We’ve all known at least one couple who has tried forever to have a child then finally given up and adopted — only to find themselves pregnant shortly thereafter! I don’t know what this odd sequence of events might be called, and my theory is […]

Can love boost egg production? I definitely think so. Those of us who have chickens definitely benefit from loving our brood. Not only from minimized chasing and pecking when we enter their pens, but also from (I think) increased egg production. That said, I must […]

I know I’m blogging a lot about Bessie right now, but when I took her picture a couple of days ago while she was out and about with the horses, I noticed something I’ve noticed before in her pictures: a lovely white orb hovering over […]

As she raced by me and squeezed out the gate like greased lightning, I distinctly heard Bessie say: “I’m done! I’m outta here!” This was yesterday morning. I was entering the chicken coop. And she was exiting it — and not to be deterred! It […]

At the risk of inviting thousands of blog hits by folks searching for pornography (I should be so lucky – with the hits, I mean, not the porno freaks), I just today really grokked to the true essence of the word “cocky” and from whence […]

This weekend I accomplished a major feat for my feathered friends, the hens. Well . . . for the hens and Mr. Pants, the coming-of-age, very precocious rooster who was supposed to be a hen. In this part of the world — the high desert […]

Mr. Pants became so adept and cavalier about his outings through the fence that he taught four other chicks his trick. But, not being Zen Buddhists like he is, they were not quite as quick on the draw about how to get back into safety. […]

One of Bessie’s chicks has notably long legs and is bigger than all the rest. A friend and I immediately pegged this baby as, horror of horrors, a rooster! I only say “horrors” because all ten chicks I bought were supposed to be hens, which […]

Bessie’s chicks are two weeks old today. And they’re totally bionic! They’re not only huge for their age, they are breaking all the rules. For one thing, to my understanding, chicks are supposed to be kept above 90 degrees farenheit until they have lost all […]

Bessie is a 9-year-old Auracana hen, the type that lays what a friend of mine calls “Martha Stewart” eggs, in lovely gray-greens, soft blues, and muted turquoises. Bessie has a gorgeous array of auburn feathers, each delicately traced with a fine herringbone pattern in silver. […]