Wednesday, November 21, 2007

The Neighbors Come For a Visit


Got chickens? Our neighbors do, and today they came for a visit.

I was outside by the trellis near the patio and I heard what at first I thought was Luna, with his quirky squeaky meow. I looked around for him and didn't see him, but when I heard the sound again, it didn't quite sound like Luna. So I did a better job of looking and there, not five feet away from me, strutting through the neighbor's hedge, were three chickens.

The neighbors that live catty-corner across the road from us have chickens and so do the ones that are three houses to the north. They don't have the same kinds and I recognized these as the neighbor-to-the-north's brood.

I don't know much about chickens, but in doing a Google search to help identify these, I'd say the black ones are are either Black Jersey Giants or Black Australorps, and the white one is a Light Brahma. Or I could be totally wrong about both, but they sure were pretty. The black one's feathers were iridescent in places, and when either of them shook their heads, their feathers around their necks fluffed out handsomely.


I guess I shouldn't call them chickens because at least one of them was a rooster. How I know is because it crowed several times.

This is the first time we've ever had them venture into our yard as far as I know, and I thought it was pretty neat to have them here. The cats sat staring at them, but it was Simba who took off after one of the black roosters. She didn't catch him though, thank goodness.

They are so cool it almost makes me want to buy chickens of our own. Romie just rolled his eyes the way he did when I said I wanted a pygmy goat.

11 comments:

Yolanda Elizabet Heuzen said...

That was a fun visit Kylee! I like chickens and am thinking about buying a few next year. The only thing that's stopping me is: who will look after the chickens when I'm on holiday. The cats are no problem, a dear friend of mine is nuts about cats too and he always wants to look after them. I'll have to ask him if he would look after the chickens too, I suppose. ;-)

Pygmy goats are cute, there's several people in my neighbourhood who have them.

Lisa at Greenbow said...

Oh what joy I would feel if I could have chickens. My DB does the ole eye roll when I say this too. I can't have them due to city ordinances. I think it would be so cool having them strut around the garden eating slugs and snails etc. Maybe you could just borrow your neighbors chickens once in awhile for a chicken fix. Now I don't mean chicken and dumplings. Kind of like people that house sit for dogs and cats. :)

Chris Kreussling (Flatbush Gardener) said...

Maybe they could be foster-chickens? They could come and visit, eat your slugs and snails, then go back to their "real" family.

Unknown said...

I would love to have chickens--fresh organic eggs, yum. :) I have the same city ordinance issue as Lisa, though. *sigh*

Soo... did you ever actually get that pygmy goat? (Just trying to figure out whether Romie rolling his eyes means "End of Discussion," or "What is she getting me into now?" LOL.)

Cindy Garber Iverson said...

Kylee, I read this blog out loud to Hubby and he said, "Honey, you're not getting pygmy goats OR chickens!" I have been toying with the idea of chickens for over a year. He keeps doing the same thing your husband does. Too funny, huh? Cindy at Rosehaven Cottage

Christine said...

I had chickens at the last house I lived in, and I loved it. We even had a couple of ducks! I had a pen, but they kept getting out, and as a result we didn't have any bugs in the yard! (They ate the mosquitos, chiggers, ants, everything)

kate said...

Those were adorable visitors - I hope you can talk Romie into raising some with you. They'd be great helpers in the garden.

I hope your eye is doing better and not looking quite so bruised now!

Shady Gardener said...

How fun! Thanks for the photos of the beautiful chickens! My mom used to purchase at least one different/exotic breed every spring when she placed her orders for chickens. Great memories.

kathy said...

I'm thinking too of getting chickens in the spring. My town has a Chicken Support group web site, where people can exchange chicken sitting duties. Your chicken visitors look really cute. I love your blog.

Bob said...

Got chickens? Yeah, sometimes too many...

I guess that Sarah and I are with chickens like you are with cats! She was recently offers 2 roosters and 3 hens. We didn't need any more roosters, that for sure, but we made provisions.

http://bgstembridge.blogspot.com/2007/10/cluck-cluck.html

Hmmmm, now whom do you know that has pygmy goats???

Kylee Baumle said...

I'm glad we're all in agreement that I should get chickens. However, Romie is not quite in agreement. Yet. My only concern is how big do they need to get before the cats wouldn't try to have them for a snack? The other thing is that they'd need a coop. We don't have one.

No - no pygmy goats here either. :-( It's all Bob's fault that I want one of those!

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