7 a.m. The early birds dig the worms.

I have two Buff Orpingtons, a Barred Rock, a Rhode Island Red and (missing from this photo) an Easter Egger.

They are costing me almost nothing in layer pellets right now, because they free range all day and prefer foraged food to bought food.

Wild blue flag iris are blooming around the pond now.

Morning walk with husband and dog (and with hens tagging along part of the way) out the gravel road to the pond, along the woodland trail to the big tree (Grandfather Pine) at the back of our property, then back around the pond.

Such a fine start to the day.

Breakfast was leftover Curried Chicken, a Jamaican breakfast recipe I got from Saveur magazine. And coffee from Birds & Beans!

The hens are two years old. Together, they lay an average of two or three eggs a day.

Chicken: The chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus) is a domesticated fowl, a subspecies of the Red Junglefowl. As one of the most common and widespread domestic animals, with a population of more than 24 billion in 2003, there are more chickens in the world than any other species of bird.

Today I will clean the coop.

I have been using a product for bedding that I like better than pine shavings. Koop Clean is a chopped blend of hay and straw with an added odor-neutralizing ingredient (a mineral called zeolite).

It was recommended to me by Terry, a Massachusetts “chicken blogger” who gives the best chicken-keeping advice I have ever read online. Read: Henblog.

Dandelion seed head, make a wish.

I love these long days with so much daylight! Like my chickens, I am a daytime animal. I wake up at 5:45 a.m. too.

Chickens on a Garden Path, Gustav Klimt, 1916

Woman in a White Dress, Henri Lebasque, 1923