Weekend Update

Remember my pumpuchinis?  So they totally grew to be a pretty decent size and for the most part turned orange.  We got three of them.  One was given to the neighbor kids who helped with the planting of the plant, one was carved into a Jack-o-Lantern, and one still sits awaiting its fate.  The reason we didn't carve the third one is because carving the first one was such a pain in the ass.  I don't know why, but the outermost skin of the pumpuchini was super duper hard.  It almost had a candy shell that broke when the knife was stuck into it.  My design I had in mind had to be simplified, but after just one injury to the palm of my hand that I acquired when my hand slipped down the knife, I was able to carve to completion.  So the moral of the story is: crossing zucchinis and pumpkins results in fruit that is more worthless that its parents.

Pumpuchini on the right, regular pumpkin on the left.

Now remember Frannie's poor feather affliction?  Well, it's gotten both better and worse.  It's gotten worse because now she's officially molting.  Like, Elsa style.  She has huge patches of baldness on her wings, but also has a ton of pin feathers.  She also has pin feathers on her belly where all of her previous baldness was, so once this is over, she should be as good as new.  Speaking of pin feathers, Elsa also has so many covering her whole body that she looks like a porcupine.  I apologize for the series of poor quality photos, but it's hard to take pictures of chickens when you can't hold them.

Porcupine.  One week ago.

Pin feathers slowly opening up.

She's so ugly it's cute.

Is this a bit much?  Sorry for the ass shot.

This is the first year we are letting the ladies have a winter.  For the past 2 winters, we've had lamps in their coop to keep their daylight hours up to maintain their laying.  Though it was nice to have fresh eggs all year round, I got to worrying about their health and their calcium levels.  If nature decides that they need a break, who am I to deny them their break?  Since the days have been getting shorter, their laying has really declined to the point where we get an egg every other day.  I'm sure it'll get to be zero here soon, and I'll have to buy my first dozen eggs in over 2 years.  I think this is why we haven't had a molt until now.  The moral of this story is: let your ladies rest in the winter.  That way their bodies won't get confused.

Now lastly, remember the peas that I planted at the end of summer?  I did it last year with not so good results, and this year, though much better, proved to still not be worth the seeds.  I think I harvested a total of 10 pea pods.  One last moral for ya: peas don't grow too good in the fall.

That's all I have for today.  Good night everyone.