La Casa Grande Colectiva

Tag: pecking

  • chicken anatomy – the nictitating membrane

    I was out snapping photos of the chickens again yesterday. I zoomed in close and used a fast shutter speed to try to capture the moment they peck at food. I captured this image:
    nictitating membrane half closed
    Do you see that white thing covering her eye? It turns out that when the chickens peck at the something they actually blink too. Birds have a third eyelid called the nictitating membrane which both lubricates and protects their eyes.

    This nictitating membrane is between the other two eyelids and the cornea and has its own lubricating duct equivalent to our tear duct. (from here)

    I feel like I learn something new about the chickens almost every day.

  • garden progress, weekend recap

    There were several changes made to the garden landscape this weekend.
    _MG_6877.JPG
    Ronna sowed a bed of peas and lettuceRonna works on the pea and lettuce bed.
    Rob, Rob, and members of the Catholic Worker House turned the old compost pile.
    talking about compost
    Mac, Kannan, and JohnE pulled up some sod to make a vegetable bed for the members of their house.
    chicken inspects fresh bed
    We began digging a hole at the end of the canal system that runs through the garden.  We spent a lot of energy and the pond that forms will probably get really gross.  We did use the topsoil to raise a few vegetable beds in order to alleviate the Sping flood that we’re expecting.
    THE HOLE