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I used to let the hens wander in the veggie garden thinking

they'd help with the bug population.

However, I learned pretty quick

that all they seem to do is eat my cabbage and kale

and scratch up newly planted seeds.

So this past Tuesday evening,

I put up a fence.

They weren't happy. 

But perhaps this year I'll be able to try out 

my homemade sauerkraut recipe.

And in other news, 

I now have 2 chickens who think sitting on me is fun to do.

Henny Penny (on the left) and Royal Farms (named by the 8 year old)

both came over to visit.  

RF learned that getting a scratch under the chin is pretty nice.

They enjoyed sitting on my arm.

Since they're the closest thing I'll ever have to a hawk,

I'm thinking I should get a couple of those falconry hoods for them to wear.

(a quick chicken update: Penny was pecked pretty severely yesterday evening and is once again in the house in the old brooder.  It's a little touch and go but she made it through the night and was up eating and drinking)

Why, Yes, That is a Chicken on My Head

I went to check on the chickens Monday evening.

Well, really I just wanted to check on Henny Penny after her first night in the coop.

I wanted to make sure she hadn't been pecked

to the point of bleeding again.

Apparently she missed me.

She was chirping the moment she saw me 

and proceeded to jump on my head when I crouched down.

And she sat there for several minutes.

I let the little ones out for a bit

so they could have a reprieve from the bossiness of the other hens.

I've renamed the 2 Jersey Giant chickens.

They stick together all the time 

and they remind me of the 2 magpies from those old cartoons

named Heckle and Jeckle

so Heckle and Jeckle they're named.

 Now I need to finish painting the coop

and build a fence around the veggie garden.

There's been too much work put into the garden

to let the older hens go in and mow down my cabbage plants

and scratch up the seeds.

Henny Penny

Meet Henny Penny.

She is the pullet I got to replace the rooster I ended up having 

in the group I had been raising.

While the person I got her from said she was the same age as the other 3 pullets I had, 

she was at least 2 weeks younger than they were.

So when I put them all in the new coop, 

she got picked on more because she was the smallest.

This resulted in her getting pecked to the point of bleeding.

Because chickens are drawn to the color red,

little Henny Penny would have been pecked to death because of the color of her blood.

So she had to come back home and stay until healed.

She got her name from this book that I loved as a kid.

It's about a chicken named Henny Penny 

(seen on the cover in the stylish head scarf)

who gets hit in the head with an acorn and thinks the sky is falling

and along with her friends Gander Lander, Goosey Lucy and Turkey Lurkey

rushes off to tell the king.

They meet up with Foxy Loxy who tells them about a "short cut"

in the hopes of getting some dinner.

I won't spoil the ending.

Anyway, I thought the name was a good fit

and so did my son who thinks she is similar to the color of a Penny.

So Penny stayed inside for another week while her wounds healed 

and her feathers started growing back.

This past Sunday, I finally put her out with the rest of the girls.

I was working in the garden so I was close by 

to monitor her and make sure she didn't get injured again. 

As I worked in the garden, 

every now and then I would hear chirping and see Penny come running to me

looking for me to pick her up and give her a scratch under the chin.

She even came and sat with me in the sun when I took a break.

Needless to say, 

she's my favorite.