Chicken Update

Here is one of our brown leghorn roosters. We had three, but Byron gave one to a friend at work and we kept two. So far no fighting. When we get back from our family vacation Byron is going to work on enlarging the chicken family compound :)
Here is my best friend Lu Lu. Byron claims she remembers me warming her in a shoe box on top of the stove with the oven and vent light on to save her life when she was just a chick. I have thought Lu Lu was almost every kind of chicken. Now I do believe she is an Americana. They are supposed to lay blue eggs. Anyway, Lu Lu loves me. When I come into the coop she is always at my side. When I sit on the wonderful bench Byron made me, she hops up behind me and cackles in my ear. Sometimes she gives me a few love pecks on the back and pulls my hair. This is some type of Cochin. I do believe she is looking to see if that pesky rooster she drove out is coming back.
The loofah sponge vine is covering the coop nicely and providing much needed shade for the hens. I am going to allow these to mature and save the seed. It is an heirloom variety. I also read that they are referred to as okra squash as well. If you pick them at about 8 inches long, peel, slice, batter and fry them they taste somewhat like okra. The chickens like them as well and peck at the ones they can reach. See how big the girls are! No eggs yet, but I believe we'll get some in the next few weeks.
This is Josephine the tough outdoor cat. She survived Katrina and numerous fights if you go by the tatters in her ears and her scars. She loves to walk right between my legs when I am attempting to get anywhere outside. Whenever we are in the coop, she sits outside and watches, meowing her opinion every now and then.