Tweedy's limping!

Poor Mrs. Tweedy! We don't know how or why, but sometime in the last two days she has hurt her leg. Both Matt and I have inspected her for injuries and failed to figure anything out, which is puzzling. She is still her aggressive, large, fluffy self- except that she is limping when she walks. Also, today she has been sitting on the ground (probably because standing is uncomfortable) which made me very nervous.

I hope she is OK soon. Matt replaced all the shavings in the coop today to make it fluffier and softer for her, so maybe that will help. With a sore leg she probably can't jump up onto the night roost, so I think she's sleeping on the floor. I really hope she gets better soon. There is nothing sadder to watch than a limping hen slowly walking across the hen yard.

Of course, she is still laying huge eggs. It is in her genes- I hope at least she is proud to keep that hard work up under such strain.

Adventures of Carrotzilla and Timmy, part two

"Don't move! Stay calm!" yelped Carrotzilla as he desperately tried to think of a way to escape.

But the giant birds could smell the fear in the air, and it was too late. They moved in closer, and closer.



"AAAAAAhhhhh my eye! My arm!" shrieked Timmy.

The red bird had made her move. Pleased with her predation of Timmy's right eyeball, and she sauntered off into the grass to consume it in private.

As Carrotzilla saw Timmy's disfigured face and severed arm, he gave up all hope for survival. "I'M DOOOOMED!" he bellowed.


One of the black and white birds moved in for the kill. Once she was done brutally dismembering Timmy, she moved on to Carrotzilla.



In a few brief seconds of brutal pecking and clucking, Carrotzilla was reduced to an eyeless, legless wreck.

As the orange juices seeped out of his nearly lifeless body, he regretted letting Timmy convince him that walking in the garden would be a fun and safe pasttime.

-- THE END --

Adventures of Carrotzilla and Timmy, part one

This story is dedicated to my mother...

One day, Carrotzilla and Timmy decided to venture out of the house for a walk.


"Such a nice afternoon!" Timmy declared.


Carrotzilla agreed, "Oh yes, delightful!"


They walked along in the pleasantly dry grass and came upon an overgrown chard.

"What a horribly large chard plant! It sure makes a nice place to sit down for a moment."

"Well, we shouldn't stay too long." Carrotzilla was concerned- he had noticed a gang of monsterous birds milling ominously in the distance.

Then, the birds began to approach.

"I'm scared!" Timmy said.

"Don't be frightened, I'm sure they are harmless." Carrotzilla was trying to comfort Timmy, but he didn't like the look of the black and white striped ones. Too... thug-like. All of a sudden, the birds were upon them.



"Eeeeek!" screeched Timmy.


to be continued...

Giant egg report

I promised I'd write about the occasional giant eggs that the chickens lay. One of the chickens (we think maybe Tweedy) laid an absolute monster a few weeks ago. Because it takes months for eggs to go bad, we just kept it in the fridge until we got around to photographing, hardboiling, and dissecting it.

Recently I remembered that darn giant egg I was stockpiling. Here is the size comparison- on the right side is a normal sized egg. You can clearly see this egg is especially large!

After I took the photo, I hard boiled a bunch of eggs to make egg salad. Before I got too involved with the salad, I did remember to cut the giant egg in half and photo document the results. Results? Two yolks! This is pretty normal for free range chickens, especially in small flocks. One of our friends even found a triple yolker from one of her hens. That has to hurt coming out, I would think.

For the curious- A double yolk or a triple yolk is a mistake of the hen's reproductive tract. The yolk gets made first, then the white gets wrapped around it, and then the shell. It is kinda like an assembly line. In this case, two yolks get accidentally wrapped in one white, and then the shell just ends up encompassing the whole thing. Also, you would never get fraternal twin chicks tucked into the egg somehow- the egg is large, but it is not big enough to allow for two fully grown chicks at hatching age. The poor little twins would not survive.



I ate the whole thing, by the way. Delicious!

Laying eggs

Our hens are laying eggs like they are going out of style. We've had many, many 6 egg days and our 4 egg days seem to be rarer and rarer. The eggs are also getting larger, which is something I read would happen as the hens became more mature and adultlike. At 5 or 6 eggs a day, we have already reached 3 dozen eggs in the fridge twice in three weeks. Luckily, we've been able to give them to friends without complaints.

One of the eggs that was laid this week is absolutely huge. It doesn't really fit in an egg carton socket properly because it is so immense. This egg entertains me. It seems to have been laid by a Rockette, but of course we are not sure which one. I told Matt he is not allowed to eat it until we take a photo of it. Also, we have bets placed on whether or not it contains two yolks.

Not having the camera has been seriously cramping our blog-style. The camera returns this week from its little "vacation" in Boise for the last three weeks, and I am really glad. The hens have done so many ridiculous things that we were unable to document since we got home from New Zealand. Mostly they concentrate on destroying one of my tulip beds (AAAaaaaaarg) but also they do cuter, funnier things.

Also, the hens are all grown up. You won't believe how beautiful and fluffy they are! I promise I'll do glamour shots ASAP.

Angry hens

Yesterday, the hens were making really loud noises in the front yard. The front door was closed, but we could clearly hear at least two hens making an absolute ruckus. Matt and I were both puzzled- the hens never make loud noises except occasionally when they lay an egg. Had someone laid an egg in the cool grass of the front yard? It just seemed... so wrong.

Lucky and I went to the front door to investigate. I opened the door and there, sitting in between the two lilac trees, was a big grey cat. The cat was lying down, not looking too horribly aggressive, but there was no doubt that it seemed threatening to our hens! Three hens were pacing and ba-cocking loudly in the cat's direction, only a few feet away. I quickly commanded, "Lucky! Get the cat!" in my "Lucky go chase that squirrel out of the sunflowers" tone of voice. He locked eyes with the cat, took about two huge steps onto the front porch, and then launched himself clear off the porch, completely over the backs of the hens, and onto the spot that the cat was lying. Of course, the cat saw him coming so she was already up and over the front fence before his paws hit the dirt. Lucky did some pacing and quiet snarling as the cat hid under Matt's car, and then it ran across the street. I told Lucky he was a very, very good boy and he pranced proudly around the front yard. "I scared it! Did you see?!" he seemed to be announcing with his tail straight up and his posture especially erect.

Good dog. You protected the hens from the evil cat!

We are FAMOUS

Our chickens (and the two of us) got interviewed, photographed, and videotaped in the last few days. The results are on the web today. I'm stuck somewhere between proud and mortified, but mostly proud.

Feature story in Missoula.com online magazine- don't miss the video at the top of the story, it is pretty cool.

Video including clips of our chickens that focuses on a recent question about chicken cannibalism.

Local news story on chickens in Missoula. Nothing about our girls specifically, but still interesting.

The guy who interviewed us and came by the house to record the sights and sounds of chickens, Tim, was really friendly and nice. It was fun to talk about the hens "on the record."