Oh My Dear Mr. Bennet!
Today was simply beautiful.
I woke up late and headed to the barn. The sun was shining directly into the kitchen windows and lighting up the entire room. After changing into my barn clothes I filled up two 10-gallon buckets of water. We usually carry a good 40-50 gallons of water to the barn everyday. The barn is probably 200 feet or more so carrying a 10 gallons bucket of water, one in each hand, isn’t the easiest thing to do. After I fill the water buckets I usually go get the goat and chicken feed. While I am doing this, Rachel gets the dog food (eggs, bacon, oatmeal, chicken) ready. I then head to the barn to spread out the chicken feed and then go feed each of the goats. When I’ve got the goats taken care and satisfied, I let the chickens out. They usually bolted through the door when we open it, so you have to do it rather fast. So about 60 or so chickens all run out and start pecking at the pieces of grain. I’ll usually find an egg or two inside their pen in the morning.
After I finished feeding, I helped Rachel carrying down the water… a few more… and filled up the goats’ water. While Rachel refilled the chicken water, I cleaned out the goat stall, which took a good half hour. Then we carried the manure out to the field, and spread out some dry hay for the goats. I think at least two of the goats are pregnant, though I am not sure. If they are I am expecting (probably) four kids in late March. We didn’t plan on breeding them until January but the bucks accidentally got out their pen and ended up with the does (that’s why we’re not sure who is expecting or not).
I took some pictures of the chickens if you’d like to see.
I love the chickens. Next to goats they’re my favourite barn animal, I think. You should see some of our roosters. We have over 60 chickens and about 8-9 roosters. The roosters are quite ornery and will chase the hens. They also fight with each other, which is quite hysterical. Two roosters will fly at each other with their hackles up. And in the morning (and all throughout the day) you will hear the crowing of a rooster or two. (don’t tell them, but they always think it’s morning)
I have a rooster that I claim as mine. His name is Mr. Bennett (yes from Pride & Prejudice). I do a Mrs. Bennett impression and I always call him in my high-pitched, loud, annoying voice. Haha. I know exactly which rooster is Mr. Bennett because (1 he’s a Rhode Island Red and (2 because on both his feet he’s missing the middle toenail. He is a large rooster but has a very poor set of tail feathers.
Here is a picture of his head.
I had to hold him to take the picture so I couldn’t get his body. I had a hard enough time catching him as I chased him around for several minutes before I actually got a hold of him.
I made an icon with him too! Haha If you want a picture of a rooster on your blog, you can all have this icon just email me for the code.
As for eggs, right now we are getting at least a dozen eggs a day, which is good for us because we eat a lot of eggs and they are at our disposal now. It really is fun to go down to the barn each night and find several eggs. The other night I came up with fifteen eggs! Omelet anyone?
You know chickens are quite harmless. When you pick them up they will just sit with you. Some will try to run away from you and fly out of your arms, but most are very relaxed. Before we got chickens I was “afraid” of chickens. They are birds, you know, with beaks and claws, but since we’ve had them I find they are harmless and quite amusing. When ya’ll come for a visit we can chase chickens around together. Haha.
31 Comments | Rules of Engagement | What Are You Talking About??
Posted By Miss Jocelyn Tzahala on December 31, 2007 | Category: Homesteading, In The Life Of A Country Girl
Comments
31 Responses to “Oh My Dear Mr. Bennet!”
Leave a Reply
Thank you for visiting my site! I hope that it has encouraged and challenged you in someway. Please be aware that my blog is not intended for any debatable purposes (honestly!!), though that's not to say I'm not open to be shown the error of my ways via the Scriptures. This is simply just a place for me to share what Yahveh-God is convicting me of and showing me in my walk with Him. Please read "You're Judgmental" before commenting if the thought strikes you.
I have comments set for moderation and I reserve the right to deny comments if I feel it necessary. I will deny comments that go against the Scriptures. If you are going to refute what I say, please use a Scripture for each belief, in context. I will edit pagan-names and words from comments in obedience of Exodus 23:13.
Also note that if you do not use a valid email address your comment will not be published, no exceptions. Your email is only seen by me so that I might clear my website of spammers. You can read My Site, My Right for more on my site rules.
Wanna a place an image next to your comment? Get yourself a gravatar.
Please make sure you sign up for comment-notifications (below) to receive reply comments in your inbox as I do answer comments on the post thread. Thank you for commenting!
Welcome to A Pondering Heart. Blessings to you in your visit here! This site is owned by a 18yo young lady, Miss Jocelyn who is striving to please Yahweh in everything she does. She is the second eldest daughter of two wonderful parents, sister to seven siblings, and "momma" to beautiful Nubian goats. Currently completing her education and serving Yahweh until she further serves him in marriage and motherhood. In hopes she might encourage ladies in a Scriptural-worldview she shares about her daily life, beliefs, and heart’s ponderings. Here you will find stories from life on the homestead, encouragement, the Scriptures, photography, reviews, giveaways, memes, and much more!
Haha! That’s funny!
~Jessica
[Reply]
I have a pet rooster too. When Mom suggested that we cull the flock (if you have a small number of hens, you have to get rid of the roosters) she wanted to get rid of him, but I saved him and he has turned out really pretty.
I haven’t posted any pictures of him in a post, but they are on my blog.
http://ericnovak.com/?page_id=132
He is the first rooster.
Eric
[Reply]
Wow, I was wondering where this post was going, with the obvious Pride and Prejudice allusion. I was hoping your mom wasn’t try to match you or Amanda to the local man of fortune! LOL!
We would love to have chickens, but in our neighborhood, I don’t think they are allowed. We are right outside of the city limits in the suburbs. The eggs sound great!
[Reply]
Ahahahaa. I’m game from chasing chickens. Just as long as we don’t hurt them :D But i’m game!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)
I love looking at the pictures of your family farm. So cool!
Ugh I am getting sick. No wait, I am sick. icky!
Love
Julia
[Reply]
Once we had a chicken and a rooster. We named them Sally May and High Loper, from the Hank the Cowdog series. Unfortunately, they were killed by stray dogs.
And, Kekoa would love chasing chickens. When we go to some other friends’ house, that proves to be his chief occupation.
Nice pictures.
[Reply]
Hello Jocelyn,
How are things? It’s been really busy around here, so i haven’t been really active on HSB lately. The elections are coming up. Even though I’m not old enough to vote, it’s will be interesting. Happy New Year! God bless!
Matt/Eragon
[Reply]
Hello Jocelyn,
How are things? It’s been really busy around here, so i haven’t been really active on HSB lately. The elections are coming up. Even though I’m not old enough to vote, it’s will be interesting. Happy New Year! God bless!
Matt/Eragon
[Reply]
LOL You crak me up Your sister had told me of your wonderful Mrs. Bennet impersonations although she didnt seem very fond of them lol. Im sorry I dont agree I dont like chikens besides eggs they arnt much fun my first memory of chikens is a near death experiance with a mean rooster but the dog saved me. I like Mr. Bennet hes pretty. LOL
GB~
sharla~
[Reply]
“When ya’ll come for a visit we can chase chickens around together. Haha.”
Well, I’m scared to death of chickens . . . I don’t know why. So maybe you can just come here instead. :)
Finally the library got the Sillmarillion!!!! YES!!! So of course I checked it out . . .
We’re going on a trip tomorow, so I needed something long.
I’m rambling yet again, so, goodbye!!
Kate
[Reply]
Mr. Bennett, what a great name! I love it! :)
Oh, a textured background, that’s a good idea! I didn’t want to do images, because I thought it would be too busy (and after the old one, I need something more soft and not *so* wild and busy!), so I wanted something solid. And green seemed to go well…but a textured background would work well too–not too busy but not so John Deere-y. LOL! Thanks for the tip!
[Reply]
Sounds like you need a 100 foot of hose. $20 well spent!
Growing up on a farm, we definately had chickens. occasionally we would have a scary rooster. My sister and I hated going into the coop with a scary rooster. He would attack us.
We were always a little thankful when he would meet his end by protecting the hens some night. (I know it is bad to be happy about a rooster massacre… but they were forgetting who was feeding them ya know!)
[Reply]
Oh, how funny! Our chickens are featured on our Fair Hills Farm website. We have one really pretty rooster known as “Ferdinand” (or “The Nice Rooster”) and one bossy fat rooster that doesn’t have good conformation (hence his unfortunate nickname, “Lumpy” – or “The Mean Rooster”).
They are good at protecting the hens. I like your colorful assortment of chickens. We have Dominiques and our old Red Stars (those 3-year old hens have quit laying this winter). But we still get plenty of eggs from the Dominiques.
~Amanda~
[Reply]
Hmm…that was a tricky poll. I spend time on blogging, IMing and Facebook when I have spare time…but I finally decided on HSB blogging because that’s what I prefer to do (even though I haven’t been on there much this month).
~Amanda~
[Reply]
Hello Jocelyn!
Thank you for putting it on for me! :) Hmmmmm, I’ll have to think about having a picture of Mr. Bennett on my blog LOL. ;) Yeah that tag was fun to do. If you would like to do it go ahead! I just didn’t tag you because I wasn’t sure if you were still into tags. I would be happy if you did though. :) Thanks again Jocelyn!
Love,
Jessica
[Reply]
I think Paulie thinks that just getting into my blog is hacking. he must because I was the one who gave him the password! Lol! ;)
Eric
[Reply]
Hello Jocelyn!
Thank you for putting it on my blog for me! :) Hmmmm, I’ll have to decide if I want a picture of Mr. Bennnett on my blog. ;) Yeah, that tag was fun! If you want to do it you can. I just didn’t tag you because I wasn’t sure if you were into tags anymore. :) I’m sorry Hannah is sick. :(
Love,
:)Jessica:)
[Reply]
Haha H0MEFREE…. we have a hose but during the winter the water is slightly FROZEN! lol
[Reply]
Ah, I love reading about you daily doings at your farm life. How fun!! I love country and animals. We used to have lots of chickens roaming around here, but since they weren’t pinned up, they eventually diminished because of hawks, the dogs, foxes, and things. So, we gave away the last few that were left to an old friend…But I’d love to have them again. They were my favorite animals as a child; I don’t know why, I just loved them! I’d feed them everyday and throw the feed out to them. It’s exciting finding an egg or too as well, and not to mention it’s much healthier than store bought eggs and much cheaper too!!
So yeah, I had fun when we had our chickens. I’m hoping we can do it again but with a pen this time. Dad agrees we should, so it’s just taking the time to get it going ;-)
Haha, I like what you said at the end, about chasing and catching a chicken. It reminds me of a friend; She has chickens and every time we go to her house we try to catch one of the chickens but can never succeed because they always go running into the woods…
Sorry to hear most of you are sick over there. I have prayed for you. I hope you are well.
By the way, Happy New Year!!! Can you believe we’re hours away from 2008? Are ya’ll doing anything to celebrate? Or are ya’ll feeling better to celebrate?
Talk to you later ;-)
Brooke
[Reply]
Wow, that’s alot of eggs. If I were ever to live in the country, I think that I would like to have chickens. The only thing though is that they can be messy.
That would be neat if the goats were pregnant. Would you sell or keep the kids?
[Reply]
Is everyone feeling better yet? I hope so.
Ooh! We used to have chickens. I miss them soooo much! We had a little black bantam who would sit on my shoulder, that was about eight years ago. Sigh….
Do more chicken posts soon!
Ah, I mean, please, pretty pleeaase? LOL!
Heather
[Reply]
Oh my daughters are planning on watching Pride & Prejudice tonight for New Years. Great group of chickens there Jocelyn. I added your banner to my Homespun Life blog and Jessi added you to hers as well.
[Reply]
This is SOOO neat!!!! I don’t know if you are going to see this at HSB or wordpress, but its neat.:-)
Amy
[Reply]
Haha Heather you’re funny!
Oooh I love P&P. The older version or the newer one SistetLisa?
Haha.. I’ll see it at both Amy.
[Reply]
Thank you very much! I hope yours is too! :)
[Reply]
MJ-
That is really funny!! I like that name for him and you even made him a icon, how special, LOL. My youngest sister absolutely adores chickens. She must have every kind of stuffed chicken there is…I mean toy stuffed chickens that is, LOL.
Have a great New Year and God bless!
Love in Christ, Miss Elizabeth
[Reply]
Dear Lord,
In the new year, we pray
that You will guide us each new day
in paths that are pleasing to You.
Lord, the new year gives us another chance
to rededicate our lives to You,
to study Your Word
so that we know right from wrong
and to act in accordance with Your commands.
Thank you for the sense of
direction, purpose and peace we get
from aligning our lives with Your Holy will.
We pray for the strength and the will to obey You
each and every day of the new year,
and when we fail, we pray for Your mercy,
Your compassion, Your grace and Your love.
Help us in the new year to be your faithful servants.
In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.
[Reply]
Hello, and thankyou for the comment and dear wishes to me!
This year I have many new goals, and I’m determined to reach them with God’s help. I would appreciate prayers. :-)
I wish you, also, a happy new year, and a blessed one! May God keep you and bless you the whole year through!
[Reply]
Thankyou Im excited to see what comes as well with me turning fifteen it will be interesting to see what happens. HEY LOL Its snowing!!! My dad just opened the door and its snowing!!!! yay. LOL Im excited to see what I get to.
GB~
sharla~
[Reply]
How fun! Your day starts out pretty good, do you have snow to trek through?
Denise
aka /CuriousCat
[Reply]
Hello,
Before we moved and got rid of our chickens it was my job to take care of them. Actually we have gone through many chickens because “wild” doxens kept getting at them.
I had one chicken though, and her name was Alice, she was a Rode Island Red and was so pretty. I thought that chicken was the greatest.
The doxens found her one day though, and when we got two more they where mean. Anytime I would get in the pen to feed them, or anything, they would peck at me, and it scared me half to death. A change from Alice.
Now that I’ve told you all about my chickens, I think I should tell you HAPPY 2008!
Out of the Blue
Bluejane
[Reply]
[...] is picture thought I am sharing… This is Mr. Bennet, Jocelyn’s Rhode Island Red rooster. He is one of the nicer roosters, and is very big! But he [...]