I wasn’t going to write up a blog post tonight, I was going to use one of the “Get Out Of Jail Free” cards which I mentally dispense to myself every week. But I wouldn’t want to cause Debi to seek her chicken updates elsewhere.
However, I will be typing quickly, because “House” is on in half an hour. And I love you guys, but the ads make it look like this will be a Really Important Episode. I’m shallow that way.
The chicks have been eating and scratching and pooping and peeping like champs. Today I had to stop by the feed store to buy a second five-pound bag of baby food. I can’t believe they’ve eaten five pounds of food already!
They have also magically turned into teenagers, seemingly overnight. With all the awkward looks and uncertain plumage and “MOM stop TOUCHING ME, put me DOWN” that this entails.
Harriet’s bizarre patchy neck ruff reminds me of a cartoon eagle character whose name escapes me at the moment. Sam something? Something Sam? I’d look it up, but the clock is ticking. TV awaits. Don’t judge me.
Last night I built them a miniature roost, out of sticks and packing tape. They like it quite a lot. Here’s Ethel, roosting just like a big girl, photographed through the wire mesh of the cage lid.
I’ve been feeling very self-conscious about my crappy photography recently, after seeing Louis CK’s photography in his Iraq travelogue, and the photography of my friend Sam and Jennifer A and others.
I blame my digital camera, a Fujifilm Finepix A350 which I bought used, on eBay, three years ago, for $70. One day I will buy a Real Camera, and I won’t be able to use that excuse anymore. Until that day, I’m sticking with it.
Kimble would like you remind you that he’s way cuter than baby chickens, and actually enjoys being petted. (His tail isn’t missing, it’s just fallen down behind the cabinet.)
There is a “Henry Chicken Hawk” that shows up in some Foghorn Leghorn cartoons. I bet thats who you’re thinking of.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henery_Hawk
Awww. Kimble! I hope you aren’t neglecting to cuddle the cats because of your newfound passion for fowl.
Wait till you go to the mall with them and they pretend they don’t even know you.
There’s also “Sam the American Eagle” from the Muppet Show. Who pretty much disapproved of everything.
And yeah, last night’s House episode was a Very Important Episode. Not sure how I feel about the direction the show is taking.
I used to watch House, but he got to be like the Jack Bauer of the medical world (he breaks all the rules! but he’s brilliant! so they forgive him! and he doesn’t lose his license like he would in real life!) and I had to stop.
Ethel roosting like a big girl cracked me up.
We got our three baby chicks last June and the first egg appeared on Dec. 19. Now we get two or three eggs a day and despite our best efforts (at eating eggs) we have enough to share with our across-the-street neighbors. My son kept the babies in a very large aquarium in his room until they were big enough to go to their outside coop and chicken run. Favorite baby chick memory? The morning my son came out of his room muttering “Damn chickens!” They were practicing their helicopter maneuvers … Made a LOT of racket.
Ah, it was Sam the Eagle Muppet, thank you!
http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Sam_the_Eagle
Great roost! You’re an excellent chicken mother.
Ah, just wait till they start practicing their flying skillz. Remember Woodstock from the Peanuts comic strip? Like that, only bouncing off walls…
AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH, now that’s better
I too love Ethel roosting just like a ‘grown up’. Nice job on the baby roosting sticks.
(And your pictures aren’t all that bad, especially with a $70 camera.)
Nice pictures. Sheesh.
Oh, those awkward teenage years.
So was House important? Do you watch The Sarah Connor Chronicles?
you are such a good surrogate chicken mum ! – I’ve been chook sitting the three [ fully grown and egg-producing ] red headed tarts from next door and they’re nowhere near as cute as your sweeties.