Troops arrive for basic training

I found five little cockerels at Wilco for half price. They are lucky little birds. Normally they would have been tossed into a grinder as soon as they were sexed, but somebody must have thought they were pullets (hens) and sent them to the store where their true nature was discovered. Not sure what the store would have done with them if I hadn't come along looking for troops to chicken the Rooster Picket Bug Kill Zone Garden Perimeter Fortified Area of Defense (RPBKZGPFAD).

As the man at the store said, very absolutely, 'nobody wants cockerels!'

I replied, 'shouldn't they be free?'

No luck, but at $1.50, close.

My Janissaries in training: Two White Leghorns, two Blue Andalusians, One Gold Laced Wyandotte, and two Rhode Island Reds, the latter are pullets to replace my lost Buff Orpington and my Unexpected and Very Expensive Speckled Sussex Rooster.

They're heritage breeds. Without a marketable skill like laying eggs or growing genetically engineered giant breasts, they get, well, decapitalized.

That the boys get immediately killed was one of the ethical dilemmas I faced at the beginning of the chicken head scratching. We can't keep roosters as they're too loud for the neighborhood, plus I need good foragers that are pretty cold hardy--good forager plus cold hardy leaves me with only heritage breeds to choose from.

But for every heritage female I buy a heritage male is going to die. Oofdah, my bruised
conscience.

Cheap Cheeps

The white leghorns massage my ego/conscience the most. White Leghorn hens lay white eggs. White eggs are not sought after by the particular sort of hairless ape that keeps heritage breeds. So, the white-egg-laying White Leghorn cockerel is a lucky bird if he sees day two. Nobody wants cockerels, especially White Leghorn cockerels.

Poor Henry the Unexpected and Very Expensive Rooster, he's going stir crazy. But I can't put him outside. He is LOUD. I take him to the land and let him roam when I have the time or I'm working on the fence. Soon, he'll be in chicken wonderland, though, scratching, eating bugs, and generally Roostering.

We're keeping Henry Rooster in the garage until we get the fencing ready on the farm. Tonight he kicked his stall door open (actually a dog kennel) and raided the place. He hopped up on the top of the chick incubator and broke the heat lamp. We're lucky he didn't kill the chicks.

Work on the RPBKZGPFAD in progress. Electric wires soon.

Everybody's welcome on the farm

I'm not upset when I see mole hills or mice or rabbits. Generally, the more life the better. Mole hills are a sign that  the soil is regaining health. Moles need to eat over half their weight in earthworms each day so they're always looking for rich, abundant soil that is full of worms.

If you've got moles then you've got worms. If you've got worms then you've got worm poop. Yay, worm poop.

Strange fact: A moles saliva is toxic to earthworms. It will paralyze but not kill. The still alive worms are often stored in what is essentially a mole pantry. Sometimes, a mole will store a thousand worms for later meals.

Voles follow in the mole holes, as do mice. The real damage to crops is done by these two. But, as I said, these creatures, usually annoyances or worse, are not hated by me. I see rabbits but I also see Hawks, so nature balances the equation, leaving food for everyone, including my family.

Coast Garter

This little Coast Garter Snake, above, was roaming around. I picked him up. I'd never 'own' a snake because I like my animals to have multiple jobs, but I like seeing them on the farm. They eat mice, moles, voles, bugs.

I can't help grabbing the poor fellows. Reptiles are really cool. Garter snakes are generally not harmful to humans. But, they will emit a smelly musk when threatened, and they do have teeth. If they manage to puncture your skin and then gum you for a bit you might even suffer a small swelling or irritation because they do produce a neurotoxin. If you're a frog and you let the snake gum you then you'll have the unimaginable experience of being swallowed whole while still alive. I guess if the snake was big enough, and you let him gum on you until he released all of his venom, then you might have the same displeasure.