Get In Line, Ladies!

Quirky fowl behavior here at Frippery Farm!
The chickens have a coop with nesting boxes. Lovely coop, comfy boxes.
However, they all prefer to wait until I let them out of the coop and then they race to a spot behind the pallet we stack hay and feed on. They stand in line to lay eggs there! Oh, sure, I might find one or two eggs in the actual coop, but the girls consider this little area, wedged behind the feed pallet and a cinder block wall THE "perfect" spot!  One day last week, they deposited a total of a dozen eggs there!

A few eggs in the "perfect" spot

Gloria taking her turn

The line, with Pender being the bouncer. Dolores looks impatient!

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The peafowl are breeding! Although Pericles is not fully mature (he is only about 2 1/2---3 years old, full plumage happens around 4 to 5 years old), he is doing his darnedest to impress his ladies!

"Check it out, Ladies!"

"Looks good, no? "

I think he got a bit tired out, lol!

And the ladies have responded! We now have a couple of peahen nests built by Persephone and Pandora...and Persephone's nest has eggs in it!
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The weekend project of a new goose pen is complete:

Yes, a new home with a pool!
We went ahead and moved them in already. We carefully slid a large piece of  plywood under the nest and transported it intact to the new pen. Heloise and Xander LOVE their new pen...especially the pool! I think Heloise will continue to hatch her eggs, as she rearranged the nest and was setting the next morning.

So there's the fowl update this Monday morning!

The Peafowl Palace and A New Resident at Frippery Farm

TAAAA-DAAAAA!
The Peafowl Palace is complete!

I think the Darlin' Man, along with the assistance of his son and my son, did a fabulous job!
The peafowl are happy and content. We have a perch in there for them and a house will soon be in there as well, for them to cuddle in when it is really cold.
My chicken house project?
Errrmmm...not complete.

 ...sigh...I'll get back on that today...

Here's my milk stand (someone asked for a pic of my milking set-up recently)

Yes, that is a BBQ grill in the front. The fella forgot to attach a shelf or anything to put a little feed bowl on, so I found that the grill was the perfect height to set a pan full of feed on for the goat to nibble from while I milk. I took this picture right after milking and before I hosed it off. The height works really well when I sit in the lawn chair.

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Yesterday the Darlin' Man called from the feed store and told me he was bringing a new chicken home. The feed store guy, Junior, told him this hen was laying an egg every single day. A good chicken, he said, a WONDERFUL chicken. He convinced the Darlin' Man to buy her.
I was expecting something like this:

That's Zoe, a gorgeous chicken that is a good egg producer.

What he brought home was:

Oh yes....this was a remarkable chicken, indeed!

She has been christened..Betty, aka Ugly Betty.
We tried to put her in the chicken coop, but she was immediately attacked by the hens.
We tried to put her in with Pendar, but he decided to romance her...and was so rough, the poor little hen was shrieking in pain and terror. She is so small. Easily half the size of Zoe.
So, she is the new roommate of the peafowl, Pericles and Persephone.

I wonder how she feels being house with such lovely birds?
Poor thing.

Hopefully, she will feather out just fine.
Softie that I am, I pet her and tell her that she is a lovely bird. The peafowl share their feed with her just fine.
So, welcome Ugly Betty to Frippery Farm.