Monday, July 15, 2013

Preferential treatment

Before getting into the subject of this post, I want to thank all of you for your kind words and sympathy regarding the loss of my friend and another acquaintance to breast cancer. I attended my friend's memorial service yesterday evening, and was truly awed and humbled by the portrait of faith, grace, love and service revealed in my friend's life; what an incredible woman! Oh, that I may be a fraction of the blessing to others that she was....

In the last chicken post, I reported that the pullets are now in with the mature hens except for Perch, who was in protective custody. We kept her cage in the run during the day and in the henhouse at night so she could be part of the flock, but it was clear she wanted out of the cage. But when we let her out, she immediately became a target – not just of the "big girls," but also of the other pullets, who were the ones who bloodied her in the first place. When we came running to intervene, she would meet us at the fence, obviously looking to humans for safety. That gave me an idea. Why not let her free-range? She would have room to exercise and freedom to scratch and forage without being molested, but would probably hang out around the run to be near others of her kind.
"Hi there. I think I like this!"
"Hey, what's she doing out there?"
"Mmm; cantaloupe!"
The color around her eyes has improved since I took this photo.
At night we still put her in a cage within the coop. One evening Brian put her back in the coop without the protection of the cage, and she was attacked again. So for now, Perch will continue with nighttime confinement and daytime liberty – and a growing spot in our hearts for her trust in us!

Tour de Fleece continues through this coming Sunday. I did two test-plies of Browning's singles and still need to knit them into mini-swatches before I can continue, so spinning has been done on spindles only lately. Today I finished the lovely blue fiber on the one (there's still plenty of pink to spin!).

That's it for today from . . .

2 comments:

Tina T-P said...

Poor little Perch - chickens can be SO mean sometimes. I'm glad you are willing to do a workaround for her :-)

I'm sorry to hear about your friends.

The blue singles on the drop spindle are just beautiful in it's own. - so neat and tidy crossed over.

So far I've done the three 4 oz skeins of potluck roving, and started working on some CVM/shetland blend that a friend gave me for my birthday - it wanted to be fingerling weight - that takes so very long to spin! So I finished the first half and I'm taking a break with some red gold and black painted BFL that I won in a grab bag. (I either had to spin to sell or give it away, definately not my colors) When I get it finished, I'll go back the the other half of the CVM and then I need to start some shetland for a project for The Shepherd. I see lots of spinning in my future.. . . T.

Thirteen Sheep (Or More) said...

Perch is a very lucky chicken to live with you! She should make a blog post or two every now and then.
Your spinning looks wonderful!