sooty chicks

Those chirping eggs have turned into chirping chicks.  5 of them so far in the brooder box.  One, sadly, didn't make it through hatch but the others are fluffy and peeping like little champs.

Interestingly, these guys are white, not yellow, with random dots of black.  Their moms were black hens and Carlos the rooster is a mix of white and red so it's strange to see these little soot patches on their white fluff.  Sort of like a tiny version of 101 dalmatians.

Speaking of speckled fluffies, look how big the ducklings are getting.  Every time I wander outside they're underfoot, begging for food.  And biting my toes.

Even Tiny is growing.  And though I tried to give him a good strong name like Thor or Sledgehammer, we keep calling him Tiny.  So there we have it, Tiny.

I'm done hatching for the year so at some point I'll be back to posting about art.  Pretty sure, anyway.

chirping eggs

I was taken off guard today when my daughter came running in to tell me that the eggs were hatching in the incubator.  They were still in the turner and weren't scheduled for "lock-down" until tomorrow, but there they were, chipping and chirping away.

For those that haven't experienced it, it's a pretty amazing thing to hold a bowlful of eggs that are chirping at you.  When you hold the egg you can feel the little life inside wiggle and then protest loudly through its shell.

Wish them luck, hatching is hard work.

Happy weekend, all.

wordless Wednesday

ba gawk

This totally made my morning.

From the Ba-Gawks blog, go check it out.

wordless Wednesday

poultry playpen

Though the weekend has been rainy, earlier this week mother nature gave us some lovely warm days, perfect for letting the new chicks have time out in the chicken tractor.

The chickens are already starting to hit that "awkward" stage, aren't they?

A chicken tractor, for those that aren't familiar, is just a pen that is moveable.  Kind of like a poultry playpen.  Ours is nothing fancy, just a frame of pvc pipes surrounded by netting and wire.  I pull it around the yard a few times a day, giving the chicks new patches of ground to explore, dig in, and sample bugs from.  It keeps them from wandering off and safe from predators.

Naturally, princess poplar was soon to be found inside tending her flock.  Sorry birds, the tractor isn't going to protect you from the huggin'.

The turkeys are pretty good sports about it, the chickens are too slow to avoid being held, but the guineas don't care for it at all and make a racket that belies their tiny size.  They take off like rockets across the pen when they see her coming.

Though I'm eager to see the sunshine return, the rainy weekend has given me a little time to felt. (what with me not being able to work in the garden or haul a chicken tractor around and all...)  I'll have a few new pieces to show soon.

Happy Sunday, all.

on chickens

I introduced a new roo to the flock yesterday.  Our old rooster, Big Boy, had been attacked by a stray dog a few weeks ago and has never been able to recover.  He seemed to be on the mend at first, the feathers were growing back in, his comb scarred over, and he limped less but he recently took a turn for the worse.  He was no longer able to walk without obvious pain and spent his day standing, tail and head tucked down, near the coop door.  He no longer foraged or serviced his ladies.  For a rooster, this is no way to live life and I could no longer allow him to suffer.

Carlos, the new roo, was introduced to the flock slowly.  A freebie from craigslist, he came from a home where dogs and ducks ran free, which worked out perfectly for us.  Still, I wanted to be cautious about how I added him to the flock.  The first night he spent in a cage near the flock so they could get used to him.  The second morning I sprinkled seed in his cage and around his cage so they could eat communally.  When they all seemed calm, I opened the cage and let him out.  As predicted, Red, who is our HCIC (head chick in charge) let him know who exactly was running this flock.

She's a sassy little redhead, this one.  What she lacks in body size, she makes up for in attitude.  If I don't deliver the feed fast enough in the morning, it's Red giving me a peck on the back of the leg to hurry me along.

The fight needed to happen but I was ready to step in should it get out of hand.  They needed to determine the (literal) pecking order, and I hoped it would be Carlos.  He asserted himself during the brief tussle but from an outsider's view, Red won that fight.  Carlos shook himself off and after a little bit of sulking, rejoined the flock, hanging at the outer edges.  He became more comfortable as the day went on, and I was pleased to see him protect the flock by growling a warning as a raven flew over head, sending the girls running for cover.  By night he was up on the roost surrounded by his ladies and life in the flock was as it should be.

Big Boy was sent to the big sleep on the same day that the eggs in the incubator were set to hatch.  Sadly, not a one has pipped and I fear the whole batch is a loss.  Given Big Boy's iffy "abilities" and an incubator that was giving me fits, we didn't start out with the greatest odds.  If Carlos manages to convince the rest of the girls that he's the man, we'll try again in a few weeks.

As romantic as it can seem, these lovely birds wandering about, scratching and pecking bugs, the reality of keeping chickens isn't always so.  They come with responsibility, and illness, and injury, and death, and lots of poop, but for me it's worth the work and occasional heartbreak. 

I guess it was a good thing I was feeling like superman yesterday, and I should really try to feel invincible every day, because you never know what life is going to throw at you.

slacker

Someone was a slacker this weekend.

Even chickens like to take it easy once in a while.

Hope your weekend is relaxing too.

fluffy

I have decided that today will be a great day, so I am starting it with fluffiness.

The upside of being in charge of the feeding and cleaning duties for our new friends is that I get to hold them for a second while I'm doing it.  Yes, they kept me up with their peep-peep-peeping last night but c'mon, look how cute they are. 

I hope your day is fluffy too.

Have a great weekend.

a stuffed chicken

Last week I mentioned that my daughter spends a lot of time carrying our chickens around.  I worried that she might start dressing them soon if I didn't get her a doll.  Clever Tara suggested that I make her a chicken doll and I thought that was such a good idea I sat down yesterday and did just that.

She's a very simple chicken, made out of some garage sale fabric and scraps of felted wool.  Her eyes are antique shoe buttons.  I stuffed her with polyfil from an old pillow I had put through the washing machine. (I always think washing pillows in the machine is a good idea, but it never is...)

I took her outside to show the girls and got this reaction:

I call that the "whatchoo talkin' 'bout, Willis?" look.

Poor stuffed chicken was shunned by the flock.

But the girl seems to like her, and that's all that really matters.

And if she wants to dress this chicken, that's just fine.

My boys liked the chicken too but inform me that she also needs eggs, a cracked open egg, and some chicks.  And some more chicken friends.  And a duck.  (which will probably also require eggs, a cracked open egg, ducklings, and more duck friends)

thank you!

A big thank you to everyone who stopped by my shop update yesterday.  All of my new pieces found wonderful new homes, and I'm so grateful.

What does that have to do with the chicken?  Nothing.

This is Godzilla stuffing her face full of food.  It makes me laugh.  That is all.

A big thank you to Craft mag, also, for sharing my lichen garden necklace yesterday.

It was a good day.

I hope today is good to all of you.

wordless Wednesday

air Betty

I recently moved the little teacup birdfeeder I made next to the porch.  The Blue Jays have been visiting my feeders and I thought it would be nice to be able to watch them in the morning while I have my coffee.  Naturally the chickens noticed that I was putting seed in the feeder and have started hanging around waiting for some of the extras to drop to the ground.

This waiting has been fine for all of the chickens.  Except one.

One who is determined.  One who rises above the rest.

Air Betty.

Look at the admiring faces of her peers.  You can almost hear them chanting "Betty, Betty, Betty..."

I was most entertained this morning watching my little superstar, until this happened:

Okay, I found that pretty much hilarious.

On today's to-do list: find taller stick.

Hope you have a fun start to the week, everyone.

bawk friday

This morning 8 of the girls lined up on the step outside my sliding glass doors, pruning their feathers and  tapping on the glass.  Yesterday we gave them a plate of cranberries, stuffing, and pie crust leftover from our Thanksgiving dinner and  they enjoyed it immensely.  I'm pretty sure they thinking that if they looked pathetic enough I'd emerge with another serving.

Instead of black Friday, we're having bawk Friday perhaps.

Have a good start to the weekend, everyone!

New babies

It seems life is about to get a little crazier under the poplar and pine.   I'd like to introduce the newest member of our family...umm... well he doesn't have an official name yet but his working name is Charlie. 

  

Charlie is a muttly mix of lab and boxer and he's a sweetheart.  Everyone is thrilled with him.  Well, except for Sandy the bulldog who is concerned that he is going to eat all of the dog food (that she hates, regularly shuns, and is now gulping down as if she hasn't eaten in 10 days).

As it goes with puppies, last night was punctuated by bouts of howling and whining so I didn't get much sleep.  To make matters worse some bird was loudly chirping outside my window this morning at 2am.  Or so I thought...it seems the eggs in my office have begun chirping...they still have to make it out of the shells but it appears that we have at least two baby chickens trying to make their way into the world.

I have a feeling the next few weeks are going to be busy ones.  Between new babies, kindergarten graduation, summer vacation, visitors, trips...oh my.  I'll do the best I can but if I fall off the radar from time to time, you'll know why.  Wish me luck.

Happy Tuesday everyone.

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Cracking Me Up

Keeping chickens has been a really rewarding experience for us.  We enjoy their personalities (they have them, they really do), we benefit from their bug-eating activities, and of course we love having fresh eggs free of antibiotics at arm's reach.  We've seen different shapes and colors of eggs, some double and even triple yolkers, some without yolks at all, but we've never seen an egg quite like what we found in the coop yesterday.

This is the teeny tiny egglet next to a regular egg.

Of course we had to crack it open to see what was inside.

My son just had to cook it up and eat it and he giggled the whole bite.  Perhaps our girl was just taking it easy for the weekend.  I can't say I blame her, we all need a break now and then, right?

Hope your weekend has been easy going too.