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Old miracles … and new ones: Hi-Def chickens
By Gina Spadafori
January 30, 2010
After a certain puppy chewed my little Flip video recorder to bits, I was all set to buy a new one. But then I saw the rave reviews on Sony Bloggie , which debuted at the Consumer Electronics Show earlier this month. So I popped for one of those, instead.
First video? My feet. I’ll spare you that one, and show you the second: My flock! For the chicken fans out there, I have: Two Rhode Island Reds (Hazel and Hester), two new Hampshire Reds (Beatrice and Belinda), two red stars (Rosa and Ruby), one Australorp (Sheila), one Barred Rock (Prudence), two Americuanas (Viviana and D’Ora), one Polish crested (Olga), one gold-laced Wyandotte (Philippa) and one I-Don’t-Know-She-Was-A-Bonus-chicken (Perdita). Plus the Queen of the Flock, Agatha, the Delaware.
And, of course, Bernadette The Weather Duck®.
That noise you hear in the background? Why, that would be Faith, methodically snapping bits of lattice off the chain-link fence. Fortunately, the lattice is going away with the spring garden expansion, so snap away, my puppy princess!
Old miracles: Fresh eggs every day from beautiful, friendly birds. New miracles: Hi-def video from a little piece of electronics that’ll fit in your pocket — for less than $200.
It’s a strange and wonderful age we live in, isn’t it?
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It’s such a cheerful sight in the morning! I always tell mine “Good morning and thanks for breakfast” when I let them out of the hen house. Do you spread hay in the run?
Comment by C.L.H. — January 30, 2010 @ 10:09 am
Great video, especially the sound.
[Note to self (if she buys one) - Be very aware of bodily sounds when filming.]
Comment by Miki — January 30, 2010 @ 10:15 am
Are there any chicken books in the works?
Comment by C.L.H. — January 30, 2010 @ 10:21 am
Wow. Gorgeous video, pretty chickens.
Comment by Susan — January 30, 2010 @ 10:59 am
If that’s Perdita in the background at about :14 then I think she’s a silver-spangled Hamburg. Are her legs gray?
I love chicken chatter.
The one thing that bums us out about snow cover that stays is that the chickens will not leave the coop. So we don’t get entertained by their daily dramas or soothed by their busy muttering.
And they sure are snarky when they are cooped up. We open the pop door, no dice. They’d rather stay in and bitch than get their feet cold.
Comment by H. Houlahan — January 30, 2010 @ 12:30 pm
The last snow we had, my chickens walked along the lower rail of the unfinished chicken run until they came to a bare patch under a tree. They looked like a bunch of tight rope walkers all lined up. They absolutely will not walk in the snow. I wonder what chickens in North Dakota do?
Comment by C.L.H. — January 30, 2010 @ 12:48 pm
Mystery solved, Heather! Perdita is indeed a silver-spangled Hamburg. And since I see they lay white eggs, I’m guessing that small egg was hers, not Bernadette’s.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — January 30, 2010 @ 1:22 pm
Oh, and check with Christie, but I believe I have committed to talking about backyard chickens during Chat Month on PetHobbyist.com. :)
No chicken books, though.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — January 30, 2010 @ 1:23 pm
Wow..Faith is such a good little helper..first with the video recorder and now the fence!
Comment by Carol V — January 30, 2010 @ 3:20 pm
Yes, she’s a very “helpful” puppy.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — January 30, 2010 @ 4:20 pm
Our original rooster, Henery Hawk, was a freebie mystery chick, silver-spangled Hamburg.
He went to a pet chicken home this fall after the young turks started picking on him because he had a limp. I needed to keep two of the young roosters, and keeping Henery locked up in protective custody was not fair to him.
But not before leaving us with seven half-Hamburg sons and daughters of Henery.
The sons of Henery grew into gorgeous ornery beasts who did not respect the hens. Delicious.
The three daughters of Henery are beautiful, flighty wild things who lay small cream-colored eggs. One of them scales her way out of the coop every morning and lays her eggs in a hidden nest in the barn. Every time I find the nest she moves it. She also leaves huge poops in the barn aisle right in front of the door.
Henery was a beautiful bird, and I do miss him. But I’m overall not caring for the Hamburg temperament. My “heavies” are much calmer.
Comment by H. Houlahan — January 30, 2010 @ 4:32 pm
I also like the temperaments on the heavier breeds better. In particular, the two New Hampshire Reds are the friendliest by far. In fact, they’re always closest to me in the video, I just noticed.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — January 30, 2010 @ 6:11 pm
Must. Get. Chickens.
Comment by Susan Fox — January 30, 2010 @ 7:15 pm
You really must!
Comment by Gina Spadafori — January 30, 2010 @ 7:22 pm
How fun to hear all those breed names. I just see a bunch of chickens! Reminds me of the time I dated a lumberjack … a walk in the woods was so interesting because all those trees well, they were actually different types with different “status.” And some were not welcome and would be cut down. Huh!
Comment by Mary Mary — January 30, 2010 @ 8:05 pm
Gina-
Your blog stopped me short. I HAD to click the video. Love the chickens. I’ve never watched chickens on the computer before. Kinda cool.
I love the iFlip (well, it’s my daughter’s but she lets me borrow it) and the Sony Blogger seems great.
I wonder if you or your readers have any advice for me: I am looking for a video camera that hangs around my neck or clips to my shirt. I video and blog every day… yep, I am quirky and follow my pets around the house with one hand on my camera and one hand petting, positioning, or bathing them. It is too much for this chick (had to throw a bird reference in) to handle.
Someone told me about a peanut camera and a neck loop cable camera. (?) Heard of this (?)
I am a geek who is asking about technical equipment tips to video my pets. Wow. We are all such animal LOVERS, eh?
I remember on my 10th birthday I got a VCR - it was as big as a suitcase.
Now, I am blogging about wanting an ‘itty bitty camera to wear on my shirt collar. To follow my pets around.
My 10 year-old self would burst into giggles if I could go back in time and tell her what she would be doing when she was 40.
Comment by ericka — January 30, 2010 @ 9:15 pm
I have never known a nice Hamburg, Gina, but Perdita seems pretty sweet, if flighty. (Indy, my late corgi who is dearly missed, had a hate/hate relationship with a neighbor’s much-prized hamburg rooster. Indy was pretty good about leaving chickens along otherwise, but he was convinced that that bird needed to die.
Comment by Cait — January 31, 2010 @ 5:45 am
Ericka … check out the forums at Steve’s Digicams. Although the site itself doesn’t review videocams, I’ve noticed some good discussion of them in the forums.
One of the reviews criticized the prize of the Sony I just bought as an outrageous rip-off. Funny how our relative values change. Electronics are so amazingly inexpensive over time. They’re the only things that get better and better for less and less money.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — January 31, 2010 @ 6:50 am
Went to the feed store today to get dog food and they had posted the listings of shipment of peeps coming on March 1st.
It takes so little to excite me these days…
Can’t wait.
Loves my chikins.
Mine won’t leave the cover of the coop either. They will brave sub zero temps if the ground is clear, but heaven forbid they leave the shelter in warmer weather if there’s snow on the ground.
They are pretty cheery though, in spite of the fact that they have conscripted themselves to confinement on their side of the garage.
Soon to be joined by a couple dozen new peeps of all different flavors.
Comment by Linda Kaim — February 1, 2010 @ 10:05 am
I’m so tempted to add a couple more of breeds I don’t have, but I’d have to give up a couple to make room. Just liking the girls I have now, a lot, so I’ll stay with the flock as it is this year, I think.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — February 1, 2010 @ 10:14 am
I lost three hens to predation this year, so I aim to replace them, and by next fall, these guys will start slowing production. I figure I’ll get about a dozen more.
I am conflicted, like looking in a chocolate factory.
“One of everything please, as long as it’s filled with caramel”.
Comment by Linda Kaim — February 1, 2010 @ 11:03 am
I’m allowed two more under current city codes. I can’t wait to go pick them out. It’s so hard to decide what to get when you’re so limited. I really want a couple of turkeys but that will have to wait until I have more land.
Comment by C.L.H. — February 1, 2010 @ 11:30 am
LOVE the chicky soundtrack — I sooooo miss having a pet chicken. You have a real flock there — very cool! BTW — can we get a name or link to your new device? We’re in the market for a new camera and this is really impressive! Beautiful images. Do you recommend it so far? The one we have now (purchased in 2002) has always been a “lemon”; we’ve given up sending it back to Canon to fix it, because it just never comes back fixed — we’ve learned to live with the fact that it works only when it feels like it/very randomly.
Comment by Kasie — February 14, 2010 @ 1:45 pm
Oh - duh! I must have been so eager to get down to the chicken video I missed your opening paragraph with a link to the device. Sorry!
Comment by Kasie — February 14, 2010 @ 1:50 pm
Honestly, I’m not that impressed with it, and suspect the new Flip HD may be a better buy.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — February 14, 2010 @ 2:32 pm