Day 234 of 365

I spent this morning’s tea making streamers out of yarn and fabric to run across some areas in our chicken yard. They have lots of places to duck and cover, but a Cooper’s hawk is crafty. Hopefully, the streamers will deter in those areas. Next, I will hang old CDs, but I don’t know how Ron is going to feel about this. He thinks they look terrible, but they seem to work, which means I don’t think he’ll complain too much. In fact, he said it was kind of cool to see the return of “Crystal’s prayer flags.”

I noticed he checked on the chickens a lot today too. Thankfully, we did not see the hawk, but it will likely be back.

It was so cute when I went out to hang the streamers. The chickens just watched and watched. They are all so out of sorts after the attack yesterday. They had all been in the coop, refusing to come out all morning, but when they saw me standing out there for a long time, a few came out to visit.

It was great to spend so much of my day with them. They are interesting animals, and it’s fascinating to me to watch how each of them handles the stress of yesterday so differently. Rooster is the most worried, of course, and then there are some who are more bold and will take tiny trips out of the coop, even when most everyone else is still in hiding. It turns out that one such chicken is one of the new Salmon Faverolles. I saw her running around in the open, all alone, one of the time I went out to check on everyone this morning. I told her she was taking a really big risk, so I stayed outside extra long that trip, just to see what she was doing. She started hanging out inside the raspberry canes, which should provide some good hawk protection, so I tried not to worry about her too much.

I’ll be watching the chickens closely and frequently for the next few weeks, so I’ll have great stories, I am sure. Every time I would come in today from a chicken check, I would have a story to tell Ron.

If he gets tired of my stories, he doesn’t let on. I am thankful.

Also, the chicken catalog came in the mail today! I haven’t ordered from this hatchery in years, as we either hatch our own or a try to get from a local breeder, but I am searching for some heritage Rhode Island Reds. Sadly, there were none in the catalog, but there were so many other wonderful pictures and descriptions of chickens. Plus, there is a chicken supply shopping section–and they started having short articles about chickens! Every year, when the chicken catalog comes, I browse through it dreamily, as I always learn about new and interesting breeds.

This year I noticed for the first time you can buy swans! I told Ron, “Oh my gosh! You can buys swans from the hatchery catalog!”

Ron asked, “Why would anyone want a swan?”

“I want a swan, like in the dream version of myself.”

He had no response.

“Like, if I ever won the lottery, I would have swans, and they would have their own little pond and fancy house. And when people would come to visit I would say, ‘And these are my swans…'”

I am sure Ron is thankful I don’t actually play the lottery because, if I ever found myself suddenly rich, I would have a giant animal sanctuary, and instead of working at my jobs, I would take care of animals all day.

I can’t remember his response to my swan idea, but he knows I know how much work a swan would be, so he mostly laughed. Still, he seems suspicious that I might one day fully embrace my inner Hagrid.