I’ve been working on setting up another website on chickens. I don’t want to tell you the domain name yet as I’m not proud of its structure. Oh, alright. It’s Backyard Hencam. You guessed it, it has a hencam in it. I’ve never been someone who can do something half-way. I’m all in or not at all. I’ve struggled a month to make the site look right. Imagine my husband (who swore he wouldn’t have anything to do with creating a website) and I, squinting over a code, holding our breath and fooling around with it! When we go back to the website, nothing has changed! What frustration!
Yesterday, I was out in the garden readying for a rainy weekend (rare in these parts), and working off website frustration. The hens were in their pen going about their business while I was going about mine, digging nearby. I listened to their “hen talk”. The contented babel that they carry on as they scratch and bathe in the dust sounded like friends over a cup of coffee. There is a throaty Rrrrrrrr……. that one of them makes when a hawk flies overhead. Even a blue jay or crow will trigger that warning sound.
And then, there is always an occasional unpleasant squawk when one of the crankier hens pecks another because she doesn’t want the other to be “in her space”. Sweetpea was getting her share of pecks yesterday as I gardened nearby. I could just hear them saying, “Gads, you’re ugly. Get away!” Sweetpea is moulting, has no tail feathers and her comb and wattles are a pale pink. Someone once described moulting as “hen menopause”. Poor thing! As least she will get over it!
Yes, the hens do sound like a bunch of gossipy girls having an important discussion. I love the ladder roosts you have set up for your chickens. I think I just may adopt the idea for my hens. They would enjoy having a place to roost in the sunshine when they have to stay in the pen. Usually, the chickens are out in the woods. I would just have to be careful not to make the ladder high enough that the raccoons could reach down and grab a hen. There is always something to worry about.
Your chicken blog sounds like a great idea!