Author: denisemor

Latest thing in Chicken Sportswear

denisemor 3 June 19, 2017

I never thought I would consider buying clothing for a chicken.
But here we are.

I’d been noticing that one of the little Amerucana girls, who was already missing all her back feathers, had sustained a bad wound on her right side. I think it was the result of too much/ too aggressive rooster attention. I’d sprayed her with Blue Cote, but knew that unless she was able to keep away from the boys that it would never heal up.

So I thought I would give this hen saddle thing a whirl.
It’s a Hen Saver, ordered on Amazon, the most low-key color I could find. Got here in two days, I think.

She wasn’t too pleased with me getting her into it,

But now that it’s all in place, she seems good. It doesn’t appear to impede any of her normal chicken activities- and she’s actually been out of the shed more, so hopefully that’s an indication that she’s feeling better.

I have to say, it seems to be very well made, sturdy but light and breathable, and the elastic straps are doing a good job of keeping it in place. They seem to run a little small, so I’m glad I got the large.

So there you go. Now I have a chicken with an outfit.
Crazy.

And speaking of vests, I’ve started one for myself as well.

It’s an easy knit- The Oregon Vest, by Oat Couture
And a great layering piece, so I’m making one with my heavy worsted weight Dottie yarn-

Because Dottie goes with everything 🙂

Fresh Start for the Pond

denisemor 0 June 11, 2017June 11, 2017

We have a funky little concrete pond in our side yard.
Over the years we’ve had goldfish in it from time to time, mostly just to eat the mosquito larvae that inevitably collect there.

And in recent years we’ve had icky algae issues, due to not enough oxygen/too much organic material.

So this spring we decided to clean it out and start fresh.

I’d emptied it a couple of weeks ago, and it seems like the neighborhood wild birds must have really missed having it as a water source and general hang-out.

We went to a local pond supply place (very nice folks at Mud Pond Koi) and they hooked us up with some submerged plants: Water Lilly and Mare’s Tail), a couple marginal plants for shelf areas (Creeping Jenny, and Houttunynia Cordata Variegata), and some floaters- Water Hyacinth.

We’ve also placed an aerator in there to keep things moving and oxygenated.

So we’re on our way to hopefully having a nice little ecosystem- just need to get some new fishes to populate it.

For now we just have yarn posing by the newly planted pond- this is Dottie aran-weight two ply, bouncy and fluffy.

Just like the girl herself 🙂

Sunny Sunday Stills

denisemor 9 June 4, 2017

Earliest Peonies

Reine de Violettes

Stanwell Perpetual

Edgar Yarn

Edgar hangin’ loose

Chone and Felix basking

Freshly washed and carded Dottie fleece

Dottie and Moto

And Baby Chickens getting bigger by the day

Just over five weeks old now. I figure at 7 or 8 weeks we’ll transition them out into an area near the big chickens so they can start to integrate into the flock. Just gotta work out the logistics.

Report from the Surface of the Sun

denisemor 2 May 28, 2017

Yeah, we’re a bunch of weather wimps.
Sunshine is a lovely thing as long as the temps don’t get above 80.
When it gets into the upper eighties we run for cover. 🙂

The sheep spent most of the day hanging loose in the shade, but once the sun started dipping over the hills to the west they enjoyed some good grazing time on the newly mowed pasture.

One thing the warm weather is good for is drying fleece- and I’ve been making pretty good progress on this year’s wool crop.
Today I finished up Edgars.

It’s a beautiful golden brown and so soft- should coordinate beautifully with Bambam.

I finished up another batch of Bambam yarn this week- here it is posing with Stumpy the rooster-

Moto the e-spinner is doing a marvelous job with Bambam. I think that being able to just set a certain RPM makes it so easy to be consistent. And we just put the finishing touches on Moto, so now he’s got his regular scotch tension set up.

And on the knitting side of things, look who I finished up this week!

Her name is Flora, and she’s such a sweetie.