Windy hill chickens - first flock(s) of my own

[CombNWattles]

At least one of the Hylines had also worked out there's a world on the other side of the fence, so I opened up the back gate for a bit this afternoon to let them all into the back strip of field.
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Dang it looks gorgeous there jealous

 

[kattabelly]

Dang it looks gorgeous there jealous

Winter's on the way, soon enough it'll more often look like this (only less green) when it's not too windy to even open your eyes.

 

[kattabelly]

Change of plans with the cockerels. I messaged the breeder about something else and he's happy to swap both my Barred Rock cockerels for a couple of pullets since he mostly hatched female chicks from that cock. He said I could have an unrelated cockerel too in the spring, though I'll probably ask if I can have a few hatching eggs instead if I decide to take him up on that.

 

[kattabelly]

That's both Sussex pullets laying now at just over 21 weeks old. Yellow Legs (egg on the right) laid her first double yolker yesterday too.

 

[Perris]

this makes where you live sound very enticing, even for those of us not hooked on Jimmy Perez stories
https://www.theguardian.com/travel/...-cleeves-scotland-orkney-shetland-jimmy-perez

 

[kattabelly]

this makes where you live sound very enticing, even for those of us not hooked on Jimmy Perez stories
https://www.theguardian.com/travel/...-cleeves-scotland-orkney-shetland-jimmy-perez

That's a nice article but I hate how everyone always bangs on about Brodgar and Stenness and Maeshowe. There's so much more here and standing stones are (imo) far less impressive than the brochs and other structures that are actually recognisable equivalents to things we build and use today. Rousay especially absolutely deserves being known as the "ancient Egypt of the north" - I was lucky enough to volunteer on the Swandro dig a few years back and visited this year just as they were frantically trying to finish uncovering some new finds on their last day of work. There's an Iron Age earth house that's open to the public maybe 100m down the road from the place I buy chicken feed, on the small industrial estate at the edge of town.

And for a storyteller I'm kind of surprised not to read any mention of language or oral tradition!

And "on Orkney mainland" is really jarring to read, to the extent it kinda ruined the rest of it. No one would say that.

 

[thistlewick]

The brochs aren't as accessible - the ones in Scotland are a teensy bit moreso.

But Brodgar, Stenness and Maeshowe are all a stones throw from the main town, easy to get to.

I personally loved Skara Brae -- when I visited someone lost a glove into one of the houses and had the complete gall to jump down into it and fuss around to get it. Pretty sure I was very 'colorful' at him.