Free Ranging Chickens and Other News From Sweetgrass

The Sweetgrass Barnevelder chickens have been free-ranging for the past several weeks and seem to adore poking around in the horse pastures. When it comes time to return to the hen house for the night, the ladies are a bit of a rodeo. Unlike the ducks, who naturally stick together and seem inclined to return to the safety of their pen, the hens delight in a maneuver best described as fast trot swirl and scatter. Devious birds...

Last evening was a sleepless and moo-filled night, with Daisy's mournful calls to her bull calf, Tip. As of late, the seven month-old Tip has been drawing his pregnant mom down, so we separated the two to give Daisy's system a chance to recover. For now, Daisy is in a big pasture with Libbey and Tove and Tip is in the adjacent pasture with Tad.

Interestingly, the calf didn't pay much attention to his mom before this afternoon, when he must have started missing his mama's milk. We might be in for a sorrowful duet tonight.