yes, many educated people don't know everything ;) and i admire people who go out on their own to learn in any form they can.

i think another misconception is people think they need a rooster to lay the egg when indeed its only if you want them to actually hatch into chicks. Thanks for that clarification :)

and i meant Leo on the eggs, Patti on the cows :)

In any case, I like the stories of your backyard birds.

Anyone remember Mercat Manor? I loved that show, my kids and I were hooked on it.

yes, its amazing how some creatures feel the need to dismiss, harm and dominate.

Not a single rooster in my over-supply of eggs. A rooster in the suburbs? Not even I am bird lover or morning person enough to enjoy a rooster 20 feet from my bedroom window. I am raising feather babies but am still pretty clueless on how birds do "the dirty." I buy my chicks from breeders.

I was raised in the farm community sex trafficking circuit of the 50's and 60's. I was in my teens before I ran for the comparative safety of city streets. My knowledge of "The Birds and The Bees" was strictly metaphorical. Didn't find a single, literal bird or bee in any of the demonstrations. The "eggs and honey" were not too palatable to my child senses.

Agricultural communities still scare me.

I completely forgot about putting the feather babies back into their pen for bed-time in the yaddahs of yesterday's domestic blahs. The little things are so-o-o-o easy to forget. Yesterday was their first taste of free-ranging. I was not at all certain they would be able to find their way back to the small pet carrier they have been sleeping in. It was well after sunset when I remembered. Most birds are REAL quiet during starlight hours. I wandered the yard to be certain I there were no distress calls going off. I said a prayer and went back to the great indoors.

I was kinda proud to watch them file out of their carrier this morning, looking like Masters of the Universe. Careful, my little masters. You are not big enough to fight off an over-fed house cat. Them sewer cats are sharpening their utensils.

Adolescents. . . What's a brood master to do?

I am so glad to hear your chicken stories : ) I've missed them. we have a new hen, Martha, she has on a black and white striped outfit - looks like prison stirpes - that's how she got the name - from Martha Stewart, well - , ok.

Jewells did her naming. at first when I rescued her out of a big dog's mouth - in THE STREET for goodness sakes, she was an escape artist - and the chicken those people had that was always getting chased by the loose dogs was a black and white on and - she had one ehe that looked up at the sky and one that looked down at the ground - it was just the way it was for her. so, that's who I thought I rescued. it was one time too many for me. poor hen had been, well, killed too many times for me, so I saved her and put her in my coop and took really good care of her until she got all better. but I needed a name and I was tellin Jewells about her outfit and her poor eyes - and Jewells said - MARTY FELDMAN - LOL

perfect!! but she's a hen, so then she said - ok, Martha Stewart in her jail duds - so that stuck :) now it is Martha, Conchita, Consuela - some more names, just depends. she lays an egg most days but does take the occasional day off ; )

Arfie! she puts herself to bed all by herself too - it is the coolest thing : ) Grace always put herself to bed, but her bed was my utility room :O) It was the hardest thing for me to make her sleep in the chicken coop :( she was a house chicken. Martha is not all cuddly either, but she is sort of friendly and likes to eat out of my hand.

some people think it is weird, but it is sort of soothing to be able to hug a chicken. this one is in love with the dirt, she made three different places in her dirt and she cuddles up down there and tells that dirt how much she loves it and fluffs all up down there. I think she takes a dirt bath : )

Love the Martha Stewart allusion!!! Even worthy of the hen metaphors. . .

I don't let myself remember the breed names of my birds. I enjoy the treasure hunt of guessing. I first thought my black and white striped hen was a guinea hen. I called her "Guinea" Oops. I feel kinda silly for that one now. I am now pretty sure she is a marans hen. A French breed. I have been language whipped by so many French accents that I have renamed french toast, "egg toast."

She is a great bird, though. Quite friendly and loving. I still call her, "Guinea." Likes to sit on my lap. Could live without her petting, though. Chickens pet with their beaks. Kinda ouchy.

I hear that!! Martha pets a mean beak!! OW. she likes to try to beak my ring and gets my finger instead - she likes shiny things. BAM

Birds don't see well at night, they tend to fly into things and get seriously hurt. It's bats flying around at night.

There's a wonderful kids book Stellaluna that has a bat trying to live with birds. We have a beenie baby bat that that kids named Stella that's hanging from yarn off of a picture frame in the hall.

Stella was bad last year, and asked a bat from outside to come over and play without asking mom (me). (Which is to say that a real bat found it's way in the house.) Bats are notoriously difficult to get out. I find a pot with a lid as they're hanging on the curtains tends to work well.

I've been told that you shouldn't put the rescued bats outside in the daytime...but that's asking a bit much from this bat lover. I do put the pot up in a tree (the neighbors probably wonder just WHAT am I cooking).

To borrow a phrase from the Middle East..."the enemy of my enemy is my friend" . Which is to say that I HATE mosquitoes. Bats eat pounds of mosquitoes, so bats are my friends. Environmentally friendly Zika killers.

***Sorry for taking your OT thread, off topic from it's off topic-ness....***

And "Martha"....awesome name!

it is, huh? all credit to my Jewells :O) she be thinkin fast!!!

fascinating bat information :O)

I love having chickens. We just bought 4 baby aracana chicks-well actually a hybrid called easter eggers but they lay really large green, blue and light pink eggs and are really hearty hens. Hopefully soon our coop will be built. It's fun raising hens.

my chicks have just hit the terrible twos at only 6 weeks old. They have learned that if they get on top of the waterer's that they can fly off them. not good because then they are spilling their water everywhere. stinkers!! plus I'm thinking the ranch store snuck in a couple males in there-they keep doing mock cock fighting -I hope they aren't males because I will let the ranch supply store know and demand a couple females