As you may remember, my new hens--Rita, Janice and Betty--have been somewhat disappointing in the egg-laying department. For a long time, none of them were laying. Then, Janice stepped up and spent a couple of months regularly laying lovely, dark brown eggs.

Unfortunately, after two months of good production, Janice suddenly stopped laying. Perhaps she was put off by the shortening of the days, although that never bothered any of my other chickens. My older Black sex-link hen, Tina, kept laying for a while, but then she started molting. This is Tina's second molt, so I think her egg-laying days may be over.

With Tina out of commission, that meant we had five chickens in the coop and zero (ZERO!) layers. Sigh. This situation went on for about a month, with no eggs from the younger girls, despite both treats of squash guts and chard stems and threats about chicken soup. Then, happily, Betty, the all-white Easter Egger, stepped up.

Dakota found a large, light green egg in the nesting box about three weeks ago, and Betty has been a good little layer ever since.

We're getting about five eggs a week from Betty, which is nice, although I really wish at least one more hen would lay. Now that the weather has turned cold, it's baking season, and I've had to buy eggs at the store so we have enough to use in homemade brownies, cookies and cakes.

At the moment, my son really likes grabbing, pulling and licking fabric, and he has a commercially-made Taggies blanket that he plays with frequently. A couple of weeks ago, I decided to make some cute and simple baby tag blankets myself. I had some leftover fleece from my son's Halloween costume (he went as a cactus) and the sewing machine was already out, so it seemed like a perfect time.



The blankets are very simple to make. You cut out a square of fleece and a square of colorful fabric, choose some cute ribbon from your stash--I always save the cloth ribbon from gifts so I have lots of little pieces in different colors and patterns--and fold them over into tabs. Place the right sides of the fabic and fleece together, slip the tabs of ribbon (loop in) in between the fleece and fabric, and pin them in place. Then stitch around the edge using a simple stitch and leaving a small hole on one edge. Snip off the corners of the fabric and turn it right side out through the hole. Finally, I top-stitched the whole thing with a contrasting zig-zag stitch for extra strength and cuteness. And, done! Even a not-very-talented sewer like me can whip a bunch of these up in an afternoon.

For one of the blankets, I got fancy and added some crinkle. All you have to do is sew a layer of crinkly plastic into the interior of your blanket. Since it was Halloween, I used a candy bag. But you could also use a potato chip bag or an empty baby wipes bag. Really any thick cellophane would work. It's a bit trickier to sew, but since it's hidden inside your blanket, you don't have to get that pretty with it.



These tag blankets were really fun to sew, and the combination of colorful fabric and ribbon makes them really cute. All my blankets were handed out to new babies I know or mailed off to far-away baby friends. Hopefully they'll all enjoy them as much as my son likes his.

Well, I'm afraid I did not achieve my dream of a homegrown pumpkin patch for my son's first Halloween. Despite much babying, soil amending and mulching, I was unable to grow a nice orange pumpkin by October 31.

But all is not lost! I have two small, green pumpkins still holding on in my garden. Now, if I can only get them to grow just a bit bigger and ripen to a festive bright orange in time for Thanksgiving.



In the late summer, several young pumpkins were taken out by sudden heat waves. Now, I worry these two pumpkins will be done in by some unusual Fall rain. While one might think rain would be a great thing for a garden, the damp weather unfortunately allowed the powdery mildew to spread all over my pumpkin vines. At this point, there is barely an untouched leaf. Normally, I'd just pull out and throw away all the infected vines, but this year I really want to get some pumpkins, damn it!

Later today, I may try a water and milk solution I heard about online, so I can at least keep the fruit itself from getting infected. To be honest, though, I am worried that my pumpkins may not get enough nutrients to grow any bigger. Their vines have very few leaves. I guess I'll try heavy fertilizing and see what happens. (Let me know if you have any tips for saving these guys.)

On the bright side, I finally broke down and purchased a soaker hose for my upper garden plot back in September, and it's made everything much heartier and happier. My 2-year-old eggplants are big and leafy and making fruit, and, as I mentioned before, the artichokes are back in business.

Happy Halloween! I know I haven't been posting much lately, but don't give up on me just yet. I have a lot of post ideas stored up, and I'm hoping to find some time to write about them very soon. In the meantime, I hope you're having a fun Halloween.



Don't forget to give your pumpkin guts and seeds to the chickens, even if they are no-good, slacker chickens who still refuse to lay any eggs.*



*And keep those pumpkin seeds out of the compost bin, unless you want your garden over-run with vines next summer.

As I've mentioned before, I've been cloth diapering my son since he came home from the hospital. My last post about cloth diapers was two months ago, and I'm happy to say that I still find the process pretty easy, and my son is still comfortable and diaper-rash free.

When I was researching cloth diaper options, I decided on prefolds pretty quicky. But then, I discovered there are many, many different types of prefolds! Some common choices are Chinese prefolds, Indian prefolds, organic cotton, hemp, bleached and unbleached. Then, there are different thicknesses. Typical diaper thicknesses are 4x6x4 or 4x8x4, meaning that each side of the prefold is has four layers and the strip in the middle has six or eight layers, respectively. After discovering all these different types of prefolds, I was a bit overwhelmed. So, I basically just registered for a few different kinds in the "infant" size so I could see which ones I liked best.

Let me just say, to any soon-to-be parent reading this, all of the prefold diapers work--even the much-maligned regular old Gerber diapers. But, I definitely found some diapers I liked better than others, so I though I'd share my thoughts.

Different brands and types of diapers have slightly different shapes, particularly after washing. Pictured below with the purple edge are Diaper Rite Prefolds, size small, and Bummis Organic Prefolds, also size small. As you can see, the Diaper Rite diapers are significantly wider than the Bummis, which are slightly longer. Both look kind of bumpy, which is what they should look like after washing. Diapers come unwashed and will shrink and become more absorbent after a thorough pre-washing in hot water.



Next up is a BabyKicks Hemp Prefold in size small. This one has been washed several times, and you can kind of see how tight the knit is. This diaper is about as wide as the Bummis diaper, but much thinner. That's the big plus of hemp: it's very absorbent but thinner, and therefore less bulky when folded. The downside, in my opinion, is that my hemp diapers got quite rough after a couple of wash/dry cycles. Now, I'm reluctant to put these rough diapers directly against my son's tender nether region--although I do still use them when I'm layering two diapers at night.



Not pictured are the Kushies Prefold Diapers, which I also own. These diapers are thinner, 2x4x2, and longer than the other cotton diapers we use. To be honest, they're a bit too long for my needs, but I do use them when I'm layering diapers for nighttime, as mentioned above. I guess I might use them more when my son gets older.

Also shown in the photo above are the two types of reusable flannel wipes we've been using. They both work well and are just thin pieces of unbleached cotton flannel that have been hemmed with a serger or zig-zag stitch. If you have the patience and sewing skills, you could make them yourself. Otherwise, go for the cheapest ones--although I guess the ones done with a serger will likely last a little longer than the zig-zag ones, a few of which have started to lose some hem stitches.

Thus far, my favorite diapers are the Diaper Rites, which can be found online at Diaper Junction. I like the extra width, because, at the moment, my son is chubby for his age, but of average height. If you want to Snappi your diapers before you cover them, then the Diaper Rites are a good choice because you can get them all the way around fat baby thighs. If you plan to just close up the diapers inside your diaper covers, then either one will work for you--as will the even cheaper and just as effective Chinese Prefolds. So, if you don't plan to Snappi and are on a budget, go with Chinese Prefolds. At less than $2 a diaper, they're pretty cost-effective. Diaper Rites are slightly more expensive, but quite high-quality, so if you're planning to use diapers for more than one kid, they might be a good bet.

This is by no means a complete review of cloth prefolds, but I wanted to share my experience with the hope that it will help another mother or father out there trying to sift through all the options. Feel free to leave your own thoughts on cloth diapering in the comments.

Coming soon... cloth diaper washing! (Thrilling, I know.)

Although I'm bummed about my pumpkin failure, there has been some good news in the garden recently: my artichokes have come back from the dead!

A couple of months ago, both artichoke plants withered up and disappeared. Neither one had ever gotten particularly big, but I was surprised to lose them both, especially since I had been dutifully watering them throughout the summer. I've never grown artichokes before, but I know they are perennials, so I assumed there would always be some leaves showing while the plant was alive.

Perhaps I was wrong, because, a couple of weeks ago, new leaves sprouted up from the ground where one of my two artichokes had been. Then, last week, leaves appeared at the other location. Both plants have suddenly revived themselves and started growing again.

I'm not sure if this is part of the typical growing cycle of an artichoke, or if I just got lucky and the plants decided to give me a second chance. Either way, I'm hopeful they'll keep growing this time and that we'll be eating homegrown artichokes this Spring.

Last week, I heard an interesting story on NPR's Morning Edition about the natural defenses that keep eggs bacteria-free. Apparently, eggs have three lines of defense: the shell, the membrane inside the shell and the white, which contains microbe-fighting proteins. These three layers are very successful at keeping almost all nasty germs out of the egg. I kind of already knew this, but it's nice to hear again since certain chickens (Tina) have a bad habit of pooping in the nesting boxx.
According to the story, contaminated eggs are usually made that way by contaminated chickens. As a backyard-chicken keeper, this makes me feel pretty smart. As long as I keep my girls healthy and happy, I know the fresh eggs they lay for me are salmonella-free. And because my flock has enough space and clean food and water, they're less likely to get sick than chickens crammed into cages in a musty warehouse. In fact, the microbiologist quoted for the NPR story has a backyard flock of his own.

Food security: another great reason to have backyard chickens.

For the full article, click here.

Remember that baby pumpkin I was hoping would grow into a nice jack-o-lantern for my son? Well...



My little pumpkin started rotting a few days after that blog post. I'm not sure what went wrong. Maybe blossom-end rot, although I have been keeping the soil pretty evenly damp, mulching heavily and there are tons of broken eggshells in my compost providing calcium. My other guess is that I didn't pollinate the flower well enough. Who knows, though. I also think the 3-day heatwaves we've been having every other week might have done the pumpkin in. I don't think squash like that dry heat.

I'm not giving up on my pumpkin patch dream just yet. The vines keep growing and making female flowers. Hopefully if the weather stays below the mid-90s from now on, and I can keep the plants well-watered and fed, I'll get a few more chances to grow my son's Halloween pumpkin. I also read somewhere that coffee grounds are a good source of fruit-making potassium. So, I've been dumping out the French press onto my squash hills the last few mornings. Whatever works!



As for the one that didn't make it, I managed to find a use for it: chicken treat.

It seems I have a couple of late bloomers on my hands. While one of my new chickens has been laying since mid-August, the other two have not yet started producing eggs.

At first, I thought the layer was Rita because the first few eggs were light brown and on the small side. The shells of the new eggs have darkened, though, and I'm now thinking Janice, my Cuckoo Marans, might be the layer. She's got her full comb and wattles and seems calmer than the other two new girls, which could also indicate she's the one making the eggs.

The only weird thing is that the eggs seem too small to come from such a big chicken. Janice is basically the same size as Tina, my Black Sex-Link, but the eggs are about 3/4 the size of Tina's eggs. The mystery will be solved as soon as the other two girls start laying. Hopefully, they'll get off their feathered butts and make some eggs soon.

I'm getting pretty attached to the idea of growing my son his very own private pumpkin patch. Considering my past problems with squash, I'm probably setting myself up for some heartbreak. But, I am hopeful. I have one pumpkin growing so far, and a few more female flowers spread across my five vines. This pumpkin patch thing could happen... maybe.

I am nervous. My baby pumpkin already has a slightly discolored yellow area on one side. In addition, several female flowers have started to grow and then turned yellow and died before blooming. So, I'm soliciting any and all pumpkin-growing advice you all can give me. I'm especially interested in those of you who have successfully grown pumpkins, or other winter squash, in Southern California.

Here's what I'm doing in an attempt to give my pumpkin patch the best possible chance:

• Watering deeply every 2-3 days. It's very dry and hot here this time of year, so things tend to get dried out and scorched very quickly.
• Side-dressing with compost and organic fertilizer high in both nitrogen and phosphorous.
• Hand pollinating any female flowers that bloom.
• Obsessively looking for female flowers on every vine and then carefully tracking their progress.

Okay, so that last one probably isn't actually helping.

I have read on gardening message boards that trimming off some of the male flowers before they bloom can help promote female flower production. Have any of you found that to be true? Any other tips for tricking my vines into making more female blossoms?

Also, for you Southern California gardeners, am I just being impatient? It seems possible that my vines won't really start fruiting until mid-September. The one pumpkin I do have is growing fairly quickly, and I think it might mature in 3 or 4 weeks. So, could it actually be a good thing if my pumpkins don't start growing until late September? (The variety I'm growing is a Sugar Pie Pumpkin, which is on the small side, 6 to 7 inches in diameter.)

Help me, gardening friends. Many adorable baby-in-pumpkin-patch photo opportunities are at stake!

We're getting to the part of the summer when some lucky gardeners find themselves overloaded with homegrown squash, tomatoes and beans. An excessive zucchini crop such a classic late-summer problem that jokes about leaving a basket of squash on a neighbor's doorstep in the middle of the night are common. Well, one of the loyal readers of this blog (my dad) recently alerted me to an organization that can solve your squash problem while helping out those who need it most.

Ample Harvest is a website that connects backyard and community gardeners with local food pantries that would love to take extra homegrown fruit and vegetables off their hands. All you have to do is go to the site and type in your zip code, and a list of food pantries that accept garden donations pops right up.

I love this kind of organization. The founder of Ample Harvest noticed a problem--homegrown vegetables going to waste--and took direct action to solve it. On the website, he points out that it's often difficult to find a nearby food pantry in a phone book or with a Google search. By creating this site, which allows interested pantries to register, he removed the barrier between those who want to donate food and the people who need it. Simple, direct, awesome.

Having worked sorting food at various places around Los Angeles, I know that most of the donated food comes in cans or boxes. Fresh fruit and vegetables are a rare treat. I can imagine that the donation of just-picked, delicious homegrown vegetables must be a wonderful gift for food pantries and their clients.

So, if you find yourself with a bumper crop this year, check out AmpleHarvest.org. Hopefully once my fruit trees mature I'll have a chance to donate some peaches, oranges or apples to one of the many food pantries in my area that have registered with the site.

Finally! One of the new chickens started laying yesterday. I've been hoping for an egg from at least one of them for several weeks, because my chicken friend Noah's hens, who are the same age, have been laying for almost a month. My girls are maturing somewhat slowly, perhaps because I never gave them grower feed--just plain poultry mash. But they get lots of fruit and veggie treats, and time to free range for grass and bugs, so I'd say it's about time they grew up and started laying me some tasty eggs.

I believe this egg came from Rita, the Silver Laced Wyandotte. It's light brown and on the smallish side. Janice will probably lay large, dark brown eggs and Betty should lay blue or green eggs. Hopefully now that Rita is laying, the other two younger chickens will step up their game. As soon as they do, we should have plenty of fresh eggs for eating and sharing.

UPDATE: I eventually decided these eggs were from Janice, the Cuckoo Marans.

Check out this lovely apple. I picked it last weekend from the Anna Apple tree I received from a Tree People fruit tree giveaway and planted last winter. Dakota and I shared it, and it was pretty tasty. I think I left it one the tree a bit too long, though, because it wasn't as crisp as I hoped it would be. Still, this is my first homegrown apple.

I guess the Anna Apple was a great choice for my yard. At the fruit tree giveaway last winter, I specifically asked for a variety with a low number of chill hours. Chill hours are the number of hours below 45 degrees Fahrenheit that a tree must experience in order to bear fruit. The Anna has a low chill hour requirement and is supposed to be very well suited for the dry Southern California climate. That proved to be true, since it bore fruit the very first year. Next year, I think there's a good chance we'll get several apples, not just one.

I also have a Pink Lady Apple, which hasn't been at all successful. It's been in the yard for a couple of years and never even made a baby apple. I have no idea why. I water it frequently, fertilize occasionally and try to keep it nicely pruned. The area where it's planted will now get a lot more sun, though, because we recently got new neighbors and they trimmed the jungle of a backyard next door. I'm hoping the extra sunshine will help the Pink Lady produce fruit next year.

Although there's a fair amount of debate about whether cloth diapers are better for the environment than disposable, I didn't really spend much time worrying over what to use with my son. In my (admittedly brief) search, I was unable to find a clear, definitive study about which method is really "greener." Most arguments seemed to be tinged with a fair amount of bias toward one type, and many against cloth had a lot to do with how the diapers were being cleaned. (More on that later.)

In truth, part of my decision to cloth diaper my son was emotional. I just couldn't stomach the idea of throwing away bags and bags worth of plastic diapers every week for years. Imagining all those diapers piling up in a landfill made me uncomfortable. So, I sought out a smart, inexpensive and user-friendly cloth diapering alternative. Happily, I think I found one.

After looking into cloth with disposable inserts, all in ones, and pocket diapers, I decided to keep it simple and go with cloth prefolds. Cloth prefolds are basically just rectangles of cotton (or other absorbent fibers) divided into thirds with seams. The middle third is thicker than the two on the sides, and thus more absorbent.

You can use prefold diapers several ways, but I am keeping it simple by folding them into thirds and then fanning out the back and wrapping the "wings" around my baby. The whole thing is fastened in the front using a Snappi. If you use prefolds, I highly recommend that you get a few Snappis. My mom, who cloth diapered me when I was a baby in the late 70s, thought they were a massive improvement over the diaper pins she had to use.



After the diaper is on, I cover the whole thing with a waterproof cover to keep my son's clothes from getting wet when the diaper does. I'm primarily using Thirsties diaper covers. The one pictured below is called a Thirsties Duo Wrap. The snaps on the front make it adjustable so that you can use it on your newborn and then undo the snaps when he gets bigger. So far, the covers have successfully kept the wetness (and poop) on the inside, and they are easy to use and wash.



Speaking of washing... Most arguments against cloth mention the large amount of water and electricity required to clean diapers, but I think I'm doing pretty well on that front. We have a front-loading, energy and water-efficient washer, and I recently got an awesome umbrella-style clothesline. So, in my case, I think cloth diapers will actually end up being better for the environment--and cheaper--than even unbleached disposables.





That's pretty much the basics of my cloth diapering experience so far. I haven't found the process to be particularly time-consuming or difficult (another argument often used against cloth), and my son seems quite happy in his prefolds. In fact, he's yet to get diaper rash, which seems like a good sign.

I have much more to say about cloth diapering. Like most things involving babies, there are many accessories you can buy and even more opinions about how to use, wash and clean cloth diapers. I'll post more about those topics soon.

Due to recent baby-having events, this summer's garden is smaller and more focused than I've had in years past. I didn't plant the larger, lower bed at all this year. It's just too much work to prepare the soil and plant that big space. Instead, I'm focusing on the uppermost, medium-sized bed, as well as my usual container crops.

Rather than experimenting with new things, this year's garden is (mostly) focused on crops I've grown successfully in previous years. I have the summer staples of tomatoes, peppers, green beans and squash all growing vigorously from seeds I purchased online from Botanical Interests.

The pole beans have taken off nicely, as beans usually do, and have already reached the top of the tripods I made for them. Dakota brought me some long poles from his shop, so perhaps the beans will climb even higher. The pumpkin plants are spreading into the space between the beans, in classic summer garden style. Although I haven't done well with winter squash in the past, I decided to try pumpkins this year because I think it would be really cool for my son to be able to pick his Halloween pumpkin from his very own backyard patch.



I am also trying okra again, despite past failures. Okra really should grow nicely in my bright, sunny garden, so we'll see. I've started the okra in small pots, and so far I have three seedlings, which I hope to plant in a couple of weeks. I'd love to eat fresh-picked okra in August, so I've got my fingers crossed that this year I'll finally get my wish.



Of the three tomato plants currently growing in containers, I have one pear tomato, one cherry variety and one that I'm not sure of. I noticed a volunteer tomato plant growing in my strawberry pot, and, considering that time is short this year, I decided to scoop it out and see what it might produce. It's just starting to make baby tomatoes, so I should know in a few weeks.



Alongside these new crops, I have three eggplants and four pepper plants from last year that survived the winter and are making fruit for a second year. I have to watch them closely for pests and disease, but so far they seem to be doing well. In my garden, I've found peppers prefer a bit of shade for part of the day, and then they'll make me lots of colorful fruit.

So, that's it for this summer. I have given up on growing corn. I just don't think I have enough space or rich enough soil to be truly successful. I'm also taking a year off from zucchini, after last summer's embarrassing failure. Besides, I can get zucchini for $1.99/pound at the grocery store or farmers' market, so it hardly seems worth it to grow my own.

Last weekend, I discovered these weird insects on one of my pepper plants. I have never come across these guys in my garden before, and there were quite a few of them camped out on various parts of my large Lemon Drop Pepper plant. Does anyone have any idea what they are?

The spiny, black and brown, almost prehistoric-looking insects were located at the crooks of the pepper plant where thinner stems branched off from a main stem. As pictured, there were two larger insects, and then numerous smaller bugs surrounding them. I'm not sure if the smaller insects were babies, worker drones or complimentary insects. I am guessing babies.

The area of stem where the bugs were located had some brown scarring on it, so I made the educated guess that these insects were not friendly to the plant. Happily, my insecticidal soap was very effective in wiping both the big and little spiny insects out.

So... Anyone seen these insects before? I'm really curious about them.They're so weird-looking.

Back in April, Ilsa Setziol of Rambling LA had a really great series on the Los Angeles Times Home blog about nonnative invasive plants. If you're at all interested in gardening or the preservation of natural habitats, I encourage you to check it out. Ilsa runs down a list of the plants commonly found in garden centers that can do serious damage when they get out of the garden and into the wild.

One of the posts discusses fountain grasses, which have spread through Southern California open space and parkland and pushed out the native chaparral. I'm sad to admit that, after reading the article, I realized that I have some in my front yard. I planted two clumps of purple fountain grass several years ago. I think it's probably sterile, because I haven't noticed it spreading, but I am considering removing it after reading Ilsa's article.

I also realized that my front yard had been invaded by another variety of invasive grass: Mexican feathergrass. It showed up among my native plants last year, and grew into two or three smallish clumps. Informed by the invasive plant series, I removed the grass last month and threw it in the garbage, rather than the green bin, so hopefully it won't spread. Since then, I've noticed the feathergrass in other peoples' yards and in public landscaping. Hopefully those gardeners will hear about the danger of nonnative fountain grasses and take their invasive species out as well.

Last Christmas, I was up in the Russian River Valley in Northern California, and I noticed large clumps of pampas grass growing among the redwoods. It looked really weird on the otherwise woody hillsides, and I know this aggressively-spreading grass is a pretty serious problem up and down the California coast. It was kind of a bummer to see the obviously out-of-place pampas grass among the gorgeous redwoods. If we're lucky, the park service will beat it back before it chokes out the native vegetation.

Hopefully, the more people are aware of problems with invasive nonnatives, the more they will turn to the just-as-attractive native plants. The California Native Plant Society has a good list of nurseries here. Many of the plants in my front yard, including native grasses, are from Matilija Nursery in Moorpark.

Finally, some fruit tree success! I picked these lovelies from the Desert Gold peach tree in the backyard a couple of weeks ago. Since then, I've picked and eaten three more peaches, which were all the tree produced this year. That's actually a pretty good crop from my sad little backyard orchard, so I'm happy about it.

Unfortunately, the first two peaches were not very tasty. They had a watery, mushy consistancy that I didn't really enjoy. I think it may have been because I was watering the tree too much as the fruit was ripening. I picked the rest of the peaches after taking a break from watering and they were delicious. So, another lesson learned.

I should probably get a book on fruit trees so I stop making these rookie errors. I've had a book called The Home Orchard on my wish list for a little while. Do any of you have that book or another that you'd recommend? I don't have a lot of reading time these days, so I need more of a reference I can turn to for tips rather than a book I'd need to read cover-to-cover.

Anyway, I am happy about the small peach crop, and I hope next year brings even more fruit on that tree. There's really nothing like a freshly-picked summer peach.

Next up: the fig tree. I spotted some baby fruit this weekend. I don't expect a bumper crop, but I'm hoping to get a handful of figs before the bugs and squirrels get to them. Wish me luck!

I was just thinking that my next chicken update would be kind of boring because there haven't been any interesting developments with the girls lately. Then the chickens were attacked by a hawk!

Let me put your mind at ease because I know you're worried: everyone is fine. Last night, I was out at dusk watering my garden, and all five girls were free ranging, snacking on the embarrassingly thick weeds in the back yard. I wasn't really paying attention to the chickens when all of the sudden I heard furious clucking and flapping wings. I turned around just in time to see a hawk swooping over the yard. All the girls ran for cover, hiding under bushes, and the hawk flew up and away. I ran over to check on the chickens and they all looked okay. No one was bleeding, and they didn't even seem to have ant rumpled feathers. After they confirmed the coast was clear, all five girls rushed back into the safety of their run.

The whole hawk incident lasted about 60 seconds, but it was pretty exciting. I was really impressed by the chickens' awareness of their surroundings. It seemed like one of them must have made a warning cry so the others knew to hide. The hawk wasn't very big, so I'm not sure it would have been able to carry off the bigger hens like Tina or Janice, but it could have possibly grabbed Rita or Betty. I'm not sure how much weight a hawk can carry.

Speaking of the new girls, here they are hanging out in their run a couple of weeks ago. They have settled in nicely, although there are definitely two chicken cliques--Tina and Peggy, the older girls, versus Betty, Rita and Janice.



The new girls' personalities have started to emerge. Janice seems sweet, but maybe not so smart. Rita is a bit shy. Betty has a similar attitude to Peggy, which makes sense since they're both Easter Eggers. Both girls are fast and a little feisty. Betty has been taking flying leaps off the top of stairs and wood piles, testing out her wings.

None of the new chickens have started laying, and we may have a while to wait because they don't even have combs or wattles yet. I hope they don't take too long because Peggy has pretty much quit laying. Tina's doing her best to provide for us, but there's only so much one hen can do.