Mama Hen

 A couple of weeks ago Chickory went missing. The kids mourned her loss, assuming the fox got her. But 2 days later she came screeching into the yard, clucking and carrying on. Then promptly disappeared again. For a week she would show up every 2 days until finally we discovered her nest, safely in a corner of the barn. She was sitting on 20 eggs.

Now Chickory isn't a big bird. She's actually pretty scrawny. So I pulled about 9 eggs and left her with the rest, hoping it was a more manageable number for her to keep warm. I candled the eggs, threw out the non-fertile eggs and set the rest in the incubator. Yesterday was hatch day. We had one peeping in the incubator when we woke up and 2 more working their way out. A peek under Chickory revealed 3 chicks.

By mid-afternoon she had 7. And by evening, when all was said and done she had 9 little babies. And we still only had our 3 inside. We moved her into a safe, enclosed location- our "chick house" within the larger storage area of the chicken house. We slipped our 3 under her as well.

This morning we went out to visit them. Chickory is all fluffed out with her dozen chicks all crammed under her wings.

All but one so far looks to be half Brahma- fluffy feet and all. Only one little one- all yellow and no fluffly feet.

Annika is in love. She was sad to see the chicks leave the house. But is happy to be able to go out and spend time in the barn with the birds.

Here's our rooster, one of them anyway. A big, beautiful Buff Brahma who gave us lots of colorful little babies!

Rain, Rain, Rain...

It rained today. And yesterday. And a few days last week.  The clouds are low and the mountains invisible.

At least it is green now, which isn't quite as bad as the brown, muddiness of all the winter rains we had.

The yard seems to have turned into a series of small rivers and waterfalls. The creek has reached it's limit and overflowed.

The goats are cold. And wet. And pretty unhappy.

So are the chickens.  They sit on my milk stand in the shed, huddle in corners of the coop, or shiver in the goat's hay. Our top hat chickens look particularly pathetic.

 Not all of us are upset about the rain though. The ducks are having a wonderful time!

And tomorrow's forecast is rain. And the next day after that. I know in the summer, when it is hot and dry I will be wishing for rain. But for now, I am ready for it to move on and let the sun shine.

A Boy, a Girl and a Chicken

 Rylan has this bird named Queenie. We hatched her in the incubator last fall. She's was a sickly chick. Not very strong, a little floppy, one leg seemed a little off. When we let them out of the brooder and they were old enough and strong enough to hold their own against the big hens, Queenie stayed inside the coop, roosting on the feed cans or hiding behind them all day.

And because of this Rylan took a special interest in her. I told him not to get attached because I honestly didn't think she'd live that long.  But he brought her food and water. He carried her out back to be with the rest of the "chicks".  Finally she started to come around. She's still a little off looking and one leg is still a little odd, but she's running, pecking and venturing. She is also trained to run to Rylan as soon as she sees him. Or any person, if he's not around.

And now that we have a chicken that will run to us. A chicken that is a little smaller than average. Annika now has a chicken she can catch. And carry. And hug. And love.

And Annika really loves Queenie. Almost as much as Rylan....

This post is linked to the HomeAcre Hop, Farm Girl Friday, The Homestead Barn Hop,

A Tribute to David

 A sad thing happened last night when we went to lock up the chickens. Every night we feed them, count them and lock them up. Over the past few months we've lost a few due to a fox that hangs around during the day. And every day I hoped that no more would be missing, but I especially hoped that the favorites- Helen, Ping and David- would be there. And last night, David didn't come home.

David came to us last year as a replacement for Cohen's hen, Prunella, that got nabbed when she got left outside overnight. He was supposed to be a hen. But as he grew, the size of his feet alone told us that he was a rooster instead.

But Cohen loved that bird. He held him all the time and David turned out the be one of the tamest roosters I've ever seen. If you picked him up, he would sit with you until you put him down. He didn't mind being held and never showed once ounce of aggression towards us.

He was also one of the best roosters I have ever seen. Before we got rid of a couple of our not-so-nice roosters, he would stand guard over the hens and chase off any offenders. He would call the hens to him when he found treats to eat. And every afternoon he took a walk around the pasture with a group of his hens and a duck.  He walked along the road, while the hens stayed in the ditch pecking around. He was everything you would want in a rooster.

He was a good rooster. And Cohen, who takes any chicken death hard, was pretty upset. And even though losses like this are part of farm life, it was a very sad loss for all of us.

And he will be missed.

This post is linked to the HomeAcre Hop, The Homestead Barn Hop,

Duck Eggs vs Chicken Eggs: What's the Difference

This post can now be found on The Free Range Life. Here is the link to Duck Eggs vs Chicken Eggs: What's the Difference.

Goings On

Cohen- tracing sharks, drawing whales and all other things fish

 Annika with her playdough. All the time.

Rylan mowing. I am wondering when mowing will cease to be fun and something to fight over and become a chore....

Annika in her house. The boys made her a castle out of weeds....she loves it.

Cale's dinosaurs made out of clay. T-rex, Triceratops and Stegosaurus

My mom visited. Rylan made her a cake for her birthday. Black Tie Mousse Cake.

We went to the Arboretum....they have a fiber works show right now. It made me wish it was shearing season. Now.

There was also an exhibit on prehistoric mammals. They got to see all the animals they have watched documentaries about for years.

Annika's mess. 

We hatched chicks. 3 Turkens. 2 Americanas. and 3 Top Hat mixes, with out hats so far. We did not hatch out any peachicks though. That egg was a dud.

The goat switch. June in now rooming in with Scooter and Scout and Thor is happily down in the girl's yard, stinking up the place. And so starts breeding season.

Harvesting sweet potatoes.

What's going on in your world?

Hatchlings

 We've got babies in the house again! At the beginning of last week we had one of the eggs in the incubator hatch. They kids were crowded around the incubator all day from the time the first pip was noticed until the chick finally managed it's way out after dinner.

They named her Chickory. And for that lonely week she was the most spoiled chick ever.  Then this past weekend the other egg started to hatch. It was a long day from early A.M to after 9 P.M when it finally emerged.

 This is Violet. She's special because her mom, Muffy, is our only Americauna hen. We've always wanted one of our blue eggs to hatch.

 Aren't they cute?

According to their feathers, they are both girls. You can see 2 rows of wing feathers- long ones with short ones in between. These will be our first female hatches too. Last time we hatched we got 3 roosters. And we haven't gotten our hands on Black Hat's chick to see about it.

On Wednesday morning, right on time, I discovered this under our broody hen. It's a peachick!

We were gone all day, but when we got home late that night we found it, out and dry under it's surrogate mama.

 Unfortunately, by yesterday afternoon it wasn't looking too well. It is very lethargic, off balance and generally weak looking. So we pulled it from the chicken and brought it in and under the lamp. It's hanging in there. We have to force it to drink and we haven't gotten it to eat yet. Hopefully it makes it! No signs of life from the remaining egg yet either. We will pull and candle it tomorrow if it's not hatching by then.

linked to: 
Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways
The Homestead Barn Hop

More About Birds

 I had my camera out with me the other day, taking pictures of the garden, kids, etc. Like usual I was brought chickens to photograph. That is our Silkie chick up there. That is one spoiled bird. She's a tiny one, and gets toted around a lot. I'll admit she's pretty cute. Her name is Silkie.....only it's pronounced Sil-UH-key

This is Einstein. Check out her hat. This is another that gets carried around a lot. I don't think the poor thing can see very well with all that in her face. She's never with the flock and always lost somewhere by herself. Then there is Lavender. I am sad about this one. I've always wanted a Lavender Orpington and finally got one. And then she crowed.

Since we've talked about breeding birds we might keep him and hatch some eventually. He's still a pretty bird, I just wish he was a she!

Speaking of hatching, I mentioned our broody birds last time.  Black Hat was sitting on 6 eggs. One hatched.  Here she is with her little puff ball. She's a good mother and I love the sound of mother hen's clucking! Based on feathering I'd say this one came from a Black Australorp's egg.  We've got the peafowl eggs in the incubator now, they are at about day 11. Hatch day is around August 8. We had another bird go broody and we encouraged her once we saw the signs. I think we are finally sure of her broodiness to give her our beloved peafowl eggs. We'll make the swap later today, put her clutch in the incubator and give her the peafowl ones and hope for the best.

The turken went broody again in the old, run down chicken shed. We've tried to break her, but she hasn't gotten it yet. If she'd sit in the house we'd let her, but she wants her unsafe ledge. Last time we broke her by carrying her and holding her upside down for awhile.  It didn't work this time.

I hate to say it, but some birds just aren't pretty. The turken is one of them. The guineas are not much better. Though they are still adolescents.
 

Their feathers are pretty though.....wonder what I could do with them?

linked to  
The Homestead Barn Hop 
Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways