All Substance, No Fluff

Feathers? Who needs 'em!

You can ditch your old feathers and get a whole new hairdo. You can strut your fancy new plumage all over town. But what we love about you has nothing to do with how many — or how few— feathers you have. Never forget the Affirmation Chickens mantra: All chickens are beautiful, all the time.

— Sonya SotoLayor who is really going through it with the whole molting business

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Here’s What’s Happening At Good Spirits Farm

• The sheep vs. electric fence charger standoff has ended! My electric fence charger died last week, which….left my sheep behind essentially a piece of rope. It took nearly a week to get a new battery for the unit, during which I had to pray none of my animals figured out the fence was not, in fact, on. Usually, I move my flock to new grass every two days, and in the last few hours before a move, there’s not much tasty grass left in their old area. (This forces them to eat some of the less desirable—but still totally edible—plants in the pasture, which helps them get more diversity in their diets.) But with my fence not spitting any fire, I didn’t dare leave them in an area with nothing but second-rate forage. So, I moved them every day, checked them often, and prayed. Somehow no one noticed the fence didn’t actually work! We now have a brand new battery and are back in zappy business! (And I am back to sleeping through the night without worrying my sheep are making a break for it and heading to Vegas.)

• I love raising turkeys because they’re funny, but let me tell you, they are not going to be invited into MENSA any time soon. Last night, a turkey launched himself off of the turkey house and flew straight into the electric net fencing. Luckily, the electricity was not on, but he managed to get thoroughly tangled. Chris went out to shut the turkeys in their houses for the night and found him hanging from one leg, like a very awkward bat. Chris freed the little guy, and we brought him into the barn to evaluate how bad the damage was. I *think* he is going to be okay—he seems to be able to stand and is getting around this morning. I’m just so glad Chris caught him when he did, and that the damage wasn’t worse. Never a dull moment here!

• Three of the chicks that Super Mama Chicken (RIP) hatched in July will head off to new homes this week. A friend is wanting her own backyard flock and we got a bit overrun by new chicks this summer, so I was happy to share! I love turning other folks on to the joy of backyard hens, and I hope she loves these ladies as much as I love my gals.

Here’s What I Loved This Week

I took the week off from my day job so I could just focus on getting a few farm projects done and finish off a few freelance writing assignments. It was amazing to only have to manage a farm and a few hours of freelancce writing each day! If you can possibly take a break from the grind (and as a person who does not get PTO, I totally get not being able to take time off), please step away. You deserve rest.