Summer In...December?

My thermometer recorded a maximum temperature of 74 degrees today. It was so warm and balmy that I managed to spend a few hours outside enjoying the break from single digit temps. I enjoyed watching the ducks digging in the muddy bank of the pond and the chickens grazing in the lawn. Just a few days ago the chickens wouldn't even come out of their snowed-in coop! All the snow is gone now. They were catching frogs by the pond this afternoon!

We took advantage of the warm weather to get some outdoor chores done. Derek cleaned the chicken coop while I rinsed and squeegeed the cement floor in the garage and hosed down the garage rugs. The coop was pretty messy after the ducks spent a night in it last week. They emptied out the water and made a wet mess of the floor. Now the chickens have some fresh, dry straw in their coop.

It was so nice outside that I fired up the grill and made one of our family favorites: Man Burgers. I put my brand new food processor to work shredding cabbage and carrots for homemade coleslaw to go with the burgers. The bread maker did the work making a batch of dough for a baker's dozen of honey-wheat sandwich rolls to hold my gigantic burgers. Jim was busy with a customer in the shop so I plated up two burgers and some cole slaw and some Jello squares for them both and took it out to them. Less than a minute after I got back in the house I got a call from Jim on my cell phone. He just had to tell me that the burgers were the most awesome burgers ever! That made me feel good.

If you want to try a Man Burger, here's how to make a batch.

2 lb. ground beef or ground sirloin
1 heaping Tbsp. of steak seasoning--I use McCormick's

1/4 cup fresh French bread crumbs
1 egg
Big splash of A1 Steak Sauce or Worcestershire sauce

Form into 6 big patties and grill till they'd done the way you like them. I also like to grill some onion slices while the burgers are cooking. They're great on top of a big, juicy Man Burger! Also, a half-and-half mixture of ground turkey and ground beef will make a leaner burger if you'd like to eat less fat. You can't taste the turkey at all! I've been known to mix in a bit of minced onion or minced green peppers into the beef mixture too. Yummy!

The warm weather isn't going to last. It's going to be in the 30's tomorrow, but that's still better than 4!

Bath Time

Susan asked that I stop torturing her with the cute duck photos and Kathie downright can't handle the cute. But I gotta show you what they do in the sink! They just love bath time! I fill the sink halfway with warm water and let them go to town. They do this cute dive thing that makes a big splash. When they start acting tired or too cold, I take them out and put them under their heat lamp where they promptly pass out from all the exercise. They've taken to it like a, uh...duck...takes to um...water. Yeah.

Mom came over this afternoon to give me a haircut and we had dinner with her afterward. She brought some good sweet corn and we enjoyed some tomatoes and cucumbers from my mother-in-law's garden. She also gave me a head of cabbage which mom turned into cole slaw. Add burgers from the grill for the main dish and you have a lovely summer meal! The chooks enjoyed a treat of peels and stems from all the fresh veggies.

After dinner I put the ducklings out on the front lawn inside the wire section of their cage to let them play in the grass while I replaced their soiled bedding with fresh. They loved the grass and tried to pull some of it to nibble. They aren't strong enough to pick the grass yet but they sure had fun trying. They also pulled hard on a dandelion head but their efforts weren't enough to break it off the stem. Mom and I had fun watching their antics. I'll give them more yard time tomorrow.

I've noticed that ducks are much nicer to each other than chickens are. They aren't so interested in a pecking order and they do everything together. Also, I have yet to see a mean looking duck but I've seen some pretty mean looking poultry!

Speaking of poultry...while I have been spending time with the ducklings I haven't forgotten about my chooks. I have been working with Sweet Pea, one of my two Barred Rock girls. She has been shy lately and I've been hand feeding her on her roost in the evenings to try to win her over again. It seems to be working and she has been coming up to me in the yard looking for food. I've also been holding Roo for about 10 minutes each evening to establish respect from him. He's been a good rooster so far with no signs of aggression toward people. He gets a bit uppity with the other chooks at times, and I like hold him when he gets pushy in the pen. It seems to be working and he gives me a wide berth when I'm around, unless I've got treats. Derek and I keep the roosters pushed away from the treat bowl until the girls have eaten, then the roos are allowed to have some too. He who controls the food controls the flock! This is something we should have done from day one but we are making up for it now.

Summer, Country Style

This morning Derek and I raked out the chicken run while Ian mowed and bagged some fresh grass clippings for them. I figure if we have to mow the lawn, we may as well feed the grass to the chickens. The chickens found a lot of grain they had missed when we removed the old clippings and what-not. Then they enjoyed the fresh grass clippings when we were done. The old clippings are now sitting in a pile next to the berry bushes where I can apply them as mulch.

While the boys worked on removing some Virginia Creeper vines from the spruce trees in the back yard, I hopped in the truck and drove to Tri-County Tire where I picked up two truck tire inner tubes for the pond. When I was growing up we had inner tubes to play with in the pond and I remember I had a lot of fun with them. They're a lot more durable than the cheap inflatable ones they sell for pools. If you've got boys, you need tractor/trailor strength inner tubes! They will last for several seasons.





After dinner, I sat in the chicken run, determined to get videos of crowing roosters. (Well, actually they're cockerels since they're under a year old.) Anyway, I captured the three top roosters crowing! It's interesting to note that Silver, the Silver-Spangled Hamburg, has a higher-pitched four-part crow while the Australorp (Achilles) has a three-part crow and the Barred Rock (Roo) has a two-part crow. Achilles has the deepest voice too. Here's Silver and Achilles announcing their virility. Derek swears he saw Rudy crow for the first time this morning. He doesn't seem interested in the video though.

Roo's got somethin' to say too. (And so does goofy Derek in the background!)



I wonder why roosters crow. Though some claim to know why, do we really know? I think it has something to do with flock cohesion as well as a show of strength and vitality. Roosters, in general, do not crow all day long. I notice them crowing in the morning, at noon, in early afternoon and again in the early evening. I keep looking for an event that sets it off but nothing seems apparent. Even roosters that don't have to compete with others within a flock will still crow, so it must have some significance for the entire flock. What do you think?

Another interesting behavior roosters exhibit is the "tough guy" posturing. They strut right up next to each other, close enough to brush feathers with their opponent. They raise their outer wing and stand straight and tall trying to look as big as possible. If the other bird yields, all is well. If not, they're bound to spar. Achilles does this sideways "tough guy" dance to me regularly, but I'm onto him. I know that this can be the beginning of aggression if I don't keep him in check. If he gets too close or too uppity, I raise my hand above him and he stops with a submissive look on his face. If I can do so without causing a commotion, I'll reach out and pick him up, cradling him like a football. He settles right in and lets me stroke his back and scratch under his chin. He doesn't mind much if I fiddle with his comb either. I keep my eye on him when I'm around him and I've warned the boys to do the same. Roosters don't know they're birds. In their minds, they're bulls!

Magical Moment

I remember one morning last summer when the world was covered in glistening dew on a particularly humid day. I watched as a Ruby-Throated hummingbird drank the dew drops from the ends of one of the Colorado Blue Spruces near the pond. It was pure magic.

I was in awe of what I was seeing. Moments like that make me realize I have not yet seen all that nature has to offer. What a humbling experience.