Free Range Chickens...down on the farm

After my last post, one of my blogger buddies wanted me to show some photos of what the farm looks like now. So I got my camera out after work the other day, which is the time we let the chickens out of their pen for free ranging. They also get to free range at least part of the day on most Sundays and holidays. They love to be out, and I've heard a happy chicken is a tastier chicken!

(Above) This is a view to the east. That grey colored bird in the front is a guinea. On the far right is a glimpse of the little hen house. The brown color farm land in the back ground is what it looks like this time of year, after the corn has been harvested last fall. The man who farms that land has not tilled it yet. He will most likely plant soybeans this year. Way in the distance is a Nestle's factory. The factory used to be called Carnation, and it is where they make non-dairy coffee creamer.

(Above) This view is looking south. Not too far off in the distance, you can see railroad tracks. I love to take walks back there and walk along the tracks. I planted the Weeping Willow tree in 1994, and it is very tall now. We don't have a lot of large trees on the farm, because lightening has taken them out. This tree was split in half by lightening a few years ago, but it didn't kill it. However, a week long ice storm in December of 2007 caused some of the branches to break. You can see the damage with two downward pointing straight branches. Later in Spring until Winter the tree will be a beautiful shower of green with each branch growing up and out and curving downward. Each day more green grass pops up like in the front of the picture.

(Above) A hen and a banty rooster in the freshly tilled garden area. I don't know the variety of these chickens, but this little rooster has a very high pitched crow. He is the sneakiest of them all and has hidden a few times, just so he could be out all day the next day.

Above is just another random shot of guineas and chickens. I spent about thirty minutes trying to get a good picture of the eight guineas, but they are fast and won't be still for long! When the chickens are out, they spread out--making it impossible to get them all in one good picture. We have about sixty chickens right now. Some of them hardly ever leave the hen house. These chickens are raised for breeding and for their eggs.