misty donkey herder on Nostr: When I can, I like to spend the golden hour with the chickens, especially when ...

When I can, I like to spend the golden hour with the chickens, especially when there’s chicks to look out for. Ninja really appreciates the help, too. This afternoon, when I showed up to put dinner grain in the coop, she had the chicks under the old raised beds. Once I was there, she slowly led me and the chicks across the (freshly mown) grass to the deep mulch under the cream hydrangea, where they spent almost an hour scratching up tiny tasty things. Presley led the main flock from their afternoon snacks in the orchard around through the terraces and into the garden for their last scrounging before bed.
Then that hawk showed up again! Bey let out a two-note warning call and every chicken froze solid. It perched in the fir by the coop and I, lacking anything else to do, went and pointed at it and yelled for a while. It ignored me so I just stood there too, watching it scanning for prey. It would turn its head, then bob about an inch forward and back, to triangulate I suppose. Then it would turn its head again and repeat the process.
Eventually it took off, scornfully flying rather low directly over my head as I yelled and chased it. It went right over where Ninja was frozen by the hydrangea, then kept going to the fence on the far side of the garden. I followed it and kept pointing, and in disgust it flew off to the neighbor’s yard.
It was utterly silent, except for me yelling, the entire time the hawk was around. A couple minutes after it moved on, the hummingbirds resumed hunting each other in the holly trees, but it was a couple minutes longer before the rest of the birds, wild and tame, suddenly started making quiet sounds again. Once Ninja gave the all-clear, the chicks came out of the shadows, and they got right back to scratching.
The biggest chick has a baby rooster’s tail, bronze banding on his wings, and perhaps some topknot, and I’ve named him Zeus. The Unfortunate Jimmy also has a rooster tail, and his underbite isn’t getting any better. Legs is as tall as Zeus, but she’s got a stubby pullet’s tail and quite good feathering on her legs. Our kid is really into retro gaming these days, so I think the all-black pullet chick will be Contra - she’s got no markings, black legs, and even a black beak. I think the other two are also future hens. One has a quite interesting face, with a yellow beak at the base that transitions to black at the tip, and I’m pretty sure that’s the one with the interesting bit of white on the wings, too.