Chicken Parlor of Smiling Hens of Finch Trail
We are nine pullets. We are wise, thrifty, and home-bodies who never grumble about bedtime!
Watching out for one another is big and a cooperative activity. If one of us sounds 'the alarm', we pay attention and scoot away from whatever is alarming. We don't always see what the alarm was about, but we scoot anyway. Sometimes we like to get a few treats before our sisters, but we
take competition in stride. Our biggest sisters are two cuckoo marans who were obviously more grown up than we four BlacK Copper Maran girls, (we think they will be the first egg-layers, and that event is any day now! We put up with our two, obviously less stylish Rhody sisters and little wise Izzy, our tiny but flashy D'Uccles Mille Flor banty who even has a different accent than we do. Not sure if she is Italian, Dutch, or French, but she is exotic and when she speaks, we pay attention. She is a good coordinator of naps and nestling in for meditation at noon.
We are all eating out of our human-sister's hand now and march around behind her expectantly when she comes to visit or opens our coop so we can flap our wings and scramble for the best bugs and blades of greenery.
We hear there are other birds of our kind trapped in slavish conditions who never see or walk on greenery, find bugs to munch on, or have time to socialize with the natural world. When we want out of our coop, we have a lot of hope that we will soon be loose, those poor dears never know a shred of hopefulness. Even when we can't be roaming, we have lots of space in our extended 'run' converted from a 6 X 12 dog run and has a 'lid' of hardward cloth that protects us from flying/climbing predators. We can relax, roost, or peck around for bugs to our hearts content, and get inside if bad weather stirs up--- or sit in shelter against the rain. We are happy campers!
Just thought I'd chime in, as Marcia, the human-sister of Finch Trail Pullets. This flock is a constant delight, and I'd recommend giving backyard poultry raising a try if you get a chance. Until I looked into it, I thought it would be out of the question to try something like having my own small flock. After reading, watching YouTube videos on the topic, and checking in with others who are doing the poultry experience successfully, I wasn't sure I could manage the concerns of predator prevention, difficult cold weather for many months, and housing. All that melted away when I heard of all the alternatives one could choose to make my poultry project work, and to keep my chickens healthy and happy. Also, I wanted them to be more 'pets' than just wild egg-layers. This was as much for me as for my grandchildren. So far after several months, we are wondering why we didn't start sooner!
Loading images: I've followed the instructions to load images, downloaded two good ones, but when I try to insert them into this page, I get a box with a blue question mark in it instead of the image. I understand how the HTML coding works, but I'm missing something! It would be so great if one of my fellow Backyarders would clue me in!
Thanks! Marcia
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We are nine pullets. We are wise, thrifty, and home-bodies who never grumble about bedtime!
Watching out for one another is big and a cooperative activity. If one of us sounds 'the alarm', we pay attention and scoot away from whatever is alarming. We don't always see what the alarm was about, but we scoot anyway. Sometimes we like to get a few treats before our sisters, but we
take competition in stride. Our biggest sisters are two cuckoo marans who were obviously more grown up than we four BlacK Copper Maran girls, (we think they will be the first egg-layers, and that event is any day now! We put up with our two, obviously less stylish Rhody sisters and little wise Izzy, our tiny but flashy D'Uccles Mille Flor banty who even has a different accent than we do. Not sure if she is Italian, Dutch, or French, but she is exotic and when she speaks, we pay attention. She is a good coordinator of naps and nestling in for meditation at noon.
We are all eating out of our human-sister's hand now and march around behind her expectantly when she comes to visit or opens our coop so we can flap our wings and scramble for the best bugs and blades of greenery.
We hear there are other birds of our kind trapped in slavish conditions who never see or walk on greenery, find bugs to munch on, or have time to socialize with the natural world. When we want out of our coop, we have a lot of hope that we will soon be loose, those poor dears never know a shred of hopefulness. Even when we can't be roaming, we have lots of space in our extended 'run' converted from a 6 X 12 dog run and has a 'lid' of hardward cloth that protects us from flying/climbing predators. We can relax, roost, or peck around for bugs to our hearts content, and get inside if bad weather stirs up--- or sit in shelter against the rain. We are happy campers!
Just thought I'd chime in, as Marcia, the human-sister of Finch Trail Pullets. This flock is a constant delight, and I'd recommend giving backyard poultry raising a try if you get a chance. Until I looked into it, I thought it would be out of the question to try something like having my own small flock. After reading, watching YouTube videos on the topic, and checking in with others who are doing the poultry experience successfully, I wasn't sure I could manage the concerns of predator prevention, difficult cold weather for many months, and housing. All that melted away when I heard of all the alternatives one could choose to make my poultry project work, and to keep my chickens healthy and happy. Also, I wanted them to be more 'pets' than just wild egg-layers. This was as much for me as for my grandchildren. So far after several months, we are wondering why we didn't start sooner!
Loading images: I've followed the instructions to load images, downloaded two good ones, but when I try to insert them into this page, I get a box with a blue question mark in it instead of the image. I understand how the HTML coding works, but I'm missing something! It would be so great if one of my fellow Backyarders would clue me in!
Thanks! Marcia