Thursday, February 26, 2015

Clucks and meows!

So, with the passing of our dear Charlotte, I have had to employ a new shoulder chicken. Luckily, Lemay was more than ready to take over this very important job!


We adopted Lemay and four other chickens last year via the Stormont, Dundas & Glengarry OSPCA shelter in Cornwall. These little cluckers were seized from the same barn as our pig Ophelia. They are all quite lovely (Lemay, Bonnie, Debbie, Julie and Mr. Carol, all named after shelter staff. (Mr. Carol wasn't "Mr." until he crowed and we discovered he was not a hen!) But Lemay is especially friendly.


She loves shiny things. Like iPhones!


Charlotte was a bit of an ambassador for our shelter, even though she wasn't adopted from there. But Lemay is a true SD&G OSPCA hen! I figure I'll take her to get her photo taken with Santa at the shelter's annual Christmas fundraiser this year. Heck, she can get her photo taken with the Easter bunny, too.


Isn't she a lovely girl? 


She'll sit on your shoulder for ages.


I think she'll make a fine ambassador chicken!

Meanwhile, cats...


Some of the barn kids chowing down. Buttercup on the left, Missy on the right and ... er...  I think that's Daisy at top centre and Redford at bottom centre, but Emerson hangs around in the barn a lot these days so that could be him there and not Redford. It's hard for me to tell from this angle!

I have too many orange cats! (Seven!)

Speaking of ornj kitties...



Honey is quite pleased to be a house cat now instead of a barn cat! But she still likes to go to the barn to visit her sisters and have some fun.

I call her my liquid cat. She loves to be held and goes totally limp in your arms.


And she has very kissable paws!

And this morning it was -30C. Again. I wish I were still on this beach in Jamaica!!!



Sigh. Y'all ("y'all", did you catch that? I'm trying to warm myself up by talking like a southerner!) know I love winter but this has been the coldest one I can ever remember and is setting records. Even the plastic parts on cars are cracking! And I have developed a knack for spilling buckets of water on my legs, on my jacket and in my boots.

Sigh...

34 comments:

  1. Lemay is gorgeous!
    She's going to be a pin up girl...I know it.
    Jane x

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    1. Just waiting for her first celebrity photo shoot!!

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  2. Hello from Manotick. Love your photos tonight, Natalie I think Lemay looks like a super-model chick. And, the one of you and Gordon is great. The kitties are settling in well here. Probably because it's a 'no Joe' zone. :)

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    1. GLad your kitties are doing well at the new place. It's a big adjustment!

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  3. Honey reminds me of one of my favorite cats, Pasha. A black and white. When a tiny kitty Pasha came from the awful house next door, through the dog door at my Mom's, up to the dog bowl for a nosh, into the living room where she settled for a nap between my brother's big feet. When I moved here, Mom picked her up one day and sent her home with me. We spent twenty lovely years together.

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    1. 20 is a wonderful kitty life. THank you for a lovely story!

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  4. It surprises me that a chicken can become so much of a pet. I guess you have a way with chickens!

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    1. Hahahah yes! THey are just like the budgies of my youth, only bigger, with yummier eggs.

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  5. Lemay will feel she has taken a huge step up the pecking order to be shoulder-sitting chick. That's "top dog" isn't it, so to speak.

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  6. Minus 30 and we are thinking of moving back!? We must be nuts.

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  7. Lovely photos ! Oh another pretty hen that sits on your shoulder how wonderful lol ! Lot's of ginger cats how can you tell one from the other lol ! It has been brutally cold but it was this cold in the 70s when I was a kid on our farm spilling water on me that I carries out to the animals and freezing my legs off oh the wonderful memories and few photos I have from my farming days ! Thanks for sharing , Have a good day !

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    1. I bet you don't miss spilling water on yourself in winter! :)

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  8. Lemay's smile matches yours! And the latest accessory - a shoulder chicken.
    Your photographs always, always start my day with a smile.

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    1. That is so nice, Marty. Thank you!!!

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  9. Anonymous1:19 pm

    Just so all y'alls know (that's the official plural of "y'all"), it's currently 31 degrees Fahrenheit here in central Texas around 12 noon. If talking like a Southerner made it feel warmer, we should be in the 80's today! Although, after the kind of winter you've been having, 31 degrees would probably feel like shirt sleeve weather to you. :)

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    1. OOOo I didn't know there was a plural. And 31F is BIKINI weather, baby!!!

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  10. we are cracking up at the shoulder chicken....can't wait to see pictures with the Easter Bunny

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  11. How nice to have another friendly hen! Lemay looks like she's ready, willing and able to fill Charlotte's void.

    Hilarious how Honey snuck into the house and stayed ;-)

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    1. SHe has a mission and she wasn't going to stop until it was completed!!

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  12. I am in love with cats, as well. I do not have a cat but when I find MY "forever home", I certainly will share my home with these most precious creatures. I have not developed a bond with chucks, as yet, but that is because I have not had any....but, alas, I am enamoured with all of your non-human friends...

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    1. I was surprised to find, when I started keeping them, that chickens have personalities! Some are particularly charming. :)

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  13. Lemay is a natural. : )

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  14. My chickens loved to be carried, but never had one that would ride on my shoulder!

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    1. It's a special chicken skill! ;)

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  15. We love how Lemay sits on your shoulder. :)

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  16. We had chickens when I was small child and I don't remember any of them sitting on anyone's shoulders...I just remember being afraid of those sharp beaks. Your chickens must be of a kinder breed!

    This winter has lasted far too long...I'm so tired of it! I love the ornj kitties and Miss Honey is truly a honey of a girl.

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    1. The chickens got a lot of handling when they were young. I think that helps! :) Some are "peckier" than others!!

      I am hoping the temps will rise this week...

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  17. Honey is like my Cody.....I love how Honey knew EXACTLY where she wanted (and was MEANT) to be!

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    1. Cats can be pretty determined, can't they?

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  18. All photos are so beautiful!!!

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