Random Lunch – 6/2/10

I know, I know… I haven’t done a random lunch post in forever.  But I had some things to show and tell you that don’t fit together and I am lacking the necessary creativity to come up with a clever title.  Or even a somewhat decent title. 

First of all, the hearing that was scheduled today for the guy that starved the Fairmont horses was for a different set of animal cruelty charges from back in January!  Add that to the arrest for animal cruelty last November, when he was caught dragging a Clydesdale down the road with his truck, and this guy has been busy!  The hearing for the latest charges from April is set for June 17th at 1:00 pm.  At least we only have a few more weeks to wait!

 

There are two places on my porch where the chickens enjoy laying their eggs:  1) in the left over beet pulp that I haven’t had to feed in months, and 2) in the opened bag of Pro Mix potting soil.  Since all my adult girls are going crazy with the egg laying right now, the supply doesn’t always match the demand and I end up with two hens trying desperately to lay an egg in the same place.

 

If I could figure out which rooster is tearing up my girls so badly, he’d be in the freezer in no time!

 

I found a new use for my rabbit hutch.  A friend had some ducklings that one of her hens had hatched and raised, and she needed to find a home for them.

 

Besides the fact that “mom” doesn’t swim, they’re still a little young to go into the pond.   The rabbit hutch is a temporary holding facility until the other new chickens are out of the outhouse coop.  You see, this so-called friend, also gave me 13 young chickens (because I obviously do not have enough chickens already).   They had been hatched and raised at her place and were “mutts”.  There are 7 hens and 6 roosters – the roosters will end up in the freezer once Glenn comes home next week to do the dirty work!

 

There was another duckling, half the size of the others and crippled on one leg.  His foot was folded and turned in.  The poor little guy would fall over on his back and get stuck there.  He’d lay there until I came around to pick him up and turn him back over.  I felt so bad for him!  When they first came to my place, I had put them in the old Silkie hutch in the coop.  But the crippled duckling kept getting out somehow, and wandering around the coop trying to figure out how to get back to mom.  Last night was when I went out to the coop to move them to the porch, but I couldn’t find the poor little guy.  I guess he escaped the hutch again and this time was found by a cat before I could get to him.  I looked everywhere and listened for his chirping, but couldn’t find him. 

R.I.P little crippled duckling.

**edited to correct my many misspellings.  One day, I will learn to proofread before hitting the Publish button!

Baby Chick Overload

Months ago I placed an order with Ideal Poultry for a bunch of different varieties of pullets that I didn’t already have.  They arrived a week or so ago and I’ve got them in the brooder in the side room.  Two were DOA at the post office and three more died within the first 24 hours.  I wasn’t too upset about this since I ordered 25 Cornish cross and 27 mixed variety pullets. 

About a week before my order came in, I noticed one of the hens that hatched here last year was broody and sitting on about a dozen eggs in the coop.  They haven’t hatched yet, but should be getting pretty close.

This morning when I went to feed Lucille, imagine my surprise when I saw this:

 

 

I had no idea this hen was even broody.  I still don’t know where she was hiding the eggs, but I now have five more little chicks running around.  I thought about catching them and bringing them inside to keep them safe from cats, dogs, and whatever else, but then I saw the hen successfully chase off a Lucky kitten…

 

…and thought that maybe she’d be able to protect them without my help.  When I got back from the quarantine farm a few hours later, all five chicks were still alive and well.

 

 

 

Anyone want some eggs? :)

And now I’m the Turkey Killer

About a month ago I found one of my hens alive, but torn up with gashes on her back and all her feathers missing.  I put her in the bunny hutch with Travis and cleaned her wounds as best I could.  She lived on for about 10 days before finally succumbing to her wounds.   Shortly afterwards, I found two more hens with the same type of wounds, but these two were dead already.  I blamed the dogs for those, specifically Thor and Xena who had been out at the time of the deaths.

I caught the true killer in the act yesterday evening.

Major Tom had a hen pinned under his feet, trying to mate with her.  But she was so small that he couldn’t complete the act, so he just kept doing his mating dance on her back.  That is, until I kicked the crap out of him.

 

I put the poor hen out of her misery since she was so torn up that I could see her heart beating.  I couldn’t believe the poor thing was still walking around!

I couldn’t find the hatchet that Glenn usually uses to butcher the chickens, and wasn’t sure I’d be able to catch Tom, hold him down, and chop his head off by myself.   So I pulled out Old Faithful, filled her with shells, and blew Tom to pieces.   I did this with a maniacal grin on my face and saying “be verwy quiet, I’m hunting turkey!” in my best Elmer Fudd voice.

Junior and Stride were in the yard grazing when the gun went off.  Junior took off up the driveway and crossed the road into the neighbor’s pasture.  Stride never even looked up.  Thor and Xena took off behind the house, and Lucky came running to me to see what I had shot.  Silly kitten.

I just hope I don’t have to shoot anything else for a long time.  But at least I’m becoming a pretty good shot and no longer fear the recoil.  Silver lining… :)

Baby Makes Way More than Three!

We had something pretty darned exciting happen here yesterday!  One of my Black Austrolorps had gone broody a few weeks back and the first egg hatched last night!  I went out to collect eggs at dusk and heard a very high-pitched chirping as I got closer to the coop, so I knew we had a little one in there somewhere.  I found the little guy in another nesting box, apart from the hen.  He’s awfully lucky that I found him before the cats did! 

Since “mom” is still sitting on about 15 other eggs, she had no interest in taking baby out into the real world for food, so I brought him/her into the house and put him in the empty brooder under the heat lamp.  The poor thing was so tired, it could barely hold up it’s head.  I wasn’t sure it would make it through the night on it’s own, but this morning he/she seems perky and happy to be alive!

 

Now that I know they’re starting to hatch, I’ll be running out there several times a day looking for new chicks.  Hopefully this cute little guy will have some company before too long.

You know what the really exciting part about all of this is?  I have no idea what they’re going to look like when they grow up!  Rambo the White Rock is likely the proud papa, but Billy Badass sneaks in some nookie now and then too.  We have no idea what Billy is and the hens are so varied that there’s no telling which chicks come from which hens.  The Americauna chicks should have green legs, but other than that, it’s anyone’s guess.  I just hope most the chicks are hens, because seven roosters on the farm is more than enough!

Brave New World

I decided today would be the day that the “baby” hens in the outhouse coop should be set free to help demolish the bug population.  The problem, is that two of the hens have actually grown into very beautiful roosters.  Four roosters on one farm, with only twenty hens to share?  This could mean trouble!  I couldn’t possibly butcher Rambo and Billy Badass, as they’ve done a wonderful job protecting and leading the older hens and guineas.  The two new roosters are just beautiful, therefore, immune to Glenn’s knife.  We’ll just have to see how it goes.

But first, there’s the whole setting free idea that the young hens didn’t exactly understand.

Hey guys!  The door is open!!!

 

 

Yeah, but it looks pretty scary out there. 

 

I think we should let the men go first.

 

But wait, I see BUGS!!!!!

 

The Americauna rooster was the first chicken brave enough to step out the door.  Isn’t he just gorgeous??

 

He was followed closely by the other rooster, who didn’t want to seem like a total wimp.  Rooster #2 later escaped back into the coop when no one else was looking.

 

It took about 15 minutes, but eventually all of the birds had at least taken a few steps out of the coop.  Most had gone back in within minutes, and no one got more than 10’ from the coop.   I’m sure by tomorrow they’ll all be wandering the farm in search of bugs.

Check out Mr. Tom Turkey with his two pure white Americauna girlfriends.  I just love Tom, he’s so curious and friendly.  I give him two weeks before he’s marching into the house to see what’s going on.

 

I suppose the birds could have had good reason to head back into the outhouse… as I was snapping pictures I came across this, right around the corner from the outhouse door.

 

 

That’s a face that’s just looking for trouble.  Or food.

She’s not picky

I have one Rhode Island Red hen that chooses to lay her eggs somewhere on my porch every day.  Forget about going back to the chicken coop, that would take way too much time and effort on her part.  Besides, wouldn’t I find it easier to get her egg if she lays it right outside the door?

Here lately she’s just been laying her egg on the pile of feed bags in the corner.    Today she found someplace softer and I finally found it when I went to get feed ready for Junior and Duchess.

 

That’s right, in the bag of beet pulp.  *sigh*

So tonight after feeding I did something unheard of… I cleaned the porch.  For those of you who have seen my porch, I’ll give you a minute to let that soak in, and to collect your jaw off the floor.

 

All better?

All the horse feed went into tubs, the floor was swept, the feed bags and other burnable trash was thrown on the burn pile, and… ready for it?  I threw the dog beds in the wash (after I removed Jelly Belly to a safe place)!

Amazing, huh?  I thought so, too.  Especially since I sneezed the whole bloody time.

I suppose I should clean the house next.  The little red hussy was checking out the movie collection today when I had the door open.

 

 

Next I’ll find an egg next to Glenn’s copy of “Wayne’s World”. 

 

Only fitting, I suppose.

Brain Fried Farmgirl

I have had absolutely NOTHING to tell you lately.  My creative juices (what little I had) have dried up to a slow drip and it’s all I can muster to remember what day of the week it is most days.

All I have to offer you today is a somewhat blurry picture of a buck that was grazing with Holly and Synergy last night.  I sent it to the Great Bald Hunter last night and now he’s even more homesick than before.

 

And a few pictures of Rambo and his new fan club.

 

Ok, I’m done.  That finished me.  Have a great weekend.

New Camera Fun

I have been busier than a puppy with two peters this weekend.  I feel like most of my time has been spent running hither and thither picking up this, buying more of that.  Fence posts, feed, straw for the garden, lumber to build the feed bin I’ve been wanting for months, square bales for my old fogies, more hay rolls for the rest of the herd, etc.  Of course, all of those errands are in separate directions, so combining a trip isn’t always efficient.  Poor Bessie has been getting quite the workout this weekend!  By the time I get home at night and take the hour and a half necessary to feed all the horses, I’ve been falling into bed around 10:30.  Forget dinner, who needs to eat? 

Today I actually got home early and had a couple of hours to walk around the yard after the thunderstorm and play with the new camera.  So here I am, sharing again.  Please don’t hate me if you have dial-up.

I love the macro feature on this camera.

 

This is a forgotten onion from last year.  Yay for seeds!

 

 

I really don’t know what it is, but I could spend all day taking pictures of chickens.   They look so fluffy and soft and they’re so photogenic.

 

Especially the baby ones.

 

 

 

I’m pretty sure Megalia, like most women, would not appreciate me putting this picture on the blog.   Butt shot on a bad hair day with her tongue sticking out.. enough said? 

 

 

Have a great week ya’ll!

I’m too brain dead to come up with a title

Please forgive me.

The first family that I hired to work around here did not work out.  I won’t go into details because I’m over it.   Luckily, I had already hired someone else to replace fence, who said “sure, we can mow and weed eat too, and whatever other little projects you have”.  GREAT!  How about starting with the outhouse remodeling?

They started yesterday and the outhouse is now the “in” place to hang if you’re a young chicken or guinea.   The guys are sinking fence posts today and I think it’s pathetic how excited I’ve become over new fencing. 

 

The only thing left to do is put a different handle on the door.  The one that’s on there now is a lever and I’m pretty sure there’s a certain black and tan dog around here who is smart enough to get it open. 

Do I need to tell you how STUPID the meat birds are?  They go out, but can’t figure out how to get back in.  So last night I’m out there in the dark with a flashlight, lying on the floor of the outhouse hanging halfway out their door and trying to catch the eight moronic meat birds that couldn’t find their way back in to safety. 

Maybe I’m the stupid one?

Looks like I’ll be doing the same thing tonight.  This one has been sitting outside for hours, which is why I put some water and food out for him. 

 

At least the guineas and young pullets are a bit smarter.  They’ve been going in and out without any help from me.

Hello incredibly ugly little dinosaur.

 

I got home late last night to find Jasmine and Sky marching down the road looking for me.   At least I’d like to think they were looking for me, but probably not.   I went home to get a bucket of feed, but they were already headed back down the driveway.  I guess the smart little hussy knows Bessie truck = food lady.  Rather than try and fix the fence at 9:30 at night, I put them in with the main herd.  Buh bye, have fun, see you in the morning.  I was really too tired to care at that point.  Loading 640lbs of concrete mix, 30 fence posts, and a 25 cubic foot chest freezer on to the truck and trailer does that to me.

I spent most the night wondering if they were ok and if anyone was chasing them.   I should have known better and just gotten some sleep!  When I went up to the barn earlier, Jasmine and Gentry were cozied up together whispering sweet nothings at each other.   Neither her or the baby had a scratch on them or any sweat marks like they’d been running all night.  Jasmine gave me her familiar nicker that she uses to greet me every time I’m near and Sky gave me a sideways glance to see if I had a bucket of food, then went back to snoozing.

I would really like to do the same right about now.  But after work I need to feed everyone, go get more feed, come home and unload it, then go back out to get four more hay rolls, come home and unload those, then go back out in the other direction for horse water, then come home and fill up the troughs.

Ugh.

One more try

Since the chickens are doing a less than great job of keeping the bugs down, I decided to try Guinea hens one more time.  Glenn picked up 20 meat chicks and 16 guinea keets from the feed store today and is getting them settled in the side room as I type.  This time, we got some very high protein food for them and they won’t go out into the great wide world until they’re ready.  We’re going to “remodel” the outhouse, run some electricity out there for a heat lamp, then move all the munchkins out there.  While they’re growing we’ll get a new covered pen built around the outhouse for guineas until they are big enough to go forth and eat bugs.

The meat birds should be big enough for butchering at 10 weeks, which will be around the same time where I start filling the chest freezer with veggies from the garden, too.   I’m thinking a bigger chest freezer might be necessary in the very near future!

 

The people at the feed store told us that the meat birds have to be encouraged to stand up or else as they grow they’ll become very weak in the knees and unable to stand!  To encourage them to get off their lazy butts we need to keep moving up the feeder as they grow so they have to stand in order to reach the food.

The sad part about this is that I’m pretty darned sure nature did not make a bird this way.  Natural selection would have eliminated that that specific bird a long time ago.  So although I know I’ll be eating some fairly healthy birds that have never rec’d steroids or chemicals, I’m not sure I’m happy about eating a man-made “hybrid”.  How do you guys feel about that?  Would you stick with a more natural breed, or do you think it’s ok as long as we’re keeping them as healthy as possible and not shoving them full of steroids?

Put yourself in my shoes

Which will be hard since I’m not wearing any.  As usual.

But if you were me and you felt the need to lay on your stomach in the grass and call “chickie chickie chickie”, this is what the world would look like.

 

 

And you would tremble in fear at the thunder of stampeding chickens.  You would gratefully throw out scratch grain if they would but spare your life.  Alas, you have no grain, so you just lie there awaiting your doom.  Your life flashes before your eyes and it was boring.   You wonder how many will show up at your funeral and what Glenn will do with your ashes.

 

Then you realize that your brain has gone off on it’s own and that you really need some sleep. 

Turn to the left and you find Ellie, who has no fear of the feathered beasts that follow her around most of the day.

 

Have a great weekend, yaw’ll!!

Random Lunch – 03/24/09

I think I mentioned that I picked up two more Silkie hens the other day, right?  Well the little black one was getting picked on by the other Silkies so I had to move her somewhere else.  But where?  Certainly the big hens would also beat up on her and I was told that Silkies shouldn’t be out in the sun too much because their black skin makes them overheat too easily.  Hmmm… another dilemma.  What to do, what to do?

Problem solved.

Since the Silkie will be living in the rabbit hutch with Loretta and Travis for awhile, and it seems they are getting along just great, I need a name for the little girl.  Suggestions?

 

Maverick’s one year anniversary here on the farm was last week.  As I scratched him I reminded him that a year ago he couldn’t be touched and it took four people to lasso him and get him out of his prison.

 

You’ve come a long way, baby.

Buffy and the Bunnies

Babs the Americauna holds the egg laying championship belt.  That hen lays every day, without fail.  And I know it's her, because she's the one I see sitting in the box each day and there's only one blue egg each day.  The other Americauna is a selfish little hussy and has yet to lay an egg. 

One of the Silkies lays an egg every other day or so.  Her's are the little white ones in the carton.

Then there's Buffy the Beatle Slayer.  Buffy is pretty reliable, laying an egg a day for the most part.   That's one of her monsters in the back right of the carton.

 

 

The only other hen laying right now is one of the young Rhode Island Reds.  She just started laying last week and we're so proud or her.  She's been laying an egg a day as well.

 

 

You would think as often as that horn dog rooster gets some action we'd have a lot more egg laying going on in the coop.

 

In bunny news, Loretta and Travis are getting used to us -- not that we've given them much choice.  We each take on inside with us at night and let them sit in our laps while we read and watch TV.  They cuddle up right under our chins or stretch out on our laps.  The cats have investigated them and Jack thinks they're really rather tasty.  He likes to lick their heads.  Don't ask me why.

 

Manny goes home

We delivered Manny to his new home today. It rained all day, but once he met his new friend he didn't seem to care. Neither one of them did, actually. Megan put his brand new halter on him, fed him some grain, then the two of them walked and trotted around the pasture in the rain. Manny has two Arabian mares to charm, chickens to sniff, dogs to play with, and a human who thinks he's the best thing since sliced bread. Manny's new humans would also like to adopt Classy in the Spring. Okie dokie.




Manny's humans raise all sorts of chickens and have chicks all over the place. Of course, they are all adorable and friendly. They sent us home with six roosters for Glenn to butcher at his leisure. If he knows what's good for him he'll do the deed before I get too attached. I haven't named them... yet.




Oh! When Glenn was out hunting on Friday he saw the other four guineas that disappeared so long ago. They were full grown and happily sitting in a tree looking at him. Bonus!!

Back to work tomorrow. Ugh. I hope everyone enjoyed the long weekend!

Can we have another? Please?