by Pa Rock
Farmer in Spring
Around this time last year I brought six baby geese and twenty young pullets to Rock's Roost. A few weeks after that all of the young chickens and one little goose died in a nighttime rampage by predators. an act of violence that left me so disheartened that I have not added any more poultry to the farm landscape since the carnage. Now I have five pea fowl - two cocks and three hens, five noisy geese - at least one of which is a female who has laid eggs and will occasionally sit on her nest, three equally noisy guineas, four roosters, and one ragged little red hen.
I try to take special care of the little hen who serves as an embattled concubine for the three larger roosters. Over the past few months she has gotten to the point where she will eat from my hand, and she is particularly happy when I bring her bread crusts every morning. She may suffer abuse from the roosters, but she knows that she is Pa Rock's pet.
But a week ago Little Red disappeared. I was saddened by that turn of events, and the morning bird brunch was a less enjoyable experience, at least for me. My friend had been gone seven days yesterday, when I suddenly saw here peeking out from behind some lumber in the nursery which is attached to the coop. She has somehow gotten in the enclosure and had been unable to get out. I managed to extricate her - and she rushed for the water bowl, acting as though she hadn't had anything to drink in several days - and she probably hadn't unless she stumbled across an oasis of pooled rainwater during her captivity.
Little Red is home now, back in the coop, and, for the time being at least, the roosters seem to be giving her space. Old friends are the best, and I am glad she is home. She seems to be happy about it too!
Farmer in Spring
Around this time last year I brought six baby geese and twenty young pullets to Rock's Roost. A few weeks after that all of the young chickens and one little goose died in a nighttime rampage by predators. an act of violence that left me so disheartened that I have not added any more poultry to the farm landscape since the carnage. Now I have five pea fowl - two cocks and three hens, five noisy geese - at least one of which is a female who has laid eggs and will occasionally sit on her nest, three equally noisy guineas, four roosters, and one ragged little red hen.
I try to take special care of the little hen who serves as an embattled concubine for the three larger roosters. Over the past few months she has gotten to the point where she will eat from my hand, and she is particularly happy when I bring her bread crusts every morning. She may suffer abuse from the roosters, but she knows that she is Pa Rock's pet.
But a week ago Little Red disappeared. I was saddened by that turn of events, and the morning bird brunch was a less enjoyable experience, at least for me. My friend had been gone seven days yesterday, when I suddenly saw here peeking out from behind some lumber in the nursery which is attached to the coop. She has somehow gotten in the enclosure and had been unable to get out. I managed to extricate her - and she rushed for the water bowl, acting as though she hadn't had anything to drink in several days - and she probably hadn't unless she stumbled across an oasis of pooled rainwater during her captivity.
Little Red is home now, back in the coop, and, for the time being at least, the roosters seem to be giving her space. Old friends are the best, and I am glad she is home. She seems to be happy about it too!
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