Bantam rooster wing trimming

It was extremely stressful for them, but I managed to catch Hamilton, Laurens, and Burr, and trimmed their wing feathers WAY back. Cross your fingers that this keeps them from flying into the pecan tree tonight. It's for their own good.

Burr flew right out of the run and into the dog yard as I was trying to catch him.

Success

Before cutting

After cutting

Laurens after cutting

Incorrigible chickens & ill-advised chainsaw use

The three bantam roosters that have been loose in the run for the past month have been sleeping in the branches of the pecan tree. This is a problem because Hamilton (Black Breasted Red Old English Game) started up a habit of flying down to the outside the run every damn morning. Then he would mournfully stare into the run and pace in front of the fence until I came out to open the door and herd him inside. Burr (Black Japanese) and Laurens (Golden Sebright) had no trouble landing inside the run. Rachel and I had clipped their wings back on butchering day, but it wasn't enough.

I borrowed a couple of chainsaws from Sherry. Athena came over to be my safety buddy, though we still did stupid things like stand on a shaky stool to reach branches. We took down the lower ones that I had seen the roosters always fly to, and waited. That night, I went outside just in time to see Hamilton fly straight to what were now the lowest branches of the tree. Burr and Laurens followed shortly after.

So a couple days later, I screwed up my courage and climbed the tree to cut down both of the branches seen above. I have some fear of heights, though it's a reasonable one - it generally only hits me in situations in which there's a legitimate danger of falling.

This giant branch is still leaning against the tree. I cut all of its smaller branches off, but I need someone to help me hold it while I cut it into pieces, so it doesn't pinch the chainsaw.

So I felt pretty proud of myself, until sundown.

!@#$

More chicken photos

The new pullets still have at least a month until they start laying. (It may take even longer since that will be the middle of winter.) They've gotten big enough now that I was feeling bad about keeping them cooped up, even though it was necessary to keep them from eating the layer feed (and keep the adults from eating the chick feed). I snapped some photos on their first day out. They were confused and clumped together in a group. Not pictured are the Black Star pullet and three Silkies.

Buff Orpington pullet

Cuckoo Marans cockerel

Easter Egger pullet

Silver Laced Wyandotte pullet

Speckled Sussex pullet

Black Japanese bantam cockerel and pullet

Black Breasted Red Old English Game and Golden Sebright cockerels

OEG again. Damn he's handsome.

Bantam rooster photos

Golden Sebright:

Black Japanese:

And the troublemaker, Black Breasted Red(?) Old English Game:

NOPE hat take 2, Stitch & Bitch spinning

I was excited to try my hand at both fair isle and intarsia with this pattern for a hat that says NOPE. I followed the pattern exactly, and this was the result:

Okay, my head is small, but seriously? The upper part before the brim comes all the way down to my eyebrows. And the brim, even folded in half, would cover half my head on its own. So I took out the bottom row of hearts, shortened the brim, and made a few other minor changes. Take 2 is much better.

Chase reminded me about the Stitch & Bitch at her store every Thursday evening. I used to go sometimes when I lived in Oakland, and I miss it. Yesterday I didn't have any evening clients so I decided to make the drive down. Rachel joined me at the store. Instead of working on my endless queue of knitting and crochet projects, I brought my neglected spinning wheel and continued with the pink/yellow/purple/silver merino and silk roving. I've always called it "My Little Pony roving" and multiple other people referred to it as "unicorn hair." It took about ten minutes to get back into the groove of spinning, and a few hours before I was back up to my previous speed. The time flew by. I finished filling up a second spindle. One more to go, and then I'll ply all three together.

I told Rachel not to let me buy anything unless I had a very good reason. Well, Chase had yarn spinners/lazy susans, which I've been coveting for months. I've been having major problems with my yarn twisting up as I knit when using center-pull balls. So I had to get one.

I also picked up another little project bag. It was too funny to resist.

Sustainably produced rambouillet roving

My friend Chase gave me a 4 oz ball of gray fine rambouillet roving from Lani's Lana as thanks for inviting her to chicken butchering day. She said that she remembered that I really like gray, which I found touching. It is locally produced in northern California and Nevada, by shepherds who practice regenerative agriculture. Perfect!

Chicken butchering day

Rachel & Eli and Chase & Andrew all came over to help dispatch and process most of the cockerels. We butchered the 5 standard males (Red Sex Links or Leghorns?) that had been freebies and 6 of the bantams (2 Silkies, 2 Golden Sebrights, and 2 Red Pyles). I'm keeping the Cuckoo Maran that was supposed to be a pullet, the beautiful black and red Old English Game, the Black Japanese, and one of the Golden Sebright cockerels. They are just so cute that I wanted to keep a few around. There is one more Silkie that I'm unsure about, but s/he has been spared for now.

Eli got the honorary first kill, then Rachel and I split up the rest. The bantams were so small that they slid right through the cone, so she chopped their heads off. There was a moment when I laid out a bantam for her, holding its head still in one hand and the body in the other, and she raised the cleaver, and I had the thought that she might miss and take my fingers off. She didn't, of course, but I had a panicked moment as the bird spurted blood all over me, and.... she cut off the rest of their heads by herself while I helped Chase and Andrew with plucking. I'm not sure if that counts as passing or failing the trust fall.

From set up to clean up, everything was done in 3 hours, and we had a good time. We all went out for lunch together afterwards.

I'm pretty sure that once the current pullets are old enough to lay and be let out of their coop (and therefore have access to the other girls' layer feed), I will use the second coop to raise broilers. We all desire a mechanical plucker, though.

The keeper bantams were roosting in the tree that overhangs the chicken area last night. Before we started butchering, we chased them down in the run and clipped their wings. This evening they were back in the tree. Damn it.