New Chickens! | Reason vs instinct

The reason for the peculiar title will become apparent a bit further down. Read on! This is the first vid footage (funny word, 'footage', in this digital era...) of my Sumatra boy crowing. Quite biblicaly, he crows three times in this vid :) Big doings in the fowlyard these past week or so. Here's the new flock configuration: One Sumatra rooster, one Phoenix hen, one Welsummer hen (who does not appear in this video, alas; she is still very timid around the others), one Cuckoo Marans, and two half-tailed blue-egg laying crosses. Yes, I decided that it would be best if one of the males went, so I found him a 'good home in the country'. No, really! He has a great place with several hens of his own. When I went to get a male to take, I had put some time trying to decide which one I wanted to keep. As Bill and I chased around the pen trying to catch one (the best time to catch them of course is at night when they are roosting, but that didn't fit into the timeframe we had), Bill asked "Which one should we keep?" I replied "Whichever one we don't catch. So, as was later pointed out to me, I am well started in my genetic selection for 'uncatchability' in my flock ;-) The day after I moved the 'extra' Sumatra boy, I brought in the four new hens froma nearby breeder; they are about a year old and actively laying. So (we're getting to the part that relates to the title now): I have four hens to add to a mini-flocklet of two, the Phoenix and the Sumatra. The breeder wisely suggested I segregate them, but I don't really have the facilities for that. She suggested that I at least keep them crated up (they were in a dog kennel for transport) until evening when I could place them on the roost by hand, but I thought it was too hot for that, and I wanted to see them happily scratching around. So, I got home and just let them all out at once (it was around 1PM). No problem! Everyone settled down to pecking and scratching most satisfactorily. The Phoenix came in for a bit of bullying, but nothing more serious than a peck on the head (she spent most of the first several days glued to the Sumatra). So all seemed well, and after about 10 minutes of chicken-watching and getting-eaten-by-mosquitoes, I went off to do something with a friend. The rooster was in heaven - just coming to adulthood, no male rivals, and his own flock literally plopped down into his yard. Came home about 4PM, and there was the Marans running around the yard outside the pen. Whoops. I thought it would be clever to let the Sumatra out (he was obsessed with the Marans, I guess size does matter, as she is the biggest hen) to get her back into the chicken yard. That worked surprisingly well - only the Phoenix came out with him (she was glued to him, a little overwhelmed by the introduction of four older hens, I guess), and he indeed did go to work rounding up 'his' new hen - with, of course, a short diversion to eat some yummy greens. OK, so they're in. I fasten the rickety 'gate', go to the house, do some stuff, then come out ot the porch to hang some clothes or something. I'm yakking on the phone, so it takes me a while to notice that I'm not alone (fortunately the dogs were inside) - the Marans is on the porch too. Grrr. I figure she'll go back in when the sun sets, but after about 20 minutes I am worried because she doesn't have water and looks stressed (mouth open). I herd her up to the pen and get her in without too much trouble. Then I sit ona chair outside the gate and consider. She starts trying to get through the gate again. I flap her away from the gate. The rooster helps by getting between her and the gate and chivvying her towards the henhouse (he also takes the opportunity to nail her, wasting no time in fertilizing some eggs). Then I notice the other new hens are also testing the fence borders and looking stressed. Odd! They seemed fine at mid-day. It's nearly sundown; they ought to be going to the henhouse (they had all gone in earlier to check it out and eat) to get on the roost. Thats' what hens -do-. Well, duh! It finally hits me that what hens -do-, in reality, is return to the SAME roosting spot every night. These hens had no idea where their roost was (several miles away), but they DID know it wasn't where they were. They'd been happy to scratch around during the day, but they wanted to get home for night! NOW I understood why I should have kept them confined until evening that first day. So I stayed out that evening, getting eaten alive by skeeters and discouraging the hens from testing the fence too much, hoping they'd eventually follow the Sumatra and the Phoenix inside to roost. But of course the Sumatra wanted to be where his new girls were! The Welsummer actually got out in a panic flight, but was just on the fencing and I got her back in with no real trouble. I wondered if I would have to catch them all one-by-one and put them in the house. But as it got dimmer, several went into the house and I breathed the proverbial sigh-of-relief. Then all but one were inside. Then most of them came out again. Grrr. Then they went in, and out, and in.... Well, all at once they seemed to catch a thought-wave from the Phoenix and went in, and within minutes I heard them flying up to the roost. With a quarter-hour everyone was settled in, I closed the door and didn't let them out of the henhouse for another two days :) No problems at night since then, and no passion for escaping. I haven't started giving them evenings out yet; Bill wants me to wait until after tomato season :) but I want to wait until they are a bit more coherent as a group; the Welsummer is still too nervous to stick close to the others. So here's what the title refers to: I made the mistake of thinking like a person (there's a nice roost, they should find it with no trouble) rather than like a chicken (I need to get where I was LAST night, and fast!) and I could have easily had uneasy chickens wandering the neighborhood all evening, prey for loose dogs. Chickens can seem pretty clever at times, and they are awfully engaging to watch, but their minds - unlike those of humans - work almost completely on instictive reaction rather than reasoning. That's part of what makes them so fascinating ... and so frustrating!

  ¶ 8:48 PM 2 Comments Links to this post

  Adopt this dog! I found this fellow wandering near downtown after a thunderstorm; I think he must have busted out of his yard when the thunder got loud. A young woman was trying to get him from the middle of the road, and I wound up stopping to help and he chose my car to finally jump into :-/ I took him to the Wake County Animal Shelter, where he may be available for adoption if his family does not reclaim him. He's a cute young (1 year) male, friendly and bright-seeming. Nervous about thunder.

Here's the ad I'm running in the paper (and yes, I notified the local shelters):

FOUND DOG: Black and white terrier, male, found at MLK Blvd and Garner Rd. in Raleigh. Taken to Wake Co. Shelter (ph: 250-1481) - impound #77309

So if you need a dog - he's your guy!! :)    ¶ 7:40 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

  Colliething swimming

Pete the colliething water-retrieving. This was taken at a fishing pond in Umstead Park. I'm sure we drove the guys fishing nuts with the splashing, but they drive me nuts with their leaving hooks and fishing line around everywhere, so I guess we're even. After seeing Pete come out of the water looking so skeletal, I upped his meal rations. I hadn't realised just how skinny he was!

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  Porch spiders I've taken a few pictures of some of our porch spiders over the past few evenings.    ¶ 7:28 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

  At last! Eggs! When I got back to town Tuesday evening, my Silver Phoenix had finally started laying! She laid these four beautiful eggs, which Bill and I had for lunch in a sandwhich Wednesday. The eggs are small, but the yolks are normal-sized, which is just about perfect unless you plan to make meringue :)

Eggs are remarkable - these had been sitting in 70-100 degrees for 3-4 days, and were perfectly fresh. Even if they were fertilised - which is doubtful, as I don't think my boys are that advanced yet - they wouldn't start to develop until the hen started to brood them. What a perfect food!

I took them when she wasn't watching, and Wednesday evening when I went to get the next egg, I saw she had laid several feet away in another spot. Poor thing, probably hoping to avoid the 'predator' stealing her eggs. Ah, well, I hope to let her go broody sometime, but not just yet. Not sure what I'd do with any more male chicks anyway.

Tomorrow (well, later today I guess) I am going to try to hook up with a local breeder and get a couple more hens to improve my sex ratio. I'm thinking some brown eggers (Maran and Welsumer) would be nice, and a blue-egg-laying Sumatra/South American cross so I can finally have a black hen as I had planned :) I'm still undecided about placing one of the Sumatra boys, as they are more beautiful every day and are not very loud and seem to get on well with each other. They may grow more aggressive as they get older, of course. I may wait and see.    ¶ 2:36 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

  Wolf spider with babies We found this wolf spider on the floor last week near the dog water bowl (note the depressing amount of dog hair it picked up on its feet from running around under the couch). It had a bunch of spiderlings on its back!

We often see these in the yard/garden, carrying egg sacs or spiderlings. This one was determined to stay in the house - Bill put it out twice and it ran back in and fianlly lodged under the couch. So I guess we'll have plenty of wolf spiders for the rest of the summer :)    ¶ 2:19 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

  Visit to Mordor I stopped in DC on my way home from MD/VA to help lobby against the Oman so-called-Free-Trade-Agreement (which is in reality a trade-limiting agreement; all free trade takes is for government to get the hell out of the way). I'm all for free trade and lower tariffs, but this agreement is simply another dictator buyoff in the carrot-and-stick model of American Empire now current.

Pictures of the visit are here, but I posted a few here to outline some of the things I detest about DC specifically, and government in general.

Number 1: Big Brother May Be Watching You. And You Have to Pay For It. No comment neccessary.

Number 2: How pitiful is it that the feds think we need a LAW to give up a seat on the subway to someone older or more crippled than us? And - among the people who would NOT give up their seat - what good will a law do except to make them even more disdainful of the law in general?

Number 3: This headline is priceless, if depressing. The City Council will be raking in overtime pay (or whatever those buzzards get) because of the 'crime wave'. Is it any wonder they sit around dreaming up asinine new laws - like the must-give-up-seat-on-the-subway one above - when we can see that the more stupid laws there are, the more 'crime waves' and thus more job security they have? How f***ed-up is that 'business model'?
Number 4: These cabinets were to be found throughout the House of Reps office buildings. If your job requires the regular presence of 'emergency escape hoods' - not for fire, but in case people want to kill you - then you are not exactly what I would call a 'public servant'. Those schmucks should quit being politicians and take up a useful and respectable trade - like Mike Joyce here in North Carolina, who finally got too disgusted to carry on as a city councilman, and went back to plumbing.    ¶ 1:52 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

  Skyline Drive, VA The purpose of the trip to VA - besides hanging out with my sisters and nieces - was to scatter my mother's ashes in the mountains, which she had requested we do. This is the spot we selected. For the hopelessly morbid, those obsessed with pictures of my feet, and family members, there are some other pictures here.  ¶ 10:03 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

  Shenandoah Crossing

While hiking this weekend with some of my sisters and nieces, I took this footage of some of them crossing a stream on rocks (I was wading streams by this point to cool my feet). The beginning is a bit slow, but it gets cute when Janet (the last one) gets 'stuck' between two rocks, and Doris comes to her aid.

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  Indian Pipes! I went hiking with some of my sisters and neices in the Shenandoah Mountains. We did a 1.5 mile hike on Friday evening down to Dark Hollow Falls, and then a 8.5 mile hike on Saturday (I need to check on the exact location) which was VERY strenuous - but beautiful and fun!

Lots more pictures here and here (my sister Carol's pics). Videos up soon.

I was, as usual, stalking 'shrooms and plants the entire time, and got some great pics (and some lame ones, naturally). But I got to see Indian Pipes for the first time (that I can recall)! It's actually a parasitic plant rather than a shroom, but very cool!


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  Government grows because... Don't try this at home, kids | Samizdata.net

One of the comments following the main article:

Bureaucrats do not suffer the consequences of good things that don't happen. They live in fear of the bad things that might happen on their watch. No restriction is too severe to save their phoney baloney jobs. - Max  ¶ 8:42 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

  Da boyz (chicken update) Now that I am over the shock of realising that two of my 'hens' are actually roosters, and I've passed the twin hurdles of neighbor and spouse acceptance of crowing (that last, at least, always somewhat provisional) I am reveling in the beauty and ... well, the cockiness of them. Yesterday evening I caught them in Bill's tomatoes, and while I did discourage them from further depradations, the one with the blood-red tomato juice dripping from his triumphant saurian beak sure was cute. Err, maybe 'cute' isn't the right word to end that last sentence... ;-)

The first one - I suspect it's the one on the left (foreground) of the bottom pic, but I can't be sure - is turning into a great crower after only a week or two of practice. The other one just started this week, and it's cute to hear his wobbly little voice firing up tentatively. They crow occasionally during the day, but pretty much just about ten minutes between 6 and 6:30 each morning. They seem to crow in response to the rooster they can hear from across the road, but I guess they'd probably crow wheter or not they could hear him. It's really a pleasant sound if you're into that sort of thing. I am, but I'm not so sure about Bill.

This morning I got these great pictures by bribing them with a big slice of watermelon. I put the melon down and sat on the other side of it to get some nice video footage. I was too close to entice them to get into the melon before my patience with the mosquitoes ran out, but I did get these great stills. They are, I think, my best pics of the Sumatras to date. The Phoenix is being her nervous little self hovering in the back, but if you look closely you may see how her comb is just coming in - in which respect she is ahead of the boys, as they are still 'baldies'.

I am looking for a good home for one of the boys, though. Next week I hope to bring in a few hens from Laurie Adams, and I really think that one male is quite enough for 3-5 hens. So if you're looking for a great lawn ornament and alarm clock, one of the Sumatras can be yours - just email me at hogarth@gmail.com. I do want to ensure that he (probably the far one in this picture, but I may change my mind and I could be persuaded to give pick of the pair) goes to a home where there are other chickens to keep him company. You can read about Sumatras here.    ¶ 4:26 PM 4 Comments Links to this post

  Stingers I ran across these two fellas at the Flea Market on Sunday. I just want to say "HA!" to Joy, who didn't think the second picture would turn out very good :)
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  Quote of the Day Liberated Space w/Angela Keaton: "No one wants to see a midget anarchist with a droopy bum."  ¶ 3:02 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

  Rainwater collection barrels for sale While I was at the Fairgrounds Flea Market in Raleigh on Sunday, I met a nice fellow who was selling rainwater collection barrels he makes. He discovered that while lots of folks were interested in the barrels, they weren't keen on toting a large barrel around all day at the Flea Market. I told him I'd be happy to put up a quick webpage for him when I found the time - which I haven't yet, so I'm just posting the pics and information here until I can get something more formalised together.

The pictures show the size of the barrels, the mosquito-screen on top (with four large holes int he barrel lid for water intake, and the tap he puts on the bottom. He says the water naturally sediments out the pollen and other stuff from your roof, leaving water that's great for watering plants and animals (he says his cat will only drink rainwater. Cats!). I'm sure with a bit more filtering it would be great as human drinking water, as well. Bill and I are going to set up rainwater collection soon, and something like this is probably the way we'll go.

Shoot me an email by clicking on my name below if you'd like one of the barrels. They are $50 each, available near Raleigh. If you send me an email, I'll get you his phone number.

    ¶ 11:26 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

  Sunday Sunning I got more than my quota of sun on Sunday at the Flea Market, tabling for the WakeLP. My spiffy "Let My People Vote" shirt, hand-drawn with Sharpie by my friend Laura, has survived several washings, but Joy Elliott has made that design avilable on her site, so I may get one of those for when mine eventually washes out. Or we may silk-screen some as a late summer or Constitution Day project.    ¶ 7:56 AM 4 Comments Links to this post

  Libertarian Party Radical Caucus The Radical Caucus is back in action!

http://www.lpradicals.org

I thought the reform thing would 'blow over'. I thought someone else would step up to organize the radical voice. I still do, but until then, I've decided that it's not productive to sit and gripe - or rather it's not productive to only sit and gripe, as I have no intention of giving up either sitting or griping entirely :)

Fellow radicals: Please go and contribute to the forums. Don't let the Libertarian Party cease to be the Party of Principle. Let's keep our voices loud and clear within the Party.

And please forward this note to lib lists you're on and to fellow radicals! :)  ¶ 2:34 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

  Ummm. My hens ... probably aren't I feel like the world's biggest denialist right now. Just today, I finally sat down and put together the crowing and the super-cool plumage and giant size of my Sumatra 'hens' and faced the fact that I probably have two males. I want to keep one, but if you're looking for a beautiful Sumatra roo, let me know ;-)

Bill, in typical lovable fashion, was horrified at the idea of giving one (or both) away, or of seperating what are probably brothers. This is the guy who forbade roosters! Well, one way or another it looks Like I'll have a bit of a breeidng flock. Whee! Better start building a batchelor-roo pen.  ¶ 2:29 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

  My milling anniversary I spent Saturday, Sunday, and Monday grinding wheat and corn and answering questions and frying up hushpuppies at the West Point on the Eno gristmill. It was the festival weekend - and last year's festival was when I wandered into the mill and decided I HAD to come volunteer there.

So a year later and I finally got to see the big stones in operation. Do they ever put a noticeable drag on the waterwheel! I got to smell burning stone :-/ and learned to set the stone distance right, wrestled with the belt/shaft mechanism, poured sacks and buckets of corn, choked myself on flour dust, talked 'till my throat was sore, drove everyone nuts with my 'bright ideas', teased the youngsters, sifted grits, sacked meal, and just generally had a great time. Milling is one of those arts which can be learned to a rough approximation quickly but which teaches you something new every time you think you've got it down. It's so cool to run a handfull of grits across your palm and really notice whether they are too meal-y or too bran-y or juuust right. It's also wonderful to walk into the mill and feel at home there with the clacking belts and stones, and to walk under the belts with bucket of corn in one hand and remember to duck around the moving belts, even when bone-tired :)

As fun as it was firing up the big stones, I appreciate the Meadows Mill even more than I did before - it's the one I'm leaning on for this picture. What a reliable, sweet piece of machinery.

It was HOT, which is why I am beet-red in this picture, which was taken on the hushpuppy-frying day (Monday). I took some more pictures, most of which are of fellow workers or people enjoying my hushpuppies, but if anyone really wants to see them, they're here.    ¶ 7:20 PM 2 Comments Links to this post

  Libertarian Party national convention I am still digesting the results of the LP's national convention (held last weekend), where a very low turnout of delegates removed about 2/3 of the platform planks, replacing them with ... nothing. This is being widely viewed as a success by the 'reform' faction within the LP, which had the explicit position that whatever Libertarians couldn't agree on should be removed from the platform. It also serves as a slate-clearing excercise for them to rewrite large chunks of the platform. They did fail, though, to have the membership pledge (I certify that I do not believe in or advocate the initiation of force as a means of achieving political or social goals) repealed.

I believe some radicals will noisily leave the Party at this point (as many did over the Party's weak/hawkish stand on Bush's wars, which was happening just as I really became active in the Party). I believe others will stick around and work to re-radicalize the Party. I believe I will be in the latter category. Unfortunately, spending time with internal Party struggles saps time/energy for external outreach and activism.

Tom Knapp has the best words for my personal feeling at this point: The question is not whether or not the LP needs the “purists.” It does. The question is whether or not the “purists” need the LP.

The challenging task for me this moment is to act as the LPNC's Outreach Director and write up a review of the convention which is informative and positive; leading people to think carefully about the changes and challenges in the Party while encouraging them to become more active at the state and local level.  ¶ 9:40 AM 8 Comments Links to this post

  gratuitous butterfly picture     ¶ 1:32 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

  sumatrasandphoenix1

Another hen video - less than 20 seconds, though. I finally got some good footage of the shy Phoenix.

  ¶ 10:05 PM 0 Comments Links to this post