New flock master.

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I let my biddies mill around a larger portion of my backyard on the weekends that is sectioned off by some vinyl garden fencing that is about 12" high. Sometimes they jump over, but my fat Holstein looking cat, Popcorn, herds them back in when i instruct him. He really thinks its his job. He even gets inside with them and pretends to stalk them. The biddies squawk at him and usually keep their distance, but he is not aggressive towards them at all and they generally dont mind him being around.

 

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Last night, i was feeding the biddies some bugs that like to hang out on the front porch by the lights. I like to pet them and inspect them for any abnormalities, when i felt a large lump on the right side of Snicker's chest. It felt like a hacky sack (that dates me). I became alarmed. I started checking all the birds, and each one had the same lump.
Realizing that if all the birds had it, there is a good chance that it wasn't an issue.
I went inside, and searched this site.
Sure enough, this question was asked before, many times. Thank you all for being a wealth of information. I went to bed that night knowing that my biddies are well fed.

 

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So my one 15 year old cat, he's retired, was hanging out with the chickens yesterday. I couldnt find him for a while, then i see him walking out of the coop, well rested.
Yep, he went into the coop and took a nap.

 

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The biddies are getting so big. A couple of them are starting to cluck. Their combs have a lot of growing to do still. They absolutely love to be let out of their run and have at a portion of the back yard that doesn't get mowed.
Since they are getting so big, i am going to give 4 of them to a co-worker who lost a few birds this year. He has a few goats in a barn where his flock lives. They are 100% free range foragers. The Penciled Hamburg (my avatar image) will enjoy that. She is very high energy.

 

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Visited the Washington County Fair this weekend and took a look at the chickens on display.
I have a silver laced wayandotte with feathers on her legs and feet that totally would have won first place.

Im thinking about entering her next year.

 

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So all this rain caused a bunch of my ripening tomatoes to split. Normally id process them into a sauce or soup, but instead, i threw one that was on the ground and full of bugs to the biddies. They looked like dinosaurs tearing up prey. They torn into that oversized berry like a scene from the Walking Dead. They looked like them too. Their triangle faces covered with red pulp made their ferocious eyes burn with vegan blood lust.

They like broccoli too, but its not as visually exciting.

 

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One of the biddies (more than likely a leghorn) laid her first egg yesterday. About 15 minutes later, another egg was found in the nesting box.

I think i can identify which one because rather than keeping just out of reach, one of them let us pet her and seemed to enjoy being picked up and cuddled. Its like she was a bit traumatized and needed some comforting.

Beautiful orange yolk and substantially hard shell.