Good Old Acorn

Backyard Poultry

Acorn in the Nest Box

And...innocent little Acorn stands by watching as this all unfolds. For some reason it never lost any back feathers; Puzzle seemed to think it was too little and should be left alone, or something! Acorn didn’t lay often, so it was always a treat to see it in the nest box. It puffed up like a teddy bear and looked so innocently at you! Maybe this was because it was an Araucana Easter-egg layer, but did not lay blue eggs! (We got the unusual case of “pink” eggs instead of blue—you can see one under it.) But Acorn was still an awesome chicken, and I wouldn’t have traded it for anything.

Dancing Hens

Backyard Poultry

New Saddles

This is such a funny picture! I took it right after we finished putting the saddles on. Cherry, the Rhode Island Red, seems to be helping Midnight out with her saddle! I read, in the same book where I found the saddle pattern,

Your hen may do unusual dances trying to get the saddle off her back.
Please respect your hen’s dignity and do not laugh at her.

I thought, "How could you really laugh that much at a chicken?" but now I understood! Some of the hens went wild trying to 1) get really short to get out from under their saddles, 2) throw them off with excessive wing flapping (which sometimes was successful), or 3) rip the elastic in two by with their beaks. All the chickens below are trying one of those methods. I don’t blame them, they weren’t used to wearing “dresses” (as some of our neighbors have called them!).

Red Saddle, Blue Saddle

Happy Thanksgiving!

Artist's Gallery

Fall Harvest

May all my dear readers have a wonderful Thanksgiving this year! As you probably guessed, yes, I have even painted Thanksgiving cards! This is a fall scene I just made up from my head, and we sent it to my grandparents a few years back. After all, what more could you be thankful for than a plentiful autumn harvest? And of course, be sure to enjoy a piece of delicious pumpkin pie--there's a great recipe right here! Happy Thanksgiving!!

Blue Saddles

Backyard Poultry

Denim Saddles

Now the Barred Rocks are in style too! Beside the pink saddles, we made some blue ones, out of regular denim, with the same method. In this picture you can see the topstitching across and up-and-down on the saddles, which makes them lay down better. We put all the pink ones on the Rhode Island Reds, and blue on the Barred Rocks, as if they matched somehow! These two chickens are Peeper and Midnight, enjoying some carrot peels we threw in the run.

Putting Saddles On

Backyard Poultry

Saddle Operation

Making the saddle was one thing; putting it on the chicken was a different story! After showing the hen its new coat, we got the hen in a very tight grip. One person had to pull out each wing while another slipped the elastic over it (without catching on the feathers). Meanwhile the hen squirming and flapping and trying to get away from this “thing” attacking it! It started out as at least a three-person operation! The one trick was holding a cup of scratch right in front of the hen’s beak which distracted it a little bit at least. Here is Pepper trying to decide between an enticing cup of scratch and that strange blue thing on its back!

DIY Chicken Saddle

Backyard Poultry

Saddle Supplies

Of course, you can buy pre-made saddles for your chickens, but, as always, I wanted to make them myself. It turned out to be pretty easy with my sister’s help! I found a pattern in my poultry book, and then we measured the chickens and tweaked it a bit. Next we cut two layers per saddle out of a heavy denim fabric, and one piece out of thin quilt batting. Then we sewed all three layers together, except we left the whole top area (with the curved edges) open. After turning it right side out, we sewed the top shut, but first inserted little pieces of 1/4” elastic to make little loops on the curved edges. These held it on the hen’s wings. I know it sounds complicated, but hold on til I show the chicken wearing it...

Saddle Solution

Backyard Poultry

An Easy Answer!

Research revealed that there is an easy solution for such feather issues: it’s called a chicken saddle (or chicken apron, if you like). It protects their backs from the roosters’ feet and spurs, and lies neatly under the wings and neck feathers. Here you can see Buckeye demonstrating the new look...do you think Maple may be a little jealous? It’s true, some chickens lost more feathers than others; either they were Puzzle’s favorites (getting most attention), or they were on the bottom of the pecking order (making easy targets). Coming right up...Make your own chicken saddle!

Feather Issue

Backyard Poultry

Feathers Disappear from Hens' Backs

Well, are you ready to hear about our next chicken woe? As I noted in my last seres, this issue involves Puzzle. To be expected (though we didn’t know it), our rooster was gradually tearing out our hens’ back feathers in the process of mounting them. At first we thought this was some kind of new feather coloring on our hens (the first we called the “granny hen”—yes, we were really that ignorant!), but some research showed differently. Here you can see the missing feathers on our hens’ backs (white down feathers are showing through). It can be a lot worse than this—get down to exposed raw skin, and I’ll let your imaginations do the rest!

Daisies & Fruit

Do-It-Yourself Decorating

Finished Daisy Bouquet

What do you think of the finished bouquet? I think it all came together nicely. Wish I had a picture of the original green can to show you! I like how the dark purple balances the daisies and creates interest in an ordinary arrangement. The pink and yellow match the ceramic colors quite well too—and I didn’t even plan that! This will be one arrangement to keep for a good while.

Colorful Fillers

Do-It-Yourself Decorating

Adding Purple Flowers

Now for the filler flowers… There were some deep purple bunches of flowers in the original bouquet, as well as little baby-pink blossoms. The purple ones contrasted nicely with all the lighter flowers, so I tried to distribute them around the bouquet. The pink ones also seemed to fit right in, though there were only a few bunches of them, so I spread them out as well. It’s kind of fun to work from a pre-selected bunch of flowers, so that all you have to do is decide where to put things! Would you add anything else to this arrangement?

Almost Done?

Adding Moss

Do-It-Yourself Decorating

Covering up Foam

Oops, I think I forgot something! We don’t want that green foam sticking out of our finished arrangement! Moss should take care of that. I wrestled out some moss (a real battle, it’s so tangled up) and spread it in around the flowers. It actually was a bit easier to add it with a few flowers already in there. The stems helped hold it in place.

There are all different kinds of filler moss. The one I’m using here is like little pieces of dried stems almost (or the synthetic equivalent); at home I’ve used real moss like you get for miniature dioramas; even Easter grass could work. And then there are always a variety of colors to choose from—pick what you like and what fits your flowers! PS: See more about moss here.