I have a rooster!!!!!
This morning I heard a strange sort of squawking, and since I am now always concerned that something is trying to get my chickens (one of our puppies killed two the day I returned home – not in a blood thirsty way, he just thinks they look a lot like one of his fuzzy dog toys. He knocked the cage over and let them escape, but when he saw them running around the porch, he wanted to play – damn dog. I’ve since fixed that cage too. ) So, this morning when I heard a new sound, I went barreling up to the cage expecting foul play (or is that fowl play…. Ugh). However, the chickens were alone.
I heard it again.
IT WAS CROWING!
I was told that if I get a boy chick, he would start crowing while still small. It was a tiny crow, hardly enough to wake an ant. The sound came from the cage with my smallest chicks – four fuzzy little ones. I think it was from my little black bantam that we named Pot Pie. Maybe it was from the Silky called Drumstick. Couldn’t be sure. I was so excited. I listened a while, watching the sun come up, marveling at how nature works.
I bought a book on small animal housing and I am hiring someone this week to build me a chicken cage/coup so I can move my chickens to the land. Mark could do this, but he is swamped with the house and my projects have to be put off until later. I worry that later will be too late, considering my other pets think I buy these chickens for afternoon snacks. I could probably build a pen myself, but I am so intimidated by tools. Denver could help me – she learned a great deal about tools in scenery workshops, but she is working all the time. I really should take a course on woodworking next time I go to the Campbell school to overcome my weakness. Then, I could make myself all kinds of fun stuff. I want to buy some peacocks, but I’m told the coyotes will get them and/or they need to be trained to stay on your land (they are rather willful birds), so until I can figure out how to build a pen, I must remain peacock-less. Ah, the sacrifices I make because I am not tool-savvy.
I also want shelter for the llama because winter is coming and the rainy fall. They are simple structures, but I will need to hire someone for that too, because it is larger and will take some muscle. All these animal habitat things are outlined with plans and suggestions in this book I bought, but it is about equal to my reading instructions in Arabic. (And I don’t speak Arabic). Perhaps my desires for Animal housing will be just the ticket I need to make me plunge into the unknown and develop a new skill. I think I might look sexy wielding a hammer and saw.
I am on my way to teach Kathy (just had a few minutes to kill so I decided to check my E-mail. No one wrote, so I thought I’d do a mini blog). So that is all I have to say. I have a rooster. Yippee!
Heart of Ginny 