Refreshingly not goat related

Looks like someone is under the impression that she's found some fresh hay before anyone else did.

It's all mine!  Mine I tell you!

Every so often, someone will leave the man-door to the barn open, and some of our free ranging hens will take the opportunity to go where few hens have gone before.  The discovery of one (or more) of these hens manages to surprise me since I'm really not expecting to see a chicken in this particular part of our barn.

You look puny from up here!

It took a little while to convince her that she was not, in fact, a fifteenth century explorer who could lay claim to something just because she "discovered" it.

Ha! I told you we weren't allowed in there!

 A bit later I found the same hen trying to lay claim to a new piece of real estate, which did not please the hen who had already made herself comfortable in that space.

It's too bad I wasn't able to capture sound with this picture- our explorer friend next tried to move into this nest box (also known as a corner feeder), and the Maran fluffed up and let out a steady growl in an attempt to intimidate the red hen. 

Have you ever heard a chicken growl?  It's kind of a funny sound, unless you hear it while you are trying to remove eggs from under a hen.  Then it is a sound that means your hand is about to be attacked.  And can I just say- for those of you who want broody hens so you can hatch out your own chicks- please contact me.  I seem to specialize in getting broody hens, and while they are fantastic for hatching out your own eggs, if you don't want to hatch eggs yet find yourself with a hard-core months-on-end broody hen, it makes daily egg gathering very unpleasant.  Unless you are in to collecting new beak scars on your hands every day.  And if you are, man, do I have an opportunity for you!

Seriously? You're talking about chickens?

 Yes, well, perhaps if you didn't usually close your eyes when we pull out the camera...

I'd have more pictures of you I felt like posting.

At least someone kept their eyes open while the camera was out...

Weighing in at almost 100 pounds, Mini is looking much more like an adult.  She and Stella get along very well, and for quite a while, they were enthusiastically playing together during chore time.  Now though, Mini has gotten more serious about her job and play holds less of her interest, which seems to be sort of confusing to Stella who had gotten quite used to play time.

She's transferred that play energy into following me from room to room while I try to do work.  Sometimes she just stands and stares. Which isn't at all unnerving. There's nothing I love more than having my own entourage of one.  All the time.
 
---------------------------------

My plan to have the blog updated more regularly with a guest writer has, for now, fallen by the wayside.  Katie had some family matters that needed immediate attending to, so her stay with us was unfortunately cut short. I hope to have other guest writers in the future, and will let them introduce themselves as they accept the invitation to blog. I am still hoping to get a few more posts up in the near future about native plants, and the benefits of finding space for them both on and off farms.  I am hoping this partly because more time for writing means I'm probably finally getting a break from milking.  I just need to get one more milk test done, and then I'll be able to start drying off more of the girls.

But, that is a subject for another post...