Weekend Update

We moved the chickens out to the chicken yard. They are in 2 separate brooder boxes, (11 in each). I have one inside nursing a torn wing...I think the other chicks were pecking her and she was bleeding. Looks like her wing will be permenantly disfigured. I named her chicken wing. She was doing much better Sunday night. Dan planted some of the larger tomato plants that we bought. The ones I seeded are not quite ready. Some of them still don't have real leaves yet. There are lots of broccoli and cauliflower and cabbage plants to put in , but I don't know if it's getting too late for them. I seeded them in Jan, but they are just starting to take off with new real leaves.
We had the chickens out in the yard yesterday and the dogs inside so they wouldn't get the chickens. We heard the dogs making a commotion trying to get out to the chickens and all of sudden we see June flying through the kitchen window. The window was open and she decided to charge through the screen . It was so funny....but screen is broken now. Thankfully we caught her before she got a chicken! Got a good rain last night and this morning. The bush beans are planted too.

Signs of Spring

As I was working  in the flower beds yesterday , I came across definite signs of spring....finally.

A fine brown lizzard looking for some supper.

A sleepy green tree frog taking a siesta

A lazy yellow dog sunning her belly and snoozing.

Some fresh eggs in the nest box

And a curious hen...

 All wonderful signs of the spring and summer to come.

No eggs yet

We have lost several ( a lot) of chickens this past year to a predator or two. We don't know exactly what is getting them, but sometimes they just disappear and sometimes there is evidence left behind. I got 27 little chicks through the mail in March. At that time we still had about 4 grown hens and 2 ducks. We lost all the grown poultry and 10 little chicks to a predator since then. My husband decided it was time to fight back. He put chicken wire over all the top of the chicken yard.

We still have all our little chicks, except one unfortunate chick the dog, June, got when we weren't looking. She thought we were playing catch the chickens when my granddaughters were in the yard chasing them. It has occured to us she may be the predator, but I just can't bring myself to believe that. I need more proof!

The roosters are beginning to practice their crowing, sounding similar to an injured animal. and the hens are not interested one bit. We are waiting anxiously for the 1st egg from this batch of biddies. They probably won't start laying till August. That's when they will be 6 months old. The time is coming to entertain the thought of reducing the rooster population. I got a neat vintage chicken scale that we can use when we are deciding which to turn into dinner.

Lovely Weekend

It was my kind of weekend. Some things needing to be done, but enough time to do some unplanned things too. We had my grandchildren ( my daughter's 3) spend some time with us. We visited some of my other grandchildren ( my son's 3 children) in Mandeville. Two of the girls were playing softball (coach's pitch) in their 1st game. My son, Kelly, is the coach. It was at a really nice park with covered stands. We had a bar-b-que at Kelly's after and then headed home. I had to be at choir practice at 4, and barely made it in time. Dan got the kids dressed for church and met me there. Later in the evening, we lit a bonfire intending to have smores, but the fire was waaaay to hot, so the kids ate the smores with unmelted marshmallows. They seemed to enjoy them almost as much as the real thing.

Dan has been working on closing in the chicken yard with a top made of wire. We have lost all of our older chickens, for the last 3 years to hawks. I have 27 new babies now and don't want to lose any more. It is almost finished.

This morning after everyone feasted on Dan's eggs, grits and bacon, Caecilia and I made brownies. I used the Ghirardelli brand and they were delicious.

After washing and hanging out clothes on the line, I did a little genealogy online. I am really getting into that lately.We had a late dinner - early supper of roasted chicken mashed potatoes and carrots from our garden.
I gotta go get the clothes off the line now.
Lovely weekend....

Little Bo Peep

From time to time I try to hatch some baby chicks in my 2 little flying saucer incubators. I don't remember where I got them, I think it was off of ebay though. I have had them about 1 & 1/2 years now and have hatched 4 little chickens in them. Then we lost our rooster and had to wait for a new one to grow up before we could try again.

Here he is just starting to peck out of his shell, you can see on the right side of the egg.





Here are 2 other pictures of him shortly after he hatched.





He is still wet and has to stay in the incubator till he dries off.

















Well .....here is our little Bo Peep, aptly named because he NEVER shuts up!.


He has got to be a rooster...only males need this much coddling! He is about 2 weeks old now and doing fine...his saucer mates didnt' fair so well.


We are trying again with some new eggs.