Fun in the backyard

The crabapples are just beginning to be ripe, we've been giving a few to the rabbits as treats. Yesterday afternoon we threw a couple to the chickens and settled in to watch Apple Soccer.

The rules are pretty simple. The goal of Apple Soccer is to steal the apple from the flock by pecking at it deeply enough that it gets stuck on their beak, then runs off with it. Meanwhile, the other chickens peck at the apple eating bits of it. The game ends when either the apple is stolen or it falls apart. Games can go anywhere from a few minutes to roughly 10. It's usually the sneaky little hens who win.

Now, granted, sometimes the chickens decide to play without our involvement. Usually one of the Ameraucanas jumps up onto a low branch and pecks at an apple until it falls down. This is a vastly preferred method to the Newton method - where the wind or gravity drops an apple on one of the chickens.

Missed a step in there

The guys have been working on the incubator today, so I've not been paying a heck of a lot of attention to them or the mess they've been making in the dining room. When things became too quiet, I started paying attention and fast. I managed to stop them before they completely pulled apart the egg turner. Seems they were trying to troubleshoot it since it wasn't "working".

An egg turner, for those not in the know, turns the eggs back and forth over the course of 4 HOURS. Its movement is invisible to the naked eye.

Without supervision, they may have turbo-charged the dang thing, thereby launching eggs into the stratosphere.