Chickens, birds and More birds

Chickens are a funny lot.

This morning I heard a loud hullabaloo emanating from the barn and went up to investigate. Two roosters stood on the railings above  the nesting box, crowing their little heads off, one cackling red hen was standing on the ladder leading up to the box and another perched on the edge of the nesting box, soothingly clucking and cooing.

 With all the commotion, you would have thought a marauding fox was sniffing about in the barn, but no, all of this racket, in unison, was directed at a very young hen, sitting inside said nesting box.  The little white hen, "Tess of the Du'bervilles", (TESS for short) was the object of much attention.

 The deafening cacophony continued for at least 45 minutes after I left the barn. A few hours later, observing all the chicken folk in the garden, I decided the way was clear to see what they had been so upset about this morning and trudged back up to the barn, peeked into the nesting box and found the object of all the morning's ballyhoo... this... tiny, tiny egg.

  It is so small... and cute.. and, more importantly, this young hen's first egg ever!
Now I know what the chickens were clamoring about this morning, and I also know what the expression "egging her on" means. They weren't upset. they were cheering the little hen on... That's right, "PUSH! PUSH! "You can do it!" C'mon little gal! Lay that egg!" HURRAH! YOUR FIRST EGG! GOOd job!

 Isn't that funny? I love those chickens.

more birds...
Every day, I gather the fallen pears from the grass neath the pear tree. They are not for our consumption because they've already been partially consumed, as you can see below.

I've been placing the blame for all this plunder, squarely on the shoulders of the countless bees, wasps and butterflies that gather by the hundreds on the pears. Like this guy below.

I assumed we had inebriated bees flying into one another, having wild parties and acting foolishly from devouring SO MUCH fermentation. Then I discovered the truth,

When James called me outside to listen to the song of a bird....this bird.

There he was, a Downy Woodpecker, sitting in the pear tree, joyfully singing and pecking away at the pears. As he pecked, the pear fell, and he flew to another pear, enjoyed it for a few moments until it too, fell to the ground and he moved on to the next.

Mystery solved,

 and the grateful bees and donkeys reap the benefits.

                                                             "We loves pears!"

The woodpecker is forgiven, for he is my FAVORITE bird, along with Chickadees. 

At the moment, the studio is filled with little fuzzy birdfolk.

They are awaiting their wings and tails

 I am going to make some of those extremities from hand-made felt, a method called Wet Felting.

On the recommendation from a friend, (thank you Penny!), I learned this easy process of felt-making and it was quite fun. I love the texture!

I made these five pieces in less than 2 hours. They can be cut and sewn into anything from purses to hats and hand-warmers. But mine are to be wings and tails.

I thought the above piece would make a charming little dress for a rabbit.

There are countless tutorials on you-tube for wet felting and I just combined a few of the lessons to create my own "recipe".

You know, with a little effort and time, one can learn how to do almost anything!

Fondly from the Hollow, Jeri