Look Who's Joined the Family

 Three days ago three little girls arrived to join my bevy of beauties.

Clara (from one of my favorite author's book series), Sharona (ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-my Sharona), and Storm (family name).

The lovelies are three months old and so very skittish (which means not very many photos).  So they're being kept separated from the big girls, who are not happy in the least with the disruption in routine.

Today was the first day i saw them exploring the covered porch area.  Each day they grow a bit more calm, but they're far from comfortable.  Last fall when we got Gigi and Stevie we introduced them to the older girls at night when everyone was drowsy, calm and going to bed.  Worked like a charm.  I made the mistake of trying it Saturday evening but it did not go well.  At all.  An important piece of the puzzle that had escaped my memory was that these girls are half the age of last fall's bunch.

You can see from the video above that JoannieLou demanded a nesting box in the little girl area and I thought since she does not tend to be aggressive it would be OK.  Well, apparently after she had laid her egg, she went into the run and was squawking up a storm because everyone else was free range.  Scared the pants off the little girls and they were all a twitter.  I've already seen how Henrietta is going to be the bully.  Yes, she got a scolding right off the bat.

Apparently the breeds are Leghorn, Black Cooper Maran, and Olive Egger.  At this stage in the game I can't tell the difference between the two black pullets.  To be honest I didn't care what breed we got.  And, in fact, this post was going to be all about how I was beating my head against the wall trying to find 2-3 girls to add to the flock.  That weren't priced at $20 per bird -- absolutely and totally ridiculous.

During the next week I'll be trying to get my photos of the cuties.

Summer = Sleek and Sexy

 Gabs shows off her summer sexy look.

I mean, come on, isn't that one lovely donkey.

Sugar and Spice have been a bit slower to shed out their winter locks.  As I've mentioned, the donks shed so much later in the season than their horse cousins.  When I first got the donkeys, it threw me for a loop.  April vs July.

Sugar still has wispy winter hair - disclaimer: these photos were taken about 10 days ago and she's much sleeker now.  She wanted you to know that.

 

In the video, you'll first see sleek Gabby, then Spice of the not-so-fetching bangs and finally Sugs.

And yes, the flies got bad about a week ago.

* * * * * * Vegan Delights * * * * * *

I don't make the trip to Trader Joe very frequently; it's a bit too far for convenience.  But today I took the plunge and boy oh boy I feel like I hit the jackpot.

And this doesn't even cover the frozen items -- vegan pizza, spring rolls (one of my musts at TJ), etc.  To be honest I was anxious to get my treasures in the freezer before I realized I should have taken a photo.

Maybe next week.

Sudden Good-Bye to Etta

 Last evening I headed out to the chonkey area for the final evening lock-up.  After throwing a last flake of hay to the donks I headed to the coop to close the little doors against predators.

The scene before me -- Etta James was lying dead on the floor.

I was stunned and just stared at the scene for several minutes.  The other girls were in bed and softly chirping.

I had brought all the girls in from free-range time that afternoon about 3:00. Nothing appeared wrong, everyone behaved normally.

What the bloody heck happened?

Etta (black) in rear