Piglet will be moving to a new home

I'm happy to report that Piglet will be moving to a new home.  He has the good luck to be moving to an orchard.  Did you know pigs like to eat apples, other fruits and vegetables?  I'm sure he will be well fed in his new home!

Vacation

AI am lucky enough to be heading to Hawaii to visit a friend for the week so I may not post very often and most likely I won't be able to focus on my farm animals.  We'll see what kind of sea and land life I find!  Yesterday I tried to give Penny some special time because she will probably miss me more than anyone else!

Why do Roosters Fight?

I wish all my chickens and roosters could get along but sometimes I see roosters fighting or hens being a little mean to each other.  Why do roosters fight?

They look really mean don't they?  Roosters protect their hens and their territory from strangers.  In this case, the rooster with the yellow feathers is not usually walking around the chicken yard.  The rooster on the right wants to protect his area and his hens.

It is best to have one rooster for every 10 hens but in my world, I have too many roosters.  If the birds all grow up together and live together, they can usually get along but there will still be some small fights.  The rooster is naturally the leader of his flock (a group of roosters and hens)  and within that flock, there will be a pecking order.  If there are two or more roosters, they will have fights to decide who is the boss.  They don't really want to hurt each other- just to be the boss- so usually one rooster will back down and let the other rooster claim to be the leader.  Then they will get along with each other.

The hens will do the same thing but they don't usually fight.  Sometimes I will see a higher ranking hen chase another hen away from food. 

Autumn Leaves

Why do leave fall from trees each fall? 

Last night we had a big freeze and all the leave are falling like snow! Click the link to watch!
 ginkgo leaves falling

In the fall, the tree prepares to sleep or go into dormancy for the winter by saving nutrients in its trunk.  When you see the leaves turn colors and start to fall, the tree is preparing to sleep for the winter.  The leaves on some trees such as our Ginkgo trees fall off right after the first very cold night we have.  It's really beautiful to watch!

Yes, chickens take baths!

It's true..chickens take baths.  In the afternoon on a warm day you can often see chickens in a sunny place rolling and resting in the dirt.

 

Chickens and roosters will loosen the dirt and then roll around flapping their wings and sometimes resting.  I always say the chickens are having a spa day!  In fact, they try to get the dirt between their feathers.  It helps to keep the feathers healthy and to get rid of parasites on the chicken.  When they are finished they ruffle their feathers and flap their wings again to get the dirt off of their feathers. 

Chickens take baths?

Sometimes when people come to our house, they see chickens next to the driveway and worry they are dead.  They lie still in odd positions covered in dirt.  In fact there is nothing to worry about!  The chickens - like all birds- are taking dirt baths.

Why do you think chickens take baths? Come back tomorrow and we'll answer the question!

Couple updates

Remember poor Blanca molting?  She has her feathers back!  They are still growing but she looks much better doesn't she?

 

 I can't say the same thing for this little Narragansett hen...she doesn't even have a tail!  In a week she will have her new feathers too.  Maybe you have figured this out but a female turkey is called a hen!

And just for fun, here are my chickens waking up this morning. 

 

And here they were getting ready to go to sleep last night!

 

Are turkeys stupid?

Have you heard that turkeys aren't very smart?  Many of us have heard stories about how turkeys are so stupid, they will keep their heads turned up to the rain with their mouths open until they drown.  Do you believe this? 
Here is my turkey, Cherokee.  What do you think he's doing?

He's making me laugh for one thing!  He knows that his feed is kept in this can and as soon as I open it,  he is trying to get in to get as much food as he can.  When I picked him up and took him out of this can his mouth was so full of food he couldn't swallow.  Probably hard to eat upside down!  Often, I will find him lingering around the can during the day sometimes trying to open it.

Check out this video of my four Tom turkeys.  When I let them out of their house, they have a habit of running down our driveway to cross the road.  Why do turkeys cross the road?  That I can't figure out.  But I do know that as soon as I call 'Gobble Gobble' in a loud voice, they come running!

My turkeys all respond to my 'Gobble Gobble' call because I have said this everytime I've fed them since they were little.  If you come to the farm and yell 'Gobble Gobble' they will often all answer back. 

So, are turkeys stupid?  I don't think so.  As for the rumor about drowning in the rain, I have read many theories.  One that makes sense is that sometimes, in spite of their coat of waterproof feathers, a turkey will get cold in the rain and actually die of hypothermia and not from drowning. 

We'll talk more about turkeys this month!