Lily, one of our silky-old english game hens went broody and then, after lots of hard work, became the proud mother of 5 precious little chicks (of various parentage).
Lily is a fantastic mom. Another chicken, Jenny, who refuses to stay in the hen house has adopted Lily and babies and they all walk around the garden beds and forest undergrowth and compost heap together.
Lily taught the babies how to scratch for food and they do it with great energy and tenacity.
Yesterday we came across a different sort of chicken in the woods! This is an edible mushroom called Chicken of the Woods (Laetiporus sulphureus)
This shot helps to show how huge this mushroom is!, size of a basketball.
We have many of these chicken of the woods in our forest and its always net to come across them unexpectedly.
Laetiporus sulphureus
Kingdom: Fungi
Division: Basidiomycota
Class: Agaricomycetes
Order: Polyporales
Family: Polyporaceae
Genus: Laetiporus
Awww!! The chicks are soooo cute and that mushroom is amazing. Fabulous color. Are you going to make up some fabulous stew with it?
I hope you’re having a fruitful Fall.
Heidi: thnx! I am still a bit of a chicken re: cooking wild mushrooms for the family. We mostly appreciate them for their beauty and tenacity!
I hope you too are having a fruitful fall!
Those chickies are so gorgeous! Wonderful photos – thankyou for sharing your autumn with us – we’re right at the start of spring over here in New Zealand!
Daharja: Am so jealous! My in laws live in NZ and they are gearing up for more gardening…. I have to not think about it and get ready to hunker down for our harsh winter to come. Have to appreciate each season!
A lovely photo essay, and the solemn (playfully solemn?) child with mushroom — great! should be framed.
Wish we had some llama manure — will have to settle for chicken.
risa: you are welcome to as much llama manure as you can haul!
Hmmm … too many “llama manure miles,” I betcha!
Perhaps