You may wonder (and I have often thought about this myself) why chickens are always barefooted. Chickens don’t wear shoes. The explanation that I’ve been given is that their claws poke holes in their socks, and we all know how uncomfortable that can be!
One very good hen friend (who is not the sort to go along with the crowd) got a hold of the goats’ hoof trimmer one day and clipped her own nails (which was quite an undertaking in itself). She was then able to successfully don a brand new pair of Christmas socks and a pair of steel-toed work boots.
Hilda was never one to go along with the crowd.
The last time I saw her, she was barefoot again, happily scratching around in the garden for earthworms and bugs. I guess it just goes to show you that not all new ideas are good ones…but we all have to find that out for ourselves.
You perhaps have never thought about it, but duck legs are too short to negotiate stairs. And their knees bend the wrong way. So, unless you are prepared to carry each bird in separately, (quite time-consuming if there are very many), you are not likely to have many ducks as house guests.
I hate to think that I may have limited my acquaintances with the feathered fowl due to this issue…but there it is.
Another No Name storm at Blue Hen Farm last week. No one was hurt, but the ducks decided to move their nest! With the help of friends we were back to normal by the dawn of the new day! Don’t let the Florida weather get you down…
As we stacked branches for burning and moved heavy logs it occurred to me that perhaps we should not be in such a hurry to “clean up the forest”. This is how nature builds soil. We should take a lesson from the forest floor and build our “social soil” in natural layers, as well. Let’s stay connected to nature and take heed of the lesson right in front of us.
On the way to deliver my grandson to school, we noticed that the state park folks have cleared a large section of the forest …cut down all the trees and put up little signs (as if anticipating negative feedback) that announce “Habitat Restoration”. We are surely proud of the way we can step in and improve on natural processes. It’s also handy that we can strip mine the woods and make a little profit for our trouble.
