"Just give it a little more time sweetie..........."

Thats what the lady at the feed store said the other day when I called about Henri's blossoming manhood. I had been concerned for a few weeks about Henri's redder comb and growing wattle. I had been combing the internet looking for how to distinguish barred rock hens from roosters at 10 weeks old and they all said the same thing.....slow to gain tail feathers, redder comb, thicker legs with growing spurs, and a lighter gray color than the others. Well got damn.......that describes my little Henri to a T.  So, I called the feed store. Frances, the sweet lady on the other end of the line assured me that there is only a 1% chance that she could in fact be a rooster. She said that many of her own hens had bigger combs than the others and they turned out to be great laying hens. She said "give it a little more time sweetie and in a couple months you will be able to tell, she will either crow or lay an egg."


My mom was in Austin for christmas, and she even said "Oh no. Don't worry if your brother's hen didn't lay eggs I would swear it was a rooster." Mom knows best right? But just to make sure I emailed my brother and asked what size his barred rock hen's comb had grown to be. His girl was medium size and he assured me that Henri was probably just "butch" and if not it was time for a chicken gumbo.


Denial is a funny thing. I say this because the morning I was getting ready to go to louisiana I was sitting in the living room and heard a half hearted attempt at a crow. I ran into the laundry room where they were still living and lo and behold, right in front of my face Henri crowed like there was no tomorrow. My heart sank and yet even now I am still holding out hope that she is still a pullet.  Only time will tell. She is one of my sweetest ones. She always jumps up to see me in the morning, eats out of my hand, and  rides on my shoulder just like Penny out to the coop.  This is the first time in my life where I feel like I am blinded at will to something that is so obvious. I guess I just don't want to accept it because I have become attached to her. I am going to give it another month before I change her name from Henri to Henry.

What do you think?

In other big news the girls are spending there first night out tonight.  I promised Claire that I would move them out as soon as the New Year came around and well tonight is the night. Seriously they were taking over the laundry room. Here is some proof..........

Breaking out of the box...yet again 

I am putting a heat lamp out for their first night because it is cold and rainy. I know it's probably overkill but I want to be sure nothing happens on their first night out.  I just snuck out there to see if all of them could get into the hen house by way of the ladder since it is dark and surprisingly all of them had made it. They were all snuggled up ready to go to bed. It's amazing how instinctual they are.


I have a couple of side projects going on at the moment here at Uprooted Bamboo. I finished the gate and am working on putting up a fence in the back. Mom did some hard work when she was here and helped clear out some of the remaining dead bamboo. This should make putting up the back fence a snap now that its cleared out a bit more. We had a back patio poured and made a fire pit out of an old wheel barrow( a genius idea stolen from two lovely ladies Chelsea and Kerry).  Other than that, I need to start tilling, leveling, and working on the garden boxes. So far 2011 is off to a good start..........

Free ranging on Christmas Day 

Sonny discovering and loving to eat the succulents 

Penny's favorite spot