5.10.2007

Heather Has Two Mommies

Heather Has Two Mommies

Timmy and the White Queen have decided to share the child-rearing responsibilities. Hence, I’ve decided the chick’s name must be Heather (or, perhaps Heath, it’s too early for me to tell).


Heath(er) can already hop in and out of the bucket her two mothers have chosen for their new nest.




She soon disappears under her mommies, but you can still see just a bit of downy chick-tail peeking out.


Meanwhile, the other two nests sit abandoned. Looks like Heather, like Ms. O’Kitten, will be an only child. But no matter, then you don’t have to share your mommies’ attention with anyone else!



Farfalle, A Bird of a Different Feather

Today I visited my friends Emily and Peter, and met a new bird, Farfalle, an 11-year-old African Grey Parrot. I think he’s extremely handsome. Just look at those scarlet tailfeathers!


Farfalle lives with his humans and two cats, who occasionally like to poke at him, but he’s quick to peck at their tails and grab little beakfuls of their fur--just to make sure they remember who’s the boss.


He is quite talkative and has a large vocabulary, but is also rather shy and only likes to vocalize when no one is watching. He is giving me a wary eye, but was very kind to pose for the camera.


Fleece Preview

Here’s my mom skirting Llannie’s fleece. I’m really delighted because the hay we got this year had few weeds and no burrs in it, so the fiber has almost no veggie matter, and next to no guard hair or other waste. This is about 1 1/2 lbs. of fleece.


Tomorrow morning a shearer is coming to do the sheep, and then we’ll be set to take all the fleece for processing. Even Switzer—who is now about 15 years old—has nice fiber, all very soft with a lovely crimp. Since she and Lacey are so similar in color (must be that mother-daughter thing, although that makes Pepper a complete anomaly), we’re going to blend their fiber together, making about 2 1/2 lbs. of a cinnamon-nutmeg flavor.

I’m not sure how much of Graty’s fleece we have; last year I believe it was close to 3 lbs. but it may be a little less this year. We plan to blend his with our sheepswool.

I want to keep Pepper’s fiber, partly because there’s only about a pound of it, and partly because I think it’d be nice to card it myself, possibly with Thorn’s lambswool, who was sheared last spring when he was only a couple months old, so that’s supersoft, too. All very exciting, and I'll certainly keep you posted.

9 comments:

Chris said...

Aw, lucky Heath(er)! Dang, that's a lot of fiber your mom is working on!!!

Anonymous said...

Looks like Heath(er) will be well taken care of. I am so surprised that the two females are cooperating!

Can't wait to see what you spin of your fiber.

Anonymous said...

I'd like to bury my hands in that pile of fiber. I can't wait to see it processed.

Alison said...

Your hens are so lovely, and Heather is a cutie! As for that fiber, how will DH cope with that in the house?

MsFortuknit said...

K hes handsome and all but Az' is like 18000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 times cuter. Plus hes younger, and you know how much you and I love younger men!
hahahah

Anonymous said...

Lucky Heather!

That fleece looks like there is a TON of it! All off of Llannie?

I'd keep Pepper's first fleece too. Sentiment. And it would be fun to see you spin it up and knit it.

Obsidian Kitten said...

Yeah, that's all Llannie--isn't that amazing? And his is particularly soft, I wish y'all could stick your hands in it, too. Imagine how much more we had last year when he got the all-over shear...lol

pins&needles said...

Oh, I wish I can touch that fiber. It looks so pretty and soft. I can't wait to see it spun up into something. Plus, it would be interesting on how its processed.

Chickens look cute in the bucket.

Anonymous said...

Heath/Heather is a lucky chick. Take note of whether his/her legs seem disproportionately long. And if you make a loud noise or a fast movement, does he/she duck and run, or stretch his/her neck out to see what the commotion is? Two potential early signs of rooster are long legs and less fear.

However, I was wrong about our last rooster so you may not want to go by me.

Love the llama stuff. The llama/rambouillet blend sounds fantastic.