Seasonal Almanac
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March 7th, 2009
I was watching the chickens: they were chattering away there, all three of them. They seem to follow each other around, bobbing their heads, occassionally stretching out and flapping their wings. I was thinking that they reminded me of someone, perhaps people I have seen somewhere, maybe in a film. Then it dawned on me: they are just like the Triplets of Belleville (from the animated feature of the same name). So I named the chickens after the characters: Violette, Blanche, and Rose.
The chicken tractor arrived yesterday – flat-packed. After Redmond assembled the parts, we moved it onto the vegetable patch (with its freshly tilled soil). The chickens seem happy with their accomodation. The tractor enables us to move to the chickens to different beds (when we build them), allowing them to naturally fertlise the soil and reducing their chances of getting mites. The cage protects them from rats that may be after their food, and foxes and sea-eagles that maybe after them as food. From afar the chickens look like they live in the quintessential Aussie shed.
March 11th, 2009 at 7:14 pm
i can’t wait for the movie where we get to see the chickens in live technicolour clucking and scratching!
March 11th, 2009 at 8:04 pm
Chickens are great to watch and both the Leghorn and Australobe are handsome breeds. Although I don’t know whether the tecnicolour would do much good for black and white chickens.
March 15th, 2009 at 7:42 am
I would love to see a movie of them too! And Zach agrees. I just showed him the clip from the animated film and he loved it. He kept laughing and thought it was hilarious that someone was using the fridge as a ‘piano’. I love the names of the chooks.
March 15th, 2009 at 7:53 pm
Silvia, ‘The Triplets of Belleville’ is a great film – you should get it out to watch with Zac. The film is very much inspired by Jacque Tati’s works – and generally makes fun of stereotypes. The animator/ filmmaker, Sylvain Chomet, said that the physical movements of the triplets are based on tall basketball players inside old ladies’ bodies. I am sure the chickens also play a part somewhere.
March 15th, 2009 at 8:31 pm
What a wonderful abode! You could make drawings documenting where in the garden the chicken shed has paused, and when and for how long. What a pity we didn’t get as far as surveying the garden!
Alex has just suggested that we also get chickens – but I’m not sure that our little Croydon garden is a chikeny sort of place.
March 16th, 2009 at 8:00 pm
Yes, I wish we had time to make survey drawings of the garden too. We now have to plan the 6 rotational beds with the railway sleepers. We are also thinking of terracing the slope outside the studio ourselves. It’s all a bit tricky because of our various needs: accommodate movement and size of the chook tractor, access to chickens and vegetables, and different inclinations. I think we need an architect!