MJ's little flock

[MaryJanet]

She is gorgeous. Even in a farther away photo like this it is her eyes that get me.

She's such a darling.

I've been thinking of you today.

 

[BY Bob]

I'll let the others out first so they can be on the move before the marauders are set free. If I do it the other way around, the marauders will burst into the big coop while it's still occupied and cause havoc!

It's good to have a strategy.

 

[RoyalChick]

Thanks for sharing the news RC is the flock adjusting? I imagine the little ones will miss her.

You asked how the flock is adjusting. I just posted this.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...es-stories-of-our-flock.1286630/post-26930660

A lot of it is my sentimentality and needing to mark her passing - but I think what I observed of the flock on her last day is genuinely interesting from a chicken behavior point of view.

 

[MaryJanet]

You asked how the flock is adjusting. I just posted this.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...es-stories-of-our-flock.1286630/post-26930660

A lot of it is my sentimentality and needing to mark her passing - but I think what I observed of the flock on her last day is genuinely interesting from a chicken behavior point of view.

It's a lovely read. Her friends will miss her.

 

[MaryJanet]

Just following up on my earlier post about Joyce's appointment to say Mark didn't charge for it. He makes that choice so often, it's almost a non-event. The surgery itself was expensive of course: all those people using all that expertise and all those drugs and all that equipment. But when he only needs a moment to examine a hen, he often does it for free. What a gent.

 

[MaryJanet]

As we all knew it would be, mayhem has been the first item on the marauders' agenda. They skipped apologies, but they undertook a lot of actions, mostly fast and violent, and mostly directed at Katie. Luckily, she's a runner and a flyer, so she's managed to keep just out of harm's way.

Joyce has been very roosterish, standing tall, stomping her feet, chasing, and pouncing. I wonder if her surgery put her hormones out of balance.

 

[MaryJanet]

Here's an update on the changing egg market in Australia, which is transitioning to no battery cages at all. In a few years there'll be no such thing as an ex-batt in Australia. Of course eggs will become more expensive, but maybe eggs should be viewed as a treat. I'll think about how best to distribute excess eggs from the hens. I might be able to donate them to one of the halfway houses in the neighbourhood.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-06...ed-on-shift-from-cage-to-free-range/102474282

 

[MaryJanet]

The dust bathing has commenced.

 

[Somewhere_In_The_Clouds]

Of course eggs will become more expensive, but maybe eggs should be viewed as a treat.

This is kinda what I was thinking.
If we can't afford more humanely produced eggs maybe we shouldn't be eating egg. Or at least not as much as we do.
My pullets are slowly starting to lay and I am enjoying my fresh eggs It might reach a point where I am getting too many eggs and if I do I want to give them to my family members, maybe some of the neighbours who so nicely put up with my roosters too

 

[MaryJanet]

This is kinda what I was thinking.
If we can't afford more humanely produced eggs maybe we shouldn't be eating egg. Or at least not as much as we do.
My pullets are slowly starting to lay and I am enjoying my fresh eggs It might reach a point where I am getting too many eggs and if I do I want to give them to my family members, maybe some of the neighbours who so nicely put up with my roosters too

Keeping the neighbours happy is bound to pay off one day