Monday, November 07, 2011

Chickens and garlic

Okay all you chefs and cooks and men, this is not about some delicious chicken recipe. It's about me planting my garlic yesterday, and the chickens giving me "assistance."

 

I swear these hens would eat anything!


"Is this a garlic I see before me? The pointy bit toward my beak? Come, let me munch thee!"



Penelope was hell on wheels yesterday. After I broke the garlic bulb into cloves for planting, she kept trying to steal them!


Get your head out of there, wench!!


I get my garlic from Richters Herbs every year. This time I bought Uzbekistan garlic, plus a another purple variety the name of which I have already forgotten.



Gordon thoughtfully tilled the new garlic patch for me, but really I could have just let the hens do it. they do love helping in the garden!


And here is my favourite hen, Charlotte (ssssssh, don't tell the others!) Doesn't she look great after coming through her moult? She was unwell earlier this summer, with a floppy comb and raspy breathing,  but she's doing much better now. She still sounds a bit asthmatic but is otherwise fine and laying nice eggs. I worry when the roosters chase her, though. She breathes so heavily afterwards that  I worry she will one day have a heart attack and drop dead during coitus! But for now she seems happy. The other day she ran up to me while I was sitting in the duck run and climbed up onto my lap.



 Meanwhile, back in the garlic patch, Errol Flynn (right) helps the ladies search for bugs.


Errol is a really nice rooster with a laid-back temperament. Actually, all three of our roosters are nice. We were careful to bring them up right. They respect humans!


 Although Errol is the biggest rooster, he is second in the chain of command after Lord Gaga. Beaker ranks #3.


Nice work, girls!


Anastasia, front left, is our sole surviving red Sex-Link hen from 2009. The black Sex-Links have been longer-lived.


I think that's Cupcake.


Anastasia has a bit of baldy-butt from the roosters' over-energetic affections, but it's growing back in.

I am tempted to end with a duck photo, but I promised the chickens that this would be their day in the sun!

Now that the garlic is planted, winter can come. More than once I have been out planting it amidst snow flurries, but the weather was quite lovely yesterday.

17 comments:

  1. Anonymous8:29 am

    A very painterly photo for our Plymouth Barred Rock Rooster!

    g

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  2. Why thank you Big Daddy!

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  3. Lovely hens. You've given me an idea now - I must go out to the wood and see whether our girls fancy some garlic. It could brighten their day with a whole new taste experience!

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  4. I kept waiting to see a duck! We planted our Garlic this past weekend too and I am hope full that our hens have not dug it up already! You have beautiful birds. Our Roosters are all very well behaved - for now, but I still keep a close eye on them. Great shots. Looks like your weather is similar to ours. Sunny and crisp clear days and cooler nights. . .

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  5. Putting grlic in front of your chickens? I can see you getting them to plant the sage and onion too!

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  6. Your photo of Errol Flynn climbing the hill is really exceptional - maybe I was just in the right mood, but that is a winner in my book. Looks like a great watercolour topic.

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  7. Mmm, garlic flavoured eggs!

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  8. I'm thinking about roasted garlic...sans the chicken!

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  9. It's funny your first line was about food - one of the first things I learned to cook as a child was "herb and garlic chicken and potatoes"
    I think Im going to have to make it for dinner tonight!

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  10. Charlotte is indeed a handsome chicken! Great picture! But the one with Errol Flynn on the hill took my breath away. Beautiful and serene. No wonder you love the farm life!

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  11. ...oh and I thought for a moment with the garlic, you were trying to season your chicken beforehand!
    Perish the thought!

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  12. ...oh and I thought for a moment with the garlic, you were trying to season your chicken beforehand!
    Perish the thought!

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  13. The chickens helped to plant the garlic. Do they help to plant the butter, too?

    < / city slicker >

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  14. Anonymous10:22 pm

    I have never planted garlic and did not know it was planted in the fall. I learn something new here all the time.

    I add my vote to that splendid photo of Errol Flynn. Something magical there.

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  15. Pear Tree, they were pests with the garlic! But then they are always sticking their beaks in everything when they "help" me garden.

    Móna, we should be having cold grey weather at this time of year, with occasional dustings of snow! And I keep an eye on our roosters too, but I think they've learned to respect me and Gordon as the big roosters!

    Jams, I see your point!

    Thanks, Musical Gardener. I'd like to turn that into a drawing or painting.

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  16. Wandering Cat and Elisabeth, I never thought about the possible double meaning of the subject line until after I posted it. OOPS!

    HWB, they didn't plant the gravy, either!

    CogDis, if you think of garlic as bulbs, it makes sense, like planting tulip and daffodil bulbs in fall. I'm not sure if the planting time is different in warmer climates. And I wonder if you could plant garden in early spring and still get a harvest? I doubt the bulbs would be as big.

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Thank you for all your comments, which I love to read!