Descent o' Lil' Sparrow

A few days ago, I spotted a fluffy female House Sparrow pecking away at fallen birdseed. I noticed that she was fluffed up and a bit sickly looking but I assumed it might just be a bit chilly. When I opened the door to take a closer look, she quickly sprinted away behind the doghouse. Hmm. . . . I thought.

I managed to snap a blurry shot of her making a getaway.

 I guessed that she would probably come back later for more food, so I waited and here she is a again!

I was originally taking pictures of squirrels (on the left), I looked up and saw "Sparrow" eating under the bird feeder again.

 This time Sparrow's problem became clear. As I got nearer she ran. . .but only ran. If she was a healthy and well-abled bird she would have flown away by now, her running also seemed a bit strange.

After getting a few shots of her, I finally noticed that her wing was lopsided, probably broken.

Sparrow running away.

And now, the second time I saw her was today. I managed to catch her from inside the chicken enclosure. When I grabbed her, she emitted a frightened and weak *chirp*. And from the feel of her feathers, she probably was having a hard time finding enough food and just lay in my hands to tired (or mortified) to move. So. I brought inside, fixed her with a cage (I had to move my zebra finch Curry out to a smaller one), cleaned it, and placed the female sparrow inside. She just sat there, immobile, but after a few minutes she was back to hopping and eating seeds. I hope that she can get better soon after this week, anyways I will keep you guys updated!

Top and bottom: The little sparrow in her new cage.

Theif in Black and White

Today at night I turned on the outside lights, and there I spotted a medium sized skunk crawling around the chicken enclosure! He was probably attracted by the chicken food I didn't put inside. The skunk was oblivious to me watching until I banged on the window for it to go away. He freaked out and ran for the doghouse, then back a out again, made several rounds before remembering how he came in and sneaked out from underneath the door. We won't be seeing him again tonight. . .I should start making it a habit to collect the chicken food before the pullets go in to roost.

Ready to sneak out to chicken enclosure.

The skunk makes his escape and quickly hobbles away with the livin' daylights scairt' out of him!

The pictures originally were too dark to see anything, so I went into Photoshop and light them up. The quality isn't very good, but at least you get the picture.

Robins and berries

Robins are like the signal of Spring. Whenever the warm weather arrives, robins start flocking to my yard, picking for berries, worms, and other insects. It's quite an amusing sight, watching them run around with their "waddley" gait, then all of a sudden pause, turn head, and pounce down to jerk an spotted earthworm from the dirt.

More robins!

On a certain weekday, I noticed a bunch of robins hanging around my backyard; in the trees and on the ground. It was only when I got my camera out that I found the ones in the tree branches were mostly tugging away at berries or taking an afternoon nap.

Top and bottom: Robins enjoying a snack of berries.

Taking a cozy rest.

Munching on a little red berry.

I just love how clear this picture is. (Managed to sneak toward the robin without him noticing me.)

The Passing of a Our Dear Fluff

When I came home today, I was told that Mellow had passed away.

It was a very windy and cold day. And the large wooden nesting box outside in the chicken enclosure had fallen on Mellow; either while she was inside it, or walking near the box. By the time someone had found her it was too late, she was already gone.

Here lies Mellow after she was buried.

Mellow spent a short 8 months with us, and it will be an 8 months that I will treasure and look back to. She enjoyed her time and always lived life happily fighting for scraps, bossing around the 4 other "young ones", and (when she was younger) always enjoyed a good neck rub. 

Her death was unexpected, and it made me realize again that life is full of surprises. Some good, others unwanted or bad. So treasure your time with your flock, because you never know when it will be the last time you see them all together. Here some memories in honor of our dearest Mellow:

This is how Mellow looked when I first met her, she was about  3-5 weeks old. 

Foraging in the long grass.

A while ago, when Mellow was still banned from the baby chicks due to her anger issues.

Accompanying the chicks outside.

Stretching out her neck to enjoy a soothing neck rub.

Hawk in sight!

Top and Bottom: This was a day in the late summer when Mellow was babysitting the chicks, such a tiring job.

Mellow in the sky!

The Crow Next Door

It's been awhile since I last posted something, and a lot has happened since. Spring is here (finally!), and so comes the warmer weather. Lime seems to be behaving better ( she has stopped biting me), the whole flock is laying, and the wild birds are more lively. Yesterday, after I locked the chickens up, I noticed a grayish-black cat sneaking suspiciously right behind the chicken enclosure. When I ran over there, the cat glanced at me, then warily ran away like a jet as fast as his little paws could carry him.

Anyways, the abundance of crows around my street have risen. A few weeks ago, I spotted a crow cawing and holding a piece of nesting material at the border of my property. It flew away before I could get my camera. Then today, I saw the crow again, in the same exact spot, although this time I noticed that there was a nest next to it. Luckily I had my camera and snapped a few pictures. It seems that, we might have a little family of crows nearby.

From Kind to. . .Vicious???

For some reason Lime wanted to kill my hand, and she wanted to do it bad. . . .

A few minutes after giving the flock some treats, Lime decides to tear a bit of skin.

When I paid my daily visit to the chickens, they started tugging and pecking hard on my pants. As I shooed them away with a wave of my hands, Lime all of the sudden pounced on it and gave my hand a painful peck.

Down I looked, and surprisingly a small bruise was quickly forming.

I ignored this, and bent down to pet Lime as I always did. Usually she wouldn't mind, but this time she snapped and turned her head around to peck my hand off of her feathers. I withdrew my hand to avoid the peck and with hackles raised, she attacked again!

Lime turns around to deliver a flying peck. . .

Lime missed.

I playfully lifted her up at eye level and she snapped again, this time at my face. I let go and Lime plopped back onto the ground.

She shook her vanilla colored feathers as she steadied herself and started ramming against my knees. Her feathers were all fluffed up in confrontation mode. Lime circled me several times, each time tilting her head to meet my gaze in a stare of defiance. After a few seconds she gave up and went back to her food bowl.

I experimented with her reaction towards a glove. She hated it even more than my hand.

I felt a sort of betrayal in friendship. Lime had never attacked me before, she was the friendliest pullet in the flock. Lime enjoyed human companionship and would be the first to greet me at the door, she followed me around the chicken enclosure, and came running (most of the time) when called.

Yet. . . 

How could such a friendly gal suddenly want to draw blood?

Had Lime lost her docile temperament to the recent freezing temperatures?

I wondered if she thought of me either as this:

OR

An example of the "ice cream truck effect".

Egg Ritual

Baa-AH! au-au-a-a-bwua-AH! au-au-a-a--ba-AHH!!" The sound of Mellow's histerical bleating could even be heard through the window.

Who knew such a little chicken could bauwk as hard as she did?

Here's a recording of Mellow's noisy "buaa-AH's!"


Soon, the little white heads of Lime and Lemon popped out of the doghouse in confusion. Not knowing what to do, they added in soft cluckings of their concern for their dear little flock member Mellow.
 I noticed that Spice was sitting in on of the nesting boxes. Mellow stopped her loud bauw-AH-kings and ran back into her little hideout: the doghouse as soon as I arrived. Apparently, it was another call for attention on her newly laid egg; I spied a small light brown egg nested among the pine needle bedding (under Spice).

For some reason all the girls like the nesting box on the top left corner, they lay their eggs there everyday. Once in a while though, I do find eggs on the bottom box too. Another acceptable place to lay eggs is the doghouse. The chickens love to hang out there all day. I took a peak today on the other side of the chicken enclosure where the doghouse was positioned. Here's what I saw when I looked inside the doghouse:

Lemon stands up and stretches after laying her egg.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

Now back to Spice. . . 

Spice was well settled in the favorite nesting box among the chickens. I could tell that she would soon lay an egg as she started panting heavily.

Spice prepares to lay her egg.

Still wet, her egg pops out!

Soon after the egg was laid, Spice hopped out of the nesting box, and Lime who had been observing for a a while, decided to hop in.

Settling in. . .

Quite the comical expression. Doesn't lil' Lime look so motherly for a change?

After a LONG time, Lime finally jumped back out, fluffed her feathers, and headed back to the doghouse. Well, I guess that's all the egg laying they will do today!