C. I .C.

The C.I.C.....every flock of chickens has one. Come to think of it, I'll bet every group of teenage girls does too!

It is ... the ... Chick In Charge.

From 3 days old, one of my Plymouth Barred Rocks assumed that position by being first to come to my hand and the most interested in what was going on...naturally, when it came to naming, I named her Curious. And, she has been Top Chick ever since.

At this age of 3-1/2, she barely has to look at the others and they scoot out of her way. She is a glutton for any special treat and will growl at the other to warn them away. She will rush to a pile of fresh worm-compast with the yum-yum eating 'purr', the others will try to grab what they can from another part of the pile or other area. But, if she thinks they are getting something she wants, then Curious will rush over and dominate  that area.

Curious will be first to get the treat!

I actually feed Amelia her treats on top of the metal trash can because she is the only one who can get up there; the other tubby ones can rarely hoist themselves up there. It make them mad, haha...especially Fearless who works really hard to stay in 3rd. place, above Amelia and below Gabby (in the #2 spot).

Occasionally, Fearless will try to spar off against Gabby. They puff up and raise their necks and try to peck each other. For the most part, Gabby out does Fearless and she will back down.

No one spars with Curious; in fact, she rarely pecks anyone she is that confident. Fearless will peck Amelia, who always walks away with this attitude of "hey, I'm cool". Then Amelia will circle around behind the others and look for food left behind. She knows she is bottom chick, but it's like she doesn't care.

Even when it comes to resting or dust baths, if Curious wants your spot, you'd better get up and move.....and, she always wants your spot....at least for a while. If you make another dust bath, she might just come to that one, too.

The treat dance is firstly a free-for-all scramble for worms which turns into an orchestrated choreography of movement. Curious dominates, Gabby moves off to another pile, gets a nibble then Curious rushes over to make sure Gabby isn't getting something better. Then Curious moves off to sample something, so Gabby and Fearless move behind her to the vacated position.
Gabby gets testy at Fearless and she moves over to peck Amelia. (Fearless always takes it out on Amelia). Amelia moves in behind Curious for a leftover. Curious growls, Amelia moves off casually keeping to herself, Fearless sees that and makes her move toward Amelia and she agains moves out of the way or on top of the trash can. Amelia is always working to stay away from Fearless. Fearless and Gabby love-hate each other and usually keep a neutrality going. 

Curious is impervious to the dances behind her. She is on top, Number One and always the Chick in Charge!

A Sad Sunday, July 20, 2014

April 7th, I had total knee replacement surgery. It's a bummer recovery and I wasn't able to visit the girls for about 5 weeks until I was sure the stitches had closed up - not wanting any yucky microbes entering my body.

Steve did a great job with Chicken Duty; in fact, they lost weight because they weren't getting the treats from Auntie Karla!

So, Sunday afternoon he went down to close them inside the coop-pen. Four of the Girls were waiting by the main door, but no Evie.

A pretty Evie, Buff Lace Wyandotte

He looked around the back of the coop and found her...dead.
No apparent trauma, just crumpled on the ground.
She was great in the morning when I went down to let them into the pastures, but a little pale on the comb and wattles.
No signs of impacted egg, a killer of chickens; but she hadn't laid an egg for a week. Some feather loss around her rear and very hard to notice because she was so fluffy: could have been mites but they generally aren't killers. Maybe heart issues or massive worms, but I hadn't noticed worms in poo. Maybe just 'her time'.

Such a pretty girl, sweet and shy. She was just above the bottom girl Amelia on the pecking order and seemed to just "take it" from Fearless whenever mean Fearless wanted to get her away from food. She did love pecking greens and corn out of the suet boxes when I would fill them and never shied away from a secret offering of worms, but not really comfortable eating out of my hand.

Chicken Mentor Barb gave me Evie as the replacement to Blondie, who was a meal for the local hawk. I have appreciated having her for these 19 months.

She was a Buff Lace Wyandotte; I would definitely get another one for their beauty and sweet temperment...

Waiting on more new chickens until the knee is functioning better and we get a handle on the sciatica-related issue.

Back to blogging more....stay tuned!

To Uganda and Back Nov, 16, 2013

Time got away from me again and finally I decided to sit down and update the blog.
In November, Steve and I went to Uganda! It was for chimp and gorilla 'safaris': 1 all-day chimp trekking in Kibale National Forest and 3 days of trekking to 3 different gorilla groups in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest.  

Along the way we met wonderful Ugandans including Habibu our safari guide (who knew everything about Uganda!), our Entebbe guide Edward, trip coordinator Lydia, The Prices at Ndali lodge, the staff at Kyambura Game Lodge, the  2 lady basket weavers and chief's daughter at Bigodi Swamp, Barbara, Jackson and Nicholas at Gorilla Safari Camp.  I know when you travel you don't often get introduced to the 'locals' so I have to say the hospitality and genuineness of everyone we did meet made the trip very special.

Uganda is home to 1,200 different species of birds and we saw many wonderful and different birds - you can't help it, they are everywhere.
Habibu would be driving down the rutted, dirt road and while watching for potholes or bicyclists, he'd point and say " On that branch, there is a 
such-and-such bird." He'd stop the vehicle and we'd zoom in for a photo.
Over and over again I was amazed how he could drive and spot game at the same time.

Here are a few of the birds we saw ... I have to qualify and say we never made it into the Ishasha swamp to see the shoebill, but Edward took us to the Entebbe zoo to see it - sorry birders, we 'cheated'.

Maribu Stork standing 4 ft. tall !!

 Fish Eagle



    


                                                                               
            Crested Cranes, the national bird of Uganda 

Shoebill, rarely seen in nature - our zoo photo 










Pied Kingfisher 







We also had a couple of days of 'game drives': seeing  many different monkeys, elephants, Ugandan kob (like a gazelle), cape buffalo, hippos, warthogs, and lions.

Our trekking days were the hardest: you may walk up 75 degree slopes for 2 hours to get to the gorillas and then you are allowed a hour to watch and photograph....which goes by in a snap. Then you hike down. Luckily we hired 2 porters at $ 15 each to help me, bad knee ya know. The last day was the worst - tall roots and eroded slopes to climb up and over...not to mention the vicodin not agreeing with my tummy, so breakfast was left at the side of the trail. Then, it rained during the lunch break which made going down  something of a slip and slide. Again the sure-footed rubber-booted porters were life savers: one on each side of me helped lift me down, over roots and rocks and stabilizing my footing.....I couldn't complain because I was there to see the gorillas, and it was a thrill! Steve made it without falling while the ranger behind him fell a couple of times.

Here are a couple of gorilla photos - we are between 5 ft. and 15 ft. away from them as they feed and move through the underbrush.


A 6 month old curious infant

                                 

Mother and infant - she reigned him in when he became too curious at those other primates (us!)

The Silverback male is each family's leader, easily weighing in at 600 pounds!





Here we are with the gorilla trackers and rangers, our 2 porters and a new trainee...The last of our 3 days, the most rigorous and....full filling my dream to again see gorillas in Africa....being lucky to have been in Rwanda in 1988 to see them before the tribal civil wars.

I would go back in a heartbeat, struggle physically and trek again!