Chickens = snoozeville

I am so over the chickens. BOOOOORRRING. What do they do all day but the same thing they did the day before: eat, peck, coo, poop, scratch and not lay any eggs. Whoopee doo. Been there, done that.

Baby A-plus is where it's at. (My sister has a daughter whose name also starts with "A", and my sis calls her "Baby A." So, one of my coworkers suggested our daughter could be "Baby A-plus." :-)) Granted, she also just eats, coos, sleeps and poops all day, with the occasional scratching of her face with her nails-turned-claws but it's quite different, I assure you. She's three-weeks old and is interesting and cute and perfectly lovely.

So, Baby A-plus is now an honorary harvardchick and will make cameo appearances here. In case you're wondering why I'm not naming names, even though probably 100 percent of this blog's readers know me/us, the paranoid parent in me is wary of some whacked out screwball knowing too much about us and where to find us, etc.

Speaking of worry, when I step back from it, I'm intrigued that my thoughts of late have been mostly about the dark aspects of life. I don't think it's post-partum depression, either. There has been something sobering about having this new life in our care and seeing how fragile and dependent her life is. It reminds me, I suppose, that all life is fragile and dependent. And finite.

We've created something that will someday cease to exist. We created and brought a life into the world that we cannot sustain forever. Like all of us, she is finite. That's painful to contemplate. It feels like we gave her an incomplete or broken gift. But there's nothing to do about it but to live and enjoy life as we know it while we're here. So I wonder what she'll do with whatever time she has here. What will her life be like? Will she be happy? Will our love and care for her be enough to at least get her started down a road that's fulfilling and joyful? I hope so. It's both the least and the most that we can do.

Nothing much to tell

The girls aren't doing anything particularly fantastic these days. They eat, scratch in the dirt, poop, sleep, and wander about, clucking as they go. That's their typical day. So, this update is more obligatory than it is to note any chicken milestones.

-Perching at night: By George, I think they've got it. Last night and again tonight, we went out to close up the coop and all three girls were on the roost/perch in the hen house. That's the first time all three of them have managed to get their wits and wings about them and get up there. For the last month, we've been having to scoop at least one chicken off of the floor or from the top of the feeder and place them on the roost. Hopefully, those days are behind us now.

-Eggs: None to date. They are heavy breeds and should be laying by 5 1/2 or 6 months of age; that means it should another 6 weeks or so--end of October?

-The food of champions: The girls can vanquish an entire watermelon, except the rind, in under an hour. Holy smokes. They also like tomatoes and bread. They do not enjoy mango or arugula or escarole. It's going to be a tough winter for them without all this great summer produce.

-Political preferences: In an earlier post, I noted that I couldn't quite explain the sound that Tallulah makes. The other night, Hubby nailed it: Barack or "Bah-raaahck." So far, neither of the other two have chimed in with "Obama." I'll see if I can get a sound clip on here.

-Predators: no signs of predators digging. We are pleased with that. As for other predators, the girls are aware that they live in a conceal-and-carry state, and have posted a sign using the official state-sanctioned language to keep guns out of their hen house.