28 week Wyandottes and more saffron

First off, let's try this again...

 

The grandpa feeder has been sitting quietly in the coop for a while now, the crew have to walk past it to get out in the morning and yet now on the lawn it is new and terrifying again! it took a good while for anyone to become brave enough to even place two little clawed feet onto the green platform.
They all seemed so surprised to see me pick handfuls of food out of the feeder, like it was mysteriously appearing from nowhere.
 Lacey crept up beside me, the only chicken who will let you pick her up easily without too much fuss. After a few seconds of freaking out she ate from the feeder and others followed. I made the mistake of picking up Whitney and trying to convince her to stand on the platform to eat, she thanked me by laying two soft shelled eggs in the pool.
'Why doesn't my grandpa feeder look as awesome as yours?' I hear you say, well Chuck seemed quite confused to see his reflection in the shiny metal feeder so we wrapped it in vinyl.
The ducks also have this awesome habit of stretching over the treadle to eat, this really won't work on the off chance we ever get to the stage where the lid can close and hit them in the head, so there is a bit of cardboard on the platform, the idea being they *have* to stand on it. Even though it is wrapped in the same green burlap material as the ramp to the duck pool the ducks weren't impressed.
It does help a bit if I use the water container to block off entry to the sides.

 

The saffron is still going strong, my new record is 11 flowers picked Friday evening. Some of the corms are still only just starting to break through the soil and I may need to replant them next summer so they have more room, they seem to spend quite a bit of time making baby corms.
The red stamen have been laid out to dry while the rest of the flowers have been thrown about the coop bedding to pretty up the place.

 

 

Today marks 28 weeks of bird ownership, Whitney and Bonnie had a good week of laying with 1 or 2 eggs a day (although there were 3 in the pool today), I'm still not sure if they will slow down in winter.
The 'dottes aren't squatting yet, but combs and wattles are growing and reddening. Sunny (above) checks out the peg collection used to contain the bird netting *meant* to keep them away from the cherry tree over summer. Sunny is almost as big as Blue but at the bottom of the pecking order

, she's a sweetie and Lizzy's best friend.

 

 

 

Blue has large waddles but her comb isn't as.. lumpy? as the golden girls, hers is nice and flat. And still quite small. She has also started carrying her tail quite high which I love. She's such a pretty shape! Blue can be a bit bossy but is generally a pretty good girl.

 

 

Lacey here is in the middle of a dustbath. I love watching them roll around in the dirt or puff out in the sun! Lacey is one of the smaller girls, I'm not sure if it is due to her run in with coccidiosis or just genetics but she's doing well now. Our friendliest girl and Miss A's favourite, Lacey is the only one to let you pick her up (usually complaining while you do, but settles down once you have her) her comb and waddles are as big and dark pink as Sunny's.
Second from the bottom of the pecking order, Lacey likes to let Sunny know she's higher up when she gets the chance. She's also super *super* bitey at night when roosting which means long sleeves are good if you go in to give everyone good night pats.
Chuck really likes Lacey, he dances for her all the time but still makes sure he eats first.

 

Lizzy (at the front here) seems to be our smallest girl with the palest comb, shortest legs and biggest attitude! nicknamed T-Rex for her angry squawking during treats time (she wants CORN dammit!)
She isn't shy, if you sit down she will happily climb on your legs and nip at your pants or shoes.

 

 

And Chuck, the pretty, puffy cockerel ball. Still obsessed with the ducks. While the pullets dust bathe he is usually following the ducks, waiting for an opportunity to dance for Bonnie or catch Stevie off guard. His spurs are growing in very slowly and he is filling out nicely.

 

 

 

In spring last year I cleared some of the garden for potatoes, it had previously been covered in thick weed mat (shakes fist!) and had become rock hard, awful desolate clay. After packing it full of compost, clay breaker and chook poop filled wood shavings the area is nicer and much more fertile.
I've started working on more rock hard dirt, the carrots I had hoped would help break up some of the area had to be dug out, the blanket of weeds has been removed and the bird hoard descended to 'help'. At most points I could do nothing but watch them scratch for bugs so I didn't step on them or impale them with a shovel.

 

 

Stevie watches Bonnie dig for treats. Or he's just keeping an eye on me.

 

The chicken crew have also discovered a new noise, I thought this was exclusively 'the egg song' sung by chickies laying their eggs but Chuck is letting the squad know there is a cat in the yard. He leads his ladies on top of the water tank, Lizzy lets loose a cloud of dirt from the dust bath he interrupted