The blue skies have returned and the weather man says we are going back into a dry cycle. 
We are still very lucky though. Our dry spell is nothing like the droughts they are having down South. All weather is relative really. An Australian drought would devastate this area. And a mid west drought would be a Hawke’s Bay dry summer.
But the local crops will come in thin and short. And the price of grain (and feed) is already beginning to rise. Lately the price of meat in the stores has begun to rise too. I read that ground beef is the highest it has ever been. So for the farmers there will be a shortage of hay and very expensive grain. Sustainable looks better and better every day. 
The lady down the road is downsizing her flock to cope with the rising costs. So our chickens are being asked to share their grain with the chooks from down the road. 
Awaiting their night time release are eight big Rhode Island Reds. I have enough clients to sell their eggs to, so their grain is covered as long as they keep laying. Rhode Island Reds are good winter layers and these are still young. So they be able to segue into the farmy cycle easily.
Of course Sheila is looking forward to meeting the new arrivals but has discovered to her horror that she cannot fit through the gate anymore!! Thank goodness. 
The Duke of Kupa left you a gift. 
The nights are cooler and he is beginning to shed. So beautiful. The design of these birds is superb.
Good morning. Daisy gets her third hormone shot on Sunday and then the vet will come to breed her. I hope she gets pregnant the first attempt so that she can calve next years calf on the spring grass. Though it will not be much earlier than this year. I really do not want her calving much later. Milking into the deep winter will be hard on her and me.
You will remember that this year you and I are going to New Zealand in December for a few weeks, so I am hoping to be able to dry her up by then. If not I have stand-by milkers, a lovely retired couple from down the road. You cannot dry up a cow who is milking a large amount of milk. It is dangerous for the animal. The cow kind of slows down herself and once her production has dropped right down, then we can stop milking and dry her up. So I have to be prepared for both scenarios. And be guided by Daisy herself.
Have a lovely day.
celi
What was happening on the farm a year ago? Quite a bit by the sounds of it. Sex on the farmy is the first time the animals began to really find their voices. This is still a funny read!
The Kitchen's Garden 
74 responses to “Adopted chooks”
How exciting that you are making a trip to NZ, hopefully to summer weather and blooming pohutukawas. Kupa’s feather is gorgeous, and it shimmered as I scrolled up and down! The photo of Sheila is the funniest ever! So glad that you got that rain before the next dry patch.
Oh Our pohutukawas.. there is not a tree like that in all the world, clinging on, right there, next to high tide.. christmas is not always warm but it will be warmer than here.. ! c
I didn’t know you were coming back for Christmas!!! How exciting! If you need a bed in Palmerston North just let me know… (I will evict the cat for you) XXXOOO
It is sad how the price are rising. However, it will sooner or later level out. Everything is still way more expensive here in HK as most things have to be shipped in. Take Care, BAM
Oh, Celi, please do not talk about Australian droughts: our last one, as you would know, lasted seven horrible years and for three weeks one bushfire-ridden summer season we wore facemasks, could not see beyond about 20-30 metres and were able permitted to water about four hours a day three times a week! Dams pretty full now! Oh, for those who do not call chickens ‘chooks’, bushfires equate to forest-fires 🙂 ! Can’t wait for you in Kiwiland!!
More chooks, and eggs – fantastic. I’m making lists of good to own chooks, I have recorded Isa Browns, and now adding Rhode Island Reds. Re Anne @GtSlamseysFarm’s comment and your question about duck eggs, personally you can do anything with a duck egg but better. Our country RHS neighbours’ ducks escaped to our RHS neighbours’, and made occasional forays through our yard picking off all the snails 🙂 and leaving eggs. Not be ones (as both neighbours were) to look a gift duck in mouth, we feasted on duck eggs, fried, boiled, scrambled, frittata, and in cakes for weeks 🙂
Kupa, thank you for such an exquisite gift! I never realised it was quite so scientific when it came to cows C! I am sure Daisy will take our trip into account later this year.
🙂 Mandy
We are expecting food costs to rise here as well, a result of the drought in areas that ship food to us. Would that I had an acreage to grow at least some of our veggies.. that would be so nice!! I love that photo of Kupa’s feather <3.. xx
Those pigs crack me up. I imagine you going out there one morning and the pig kind of seesawing on top of the fence rail. Oh, that wasn’t meant to sound cruel! I just can imagine him that determined to get out!
Oh no.. now I can see that happening too! c
OMG I’m in love with Sheila the pig!
And I fuss over leaving one little black cat! Thank goodness someone retired who knows what they are doing and stayed in the area!