Open Thread - Thurs 03 July 2025 - Surely It Can't Get Any Weirder?
Surely It Can't Get Any Weirder? 'Cluck Cluck'
Local news is getting weird, even as national news is climbing out of the hand basket of weirdness into insanity, or something like that. From Alligator Alcatraz to some dude killing firefighters perhaps because he once wanted to be one... to finding Travis Decker, who killed his three daughters and then disappeared into the forest. And no, they haven't found him yet. The news is just head shakingly insane. But the weirdness doesn't have to be all bad; here's something fun in local news, a T-Rex race!
Magenta, Columbia, and Riff Raff out and about yesterday!
Very, very, locally, like on the farm, other weird things have been happening. A week ago a friend contacted us; she was wondering if we'd be willing to take some chickens she was getting, basically rescuing, from an acquaintance who lives down on the Washington/Oregon border. It's a drive of several hours away, but she was willing to make it to help these little ones, and so we said yes. What we got was not what we, or our friend, expected. First, as she was driving down the highway a logging truck lost its load in front of her, and her trip time doubled. Then when she got to the acquaintance's she found the chickens living, somewhat, in an old outbuilding with broken glass on the floor. The chickens were actually living in the forest, feral, which is kinda cool and kinda weird.
We received one male, whom we named Riff Raff, and two females, whom we named Magenta and Columbia. There are two hens still down there who took off into the woods and couldn't be captured at all; if they are, they will be brought to the farm to live as well. The thing is, after living in the forest, these chickens can 'fly'. I mean, they fly 10 or more feet up into the air. They sleep in trees. It's crazy. As soon as they got here, Riff Raff took off when we were moving him into his temporary coop and just disappeared down the property line in the trees and forest. And down the road, eventually. But, after a day or two he showed up here again and very carefully began integrating himself. He and our other rooster, Handsome, had a fight, but now they have declared peace and are existing together. The two new hens, Magenta and Columbia, had to be caged into one of the goat barns to stop them running away, but now they are living with their guy, Riff Raff, in our shade house. They can escape it, somehow (we've tried to close it all off to no avail), so we let them out during the day and they go into it at night and we can close out all the predators then. So there's that at least. They stay close to the shade house, cluck and peck around the compost heap like our other 4 chickens, and seem to be settling in. Yay! Maybe they'll take to the coop some day. Or, maybe we'll end up with two small flocks of chickens living side by side (the shade house is about 5 feet from the chicken coop). If it must be, it must be. Their eggs are good!
So, after all the weird chicken stuff, here's the open thread! What's up, whatcha doing? Reading? Thinking? Remember, everything is interesting if you dive deep enough, so tell us about where you're diving!
Comments
Happy Day before July 4th!
Who knew chickens could live in the forest and fly for short distances? Too cool! I'm going to be going down the rabbit hole of learning about chicken evolution, I think
. Other than that, I'm hoping for a 'quiet' 4th. I know there'll be tons of blasts (I live between two Indian reservations which sell fireworks), but hopefully it'll all be over by Monday! Hopefully it'll be nice where you are too. Nice weather as well.
What's up? How you doing? What weird stuff in the news have you learned lately? Let us know
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
Crazy cluck clucks
.
Pretty much ignore the news now because it tends
to drive a reasonable person insane. Always had an
impression that chickens are kinda nuts. Clucking it up.
Good on you to let them go feral for awhile.
Thanks for the OT and enjoy the quiet before the bangers start blasting.
Zionism is a social disease
Yep, I'm ignoring a lot of the news now too...
because, just as you said, it drives a reasonable person insane. Loved the music video, and have a good 'clucking' 4th
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
Good morning...
I enjoyed your chicken adventures. Hope the flock does well.
No big news from the holler...just trying to keep up with the mowing and road grading. I've already been to the garden and got another bag of tomatoes and okra. It is better to get out early while it is cool.
Tomorrow we're going to a party on the brow of the mountain. I'm smoking chicken thighs to take to the pot luck, and there will be a round of frisbee golf.
Hope you all have a nice holiday. Thanks for the OT.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Good on you for keeping up the mowing...
We are so behind with ours, at least the field mowing. The lawn mowing is ok. The chickens are doing good today, Nikko is learning how to keep them in their territory, so they stay out of the woods! Hah!
We are having steak and baked potatoes and so on tomorrow, smoked chicken thighs sound good too! Good stuff. And now, I gotta find out what frisbee golf is
Have fun at the party tomorrow and have a good holiday.
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
Good mornng sima. Thanks for the OT. It is allegedly
both disobedience day and eat your beans day. Naturally,it occurs to me that one can effortlessly meet both objectives by simply failing to eat any beans today.
Da kine wiki tells us that:
Note that it doesn't say "flightless" anywhere. So, the chicken's evolutionary history is no doubt bifurcated or worse. Fowl, gallus gallus evolved, I surmise, but then some got domesticated. Some of those were simply domesticated and can probably fly as well as any others. Some have been subjected to vast amounts of selective breeding and have probably become incapable of much in the way of flight due to artiful selection for properties other than flight-worthiness. In any case, it is trivial that the egg came before the chicken. They started life as dinosaurs, each generation producing the next by laying eggs, At some point one generation had evolved and mutated sufficiently that it was the first "chicken" or "fowl". It came from an egg. Quod Erat Demonstrandum
Today is the anniversary of the US downing of Iran Air Flight 655. A regularly scheduled commercial flight that the US shot down while it was flying its normal route over Iran's territorial waters, seemingly out of pure malice. The attacking ship has previously sent a helicopter to harass some Iranian small craft, both in and out of their territorial waters. The US subsequently came up with some preposterous blather to attempt to justify this blatant bit of terrorism, but it's pretty well established; an Airbus A300, climbing after takeoff, on an established route, with its ID squawker blaring away that it was a civilian airliner, in Iranian airspace over Iranian waters was shot down by a US warship which had illegally entered Iranian waters shortly after one of its helicopters which had illegally entered Iranian airspace to harass some Iranian speedboats operating in Iranian waters had drawn some warning fire. It should be noted that our then good buddy Saddam Hussain's Iraq was then at war with Iran and it sure as hell smells like we were hoping to draw return fire which could then be used as the basis for some sort of Nouveau Tonkin Gulf Resolution to justify a longed for invasion of and war on Iran. July 3, 1988, 37 years ago today. Unable to stand their independence any longer, we finally decided to just bomb them with no legal justification or pretext whatsoever, simply because we can, but, be that as it may, there is still no chance that we will ever again install one of the Pahlavi family to be Iran's dictator and also no chance that we will ever be able to get their oil without having to buy it.
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Interesting stuff, el.
I will be eating beans today. Thursday night is taco night. I am sure to be disobedient eventually. Likely blowing off a speed limit sign.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Heh. I'll be having beans too, and tacos also. And, since
it is an infusion day, I will certainly blow off a speed limit more than once on the way to the infusion center and back - I always do. There's also a very high probability of up to 3 rolling stops on the outbound leg.
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Good info, thank you!
I think that I can celebrate disobedience day by eating beans and then ummm, doing the usual :). Maybe in public though?
Chickens aren't flightless, at least in my experience, but they do not make long flights, and generally not high flights (except for the three we've got now). So they go maybe 10 or 15 feet max at 5 feet above the ground. Of course, chickens bred for meat probably can't do any of that. Some of them can't even move
Didn't realize it was the anniversary of the downing of the Iran Air Flight. I remember when it happened; I was living overseas then and it was a big deal. Bleh.
Ohh well, have a great 4th and great weekend too! Thanks for the great information!
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
Good morning, sima!
It might have been during the egg price rise, but for whatever reason, the Gen Zers started acquiring boutique chickens and selling eggs. Blue eggs are a thing. Well, my secretary has a sturdy coop, experience with raising chines, and on any given day, a predator will get into the coop and kill off most of the flock.
Decades ago, someone gave me about 6 laying hens, and a rooster. They lasted about 3 days before the fox got 'em. The rooster crowed all day and all night. I mean, non-stop. After keeping me awake for several nights, I wanted to cheer on the fox.
Thanks for the OT, chica!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Roosters are so dang noisy!
It took me a while to get used to the sound of them when we first got chickens, and they start at like 3 am! Dang. We generally try for only hens when we get chicks, but even the experts can't always tell. We've had a few really great roosters, one that worked with Jaska to keep the farm safe, for example (go Beauford!). And some really bad ones too. I've never had much trouble with the 'roos, because I'm almost always got the dog with me. But hubby got attacked by one once, and blooded. Now he carries a shield if he has to! The 'roos eventually get used to everything and stop attacking, that goodness.
We have to be very watchful to keep the predators away from the chickens. They've got a completely enclosed coop, even the top is protected with chicken wire to keep the bald eagles away. The chickens are free range during the day, but closed in at night. Even the little chicken door has to be closed, or some coyote or fox will get in!
Hope your tacos tonight were good. I'm gonna haveta have some on Saturday, my hunger for them has been activated
. Have a great holiday!
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
The BBB passed.
Trump will sign it at 5pm. Expect Big Brother to be watching you 24/7 thereafter.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
big brother bastids
.
been over-watching for years now. Aside from commenting on
political blogs, nothing to see here. Beautifully boring bullshit.
Zionism is a social disease
Sandy Denny?
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Big Brother...
Bastids. I like that interpretation of BBB. Very fitting.
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
Dang...
that it passed makes me wanna vomit. Sheez.
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
what good is congress?
.
except to rubber stamp their masters'
agenda with their limp wrists
sheesh
Zionism is a social disease
what good is congress?
.
except to rubber stamp their masters'
agenda with their limp wrists
sheesh
Zionism is a social disease