answer...

Could it be that they were 'egged on' by their feathered friends?

Perhaps a better question is...

...why didn't the chickens cross the road?

Should I tell them the car is parked?

Do we need a chicken crossing light?

Sadie doesn't seem to care about the hens running loose.  They're starting to ignore her, too.  And yes, DJan, these are the same chickens that wouldn't go out the door!

As for who cut the hole in the fence?  Mr J himself.  (Lille, he says the J stands for Jenius,too!)  The chickens have scratched their area so much that a lot of the grass is gone.  Even though they walk around in their own poop, it seems chickens do not like mud!  We let them out to give them plenty of roaming space.  They return to their coop at night, like always.

Mr J was worried about Sadie and the cats...  What would they do to his chickens?  I laughed!  "Don't you mean, what will the chickens do to Sadie and the cats?"   Sadie does occasionally leap just to make them scatter.  She does that to the cats sometimes too.  She thinks it's funny.

The cats...  Well, the chickens aren't small anymore.  Benji is our best hunter.  She's responsible for the headless bunnies that show up in the barn.  We watched her sneak up on a couple of the hens yesterday.  She got within three feet of them...  They let out a squawk and flapped their wings at her.  She shot off into the woods!  I have a video of Squeaky walking up the lane as a hen is walking down.  They passed each other without turning their heads! 

I guess there's enough room for all.  Maybe we should all learn a lesson from them.  And the lion shall lie down with the lamb.

Escape from the Pen

Wait a minute!  Where are all the chickens?  There's only a few in there...

Hey!  There's a hole in the fence!  Looks like someone cut it.

Look Dad!  The chickens are out!

They're headed for the woods!

They're even in the horses' round pen!

They're running down the driveway!

No wonder they want out here...  There's some neat stuff in this dirt!

A Beautiful Day on the Farm

What a difference a day makes!  This was a beautiful day for enjoying the fall color.  The cold, biting winds of yesterday were gone.  The temperature was up a bit and activity was high.  Even my cast-kids were playing in the sun!

This weeping cherry looks beautiful all year 'round.  I love how the orange-yellow leaves contrast with the red grass and sedum.

Oh, look!  Is that D-Jan dropping in for a visit?

Whoever it is has a bird's eye view of the colorful foliage.

Where'd he come from?

There's a small airport nearby that is home to Sky Dive Green County.

Mr J took advantage of the weather, deciding to cut some more logs.  Can you believe he's sitting pretty on the tractor, and 85-yr-old FIL is doing the manual labor?

My FIL likes to stay busy.  He loves it when Mr J actually lets him do something!

The goats were enjoying the weather, too.

 

All that work...  ah, rest!

Wonder what they are thinking about?  They're actually watching...  Oh, wait...  I can't tell you yet.  You'll find out in tomorrow's post.  (It's a surprise for the bird lovers.)

Sadie loves to help Mr J chop wood.  She makes her logs small enough, even a baby can lift them!

You have to enlarge this one.  I didn't see it at first...

Until tomorrow...

Poor, poor hen...

Now I know why I hear so much squawking!

A Day Off the Farm

Today, our church sponsored Community Fest. We like to do fun things to involve the neighborhood kids.  I promised that Mr J and I would bring a couple of horses out for the event.

Someday, when I'm filthy stinking rich, I'll have one of those fancy trailers with living quarters up front.  Until then, I'll settle for the stock trailer.  Here's the rig, ready and waiting...

 

They had lots of inflatable play things.

Simulation only... not a REAL pirate ship.

I wish I had a picture of the one out front.  I didn't see it until we were leaving.  The kids were having a blast on it!  It looked like there was something in the middle to stand on, and you knocked your opponent off into the pit.  Something like this...

Someone had a couple of wagons hooked up for a hay ride around the fields.

Nekoda and Buddy were looking good and on their best behavior for the event!

They didn't like having to stay in their stalls for an hour beforehand...

I brushed them out and detangled their manes.  I wasn't about to let them out to roll!

They weren't the only horses there...

  There were a couple of minis on hand for the kids to pet.

There was even a pony pulling a cart!  The pony wasn't thrilled to hook up!

I had a perfect view of the action from under the nose of the horse trailer.

The kids had a blast.  It was cold and my joints are complaining now.  I'll probably be sore tomorrow from lifting all the big kids up into the saddle, but it was worth it.  I've never seen so many big smiles in one day!

International Overalls Day!

Heads up everybody!  Join with me in honor of the most comfy, yet functional piece of clothing ever sewn!

Visit the bibfessor to learn more.  And be sure to catch my bib post on November 20!

Living with Mr J and the Chickens!

I just have to share this story with you...

Many of you know that last week Lille Diane stopped by our farm to visit on her way home from KY.  While she was in KY, we e-mailed a bit back and forth making plans for her visit.  At one point she mentioned Superman...

Later, in a conversation with Hubby, I mentioned that Superman had a really cool name!  It made Hubby sound so ordinary.  I suggested that we should find an exciting name for Hubby, to which he responded, "How about 'The Jerk'?"  We looked at each other and started LOBO!    Yeah, The Jerk is right up there with Superman!  It amazes me how his mind works.

I told Lille about it and we shared a laugh.  So when she finally made it to the farm, we had fun calling Hubby The Jerk.  Since then, it has come up a few times in our e-mails.  Today, Lille gave me a message to pass on to Mr. J.  I kinda like that one!

So, if you happen to read a future post that mentions Mr. J, you'll know right away...

... who I'm talkin' 'bout!

Well, since I'm here, I might as well share a bit o' chicken farming life with y'all...
Last week, when I was snapping all the potential shots  for the 'chicken wall', I shot a few inside the main chicken house.  Hubby has done a little redecorating in there...

These roosts were here before, but I just like them.

They are recycled from an old swing/play set.

I didn't notice her until I turned to leave.  Hope we didn't disturb her.  The recycled milk crates make great nests.

So do five-gallon buckets!  Hubby is experimenting with different ways to keep the nests cleaner.  The bucket keeps other chickens from roosting above the nesting material.  They tend to roost on the sides of the milk crates.  Not good...

Another design idea to keep them from roosting above the nests.

The chickens still aren't in full production.  We hope to soon get around four dozen a day.  Here is today's round-up so far...

Do you see why Lille Diane called them rainbow eggs?

Drop in Guest Part II

He finally escaped!

Drop in Guests