Sassy & Sweet Notes

Poultry Paradise

My parents are getting ready for a short camp trip, and oh how I envy them! Sure, life on the farm is all glitz and glam, but imagine... me, Alan, and the chickens, dipping our toes in a cool mountain lake. We could be enjoying the sweet song of crickets and frogs, instead of the deafening whistle and whine of the Texas cicadas (though, I actually like the cicadas...) How sweet it would be! So, rather than wishing they (my parents) were here, I wish we were there!

I made this card using images from my recently released Whipper Snapper sets. The chicken and sentiment are from Beach Bum, the island is from Hooked on Fishing, and the trailer is from Great Outdoors. And of course, what's not to love about the Mr. Campy Cosmo Cricket paper... *swoon*

I was recently asked if I would show photos of project details now and then. You bet, Pam! Here you go! On this card, I chose to double-layer the chicken's body, for added detail. I lightly colored the chicken in the background, and then colored the top-layer chicken darker with more detail. I also sketched in some grass sprigs and made little dots to quickly and easily add ground.

Here is a close-up of the twill, button, twine. Normally I use a couple of small glue dots to hold things in place. I'm almost out of glue dots. *gasp!*

Note to self: ORDER GLUE DOTS!

And speaking of chickens (aren't we always?)...

I have a four chicks hanging out with me tonight. The black one is 3 or 4 days old, one of the yellow ones is a couple days old, the other yellow one hatched yesterday.

The younger chicks need to get their legs under them before I'll put them in with Ginger (the mama) and her slightly older chicks. I brought in a couple of the chicks that are a few day old to keep the new chicks company, and to encourage the new chicks to eat. They'll learn faster if they can mimic the older chicks.

After a day or two when they've got the hang of their legs and of eating, I'll put them all out with their mama and the other babies. Ginger will never notice... 11, 12, ...14... who's counting. Not Ginger! The newly hatched chicks are still in the "need sleep" stage, and Ginger is too busy showing the older chicks food to worry about snuggling down with day old chicks. They'll do better with her and the older babies in a day or two.

This is the little gal that hatched today...a bit too early, thanks to the egg she was in getting broken about a day before she was ready to hatch. I'm lucky I found her in the nest when I did. It could have been disastrous for her... She spent most of the day in the incubator, until she thought it was time to kick the last of her egg shell off and join her friends.

This modeling stuff is hard work when you're newly hatched!

BlueBird

Yahoooo for the weekend! I love weekends! It's wicked HOT, but hopefully the temps will start to cool off a bit on Sunday. If nothing else, the weekend allows time for splashing around in the water!

A few updates on what's been happening around the farm...

CHICKENS: More chicks have hatched... I haven't counted all the heads yet, but they're all CUTE, I can tell you that! We've had babies hatch every so often over the past couple of weeks, so they're all different ages and sizes. They're so stinkin' CUTE!

DEXTERS: The cow's udders are starting to swell with milk. That means soon we'll have BABIES! And you know how I love the little cow babies! Princess might deliver first...then Queenie... then Dixie... then we'll have to wait a while longer (months!) for Lucy, Pixie, and then Chick should be the first to calve again next year, since she was the first to calve this year.

KITTENS: We have two litters of kittens right now. There are four babies in one litter, and only three left in the second litter. Unfortunately, the litter with 4 babies are as WILD as can be. We don't usually see them during the day -- only at night, as they are racing around, playing. We haven't caught them, and we haven't been able to catch their mother yet, either.

The other litter that only has three babies started with six babies. The mother had them in the garage, and something (we figure a stray tom cat) got in the garage and killed a couple of the babies. Their mother is young and wasn't giving the babies as much attention as she needed to, so Alan took the four remaining babies from her. After about a week of feeding, we found a home for one of them and he went to live with his new family. We still have the other three, and since they are still too little to be outside on their own, we keep them in one of the chick brooders so they can have lots of room to play and romp. They've grown so MUCH! They're all girls. A dark tiger stripe, a dark tiger stripe with small faint orange tortoise patches, and a long haired gray girl (with the FATTEST pink belly!) We call her Fatty. *grin* We were thrilled to find a home for the boy, and we would like to find homes for the girls as well. They're young, and already litter box trained! But if we can't find homes for them, at least we will be able to catch them and get them to the vet when they're old enough so they won't be having any kittens of their own!

Anyway, that's most of what we've been up to...  And now and then I make things!

This card was made with an image from the Shady Tree Studio line from Cornish Heritage Farms. I stamped the image and painted it with re-inkers. Once the image was dry, I used a white gel pen to add the white leaves and dots, just for something different. I like it!

870 Degrees.

I just looked at the forecast for the next week for our area. Unreal.

Sunday: 96
Monday: 97
Tuesday: 97
Wednesday: 96
Thursday: 97
Friday: 97
Saturday: 97
Sunday: 96
Monday: 97

And if you do math like I do, that's 870 degrees. Yup, every day. Why don't they just say "Blistering HOT!" In fact, as I write this it's 1:52am and it is STILL 85 degrees with 69% humidity. I might just die.

Time to stock up on frozen fruit bars! I'm putting bottles of frozen water in the chicken waterers now too, to help keep the chickens cool. I do believe Summer is officially here. *ugh!*

Lefty's Babies

Earlier this week I mentioned that we had some of Lefty's babies here on the farm. Here are three of them I found resting on one of the old straw bales we have near the garage. The little black and white cockerel in front should grow up to look a lot like Lefty. These are the same three chicks that are in the cute photos of Crazy Dark Brown Hen with her chicks, posted this day. They change so much as they grow! And so quickly, too!

The light brown and gray speckled chick on the left is a little pullet. She's very sweet! The red/brown chick in the back/middle I *think* is a cockerel...but I'm not sure (also, I think Edward might be the father of that one, not Lefty). It's comb is MUCH smaller than the guy in the front, but it also has a different kind of comb, which is always smaller than the single comb on the guy in the front. So, time will tell.

There are more of Crazy Dark Brown Hen and Lefty's chicks in the chicken coop, too. An entire rainbow of colors! There's a charcoal gray pullet, a black pullet, a black & gold pullet, a red/brown pullet (like the one in the back of this photo), a little white speckled pullet, and a beautiful red and blue (which is actually gray) cockerel. They are the chicks we hatched from Crazy Dark Brown Hen's eggs after she abandoned the nest. They're growing up to be sweet little chicks. The little red and blue rooster loves to be held. I think more than anything it's because it makes him "taller" than all the other chickens in the coop. He's spoiled... but he's not the only spoiled one. *grin*

Sweet, sweet babies...

The Dashing Tiny Tim

Thank you for the notes about Lefty. I didn't mean to leave you with such a downer of a post. So, to make up for it, here is a Tiny Tim the Frizzle Roo update that so many of you have been BEGGING for!

 

Remember Tiny Tim? You might not think this is Tiny Tim... but it is! Quite the change from the last time you saw him, eh?

This past winter I kept nearly naked coat wearin' Tiny Tim in a bachelor pad, so I could keep him warmer than the other chickens and move him from the chicken yard to the utility room quickly when the temperatures dropped. I noticed his feathers started slowly growing in, so I kept him in his bachelor pad in the chicken yard all spring. He could talk with the ladies and they could talk with him, but they just couldn't pull his feathers! While his feathers did grow in, they just looked dull and dusty.

So last weekend, I gave Tiny Tim a bath (well, more of a shower really)!

He was LESS than thrilled with the process, although I think he really did like the warm water. When he was done, he smelled Green Apple scented Dawn fresh! I wrapped him up in some fuzzy towels and held him for a couple of hours while Alan and I watched TV. That part I KNOW he liked!

And this is what he looks like today! He STILL has lots of new feathers coming in! You can see them at the top of his neck -- they look like they have long white beads on them since they are still in their protective feather sheath.That covering will flake off as the feathers get longer.

I know for a fact that not only did his last summer/winter nakedness happen because of his weird extra frizzled feathers, but I think he also let some of the ladies groom him a little too much. He can't help it if he likes the extra attention from the ladies! I guess his nakedness was a small price to pay for love from the ladies.

It's hard to believe that THIS little rooster is our little coat wearin' Tiny Tim, but it's true. It is. In all his curly, shiny feathered glory!

Isn't he handsome! I love his tail feathers! Like ringlets!

Want to know more about Tiny Tim? You can read all of the posts about him, here.

Rest in Peace, Lefty...

Lefty hatched in late August 2006. He was a very cool, HUGE, rooster...
He always looked after his ladies. He was one of the first chicks to hatch when I moved to the farm.

When he was a baby, I found him several times sleeping on his back. Look how CUTE he was!

Sadly, Lefty died today, peacefully. And I'm not sure why. We'll miss him... his ladies already miss him, too.

Oddly enough, Crazy Dark Brown Hen is raising some of his babies right now, and I have another handful of his babies in the coop, from the eggs we hatched after Crazy Dark Brown Hen abandoned her nest. Maybe one of his sons will grow up to be a good boy, like Lefty. Maybe.

a breezy new door

Some of the smaller hens in the coop still don't like to go into the chicken yard yet. With temperatures rising, they needed a little more airflow in the coop. Instead of cutting another window in the wall, I built them this COOL new screen door so that they can have a HUGE "window" that they can see out of during the day.

I designed the screen door so that the doors can still be fully opened so that I can easily clean.

The right side of the building is blocked off from the chickens so I can store feed, etc. But we didn't divide the building equal to the middle of the doors, so I had to make a little hinged section in the screen door to compensate for the extra width needed to close up the gap.

Because there isn't a center post for the doors to close to, I used large bolts at the top and bottom of the big doors, and the screen door, to hold them in place. This will keep predators OUT, and chickens IN!

The girls LOVE their new door, the view, and the breeze.

And so does Wiley!

Subtle Differences

Here are the two chicks that were "surprise" hatches earlier this week. They are both part Red Frizzle Bantam (Little Buddy) and part Buff Silkie (don't know which of the three hens though). They do look a LOT alike, but there are slight differences.

The chick on the left was the first one to hatch. She (I'm optimistic!) has feathered legs and only four toes (normal) like her father, Little Buddy, but she has more of a head crown (poofy head feathers) like her mother, who is a Silkie.

The chick on the right was the second one to hatch. She (I'm optimistic!) also has feathered legs like her father, Little Buddy, but she also has the extra toe that is a characteristic of the Silkie breed (she got that from her mother). This chick doesn't have as much of a head crown though. Neither of them have the black skin that is a characteristic of the Silkie breed.

I think mixed breed chicks are so interesting ... especially when you KNOW what the two breeds are that created the mix!

We had an egg in the incubator pip (start to hatch) yesterday, but it didn't make it. I'm really disappointed, too... I really wanted that specific breed cross (Pippy a buff polish + Little Buddy a red frizzle bantam). Another chick pipped this morning, and is still working on hatching. It will be exciting to see what kind of cross it is! I'm waiting for four other chicks to pip today, too. Cross your fingers they do well!

Update: Another egg has pipped!! Come on BABIES!

A Surprise Chick!

Last week I mentioned that I was testing out the incubator with some of the eggs from the farm girls (due to some crummy hatch results with some shipped eggs) to make sure things were working smoothly.

There are 22 eggs in the incubator.

6 have a hatch date of May 30.

12 have a hatch date of June 3.

The remaining 4 I'm unsure of their development. Either they have really dark shells that make it difficult to candle, or I'm questioning their development progress, thinking they may not be growing any longer.

It takes 21 days of incubation for a chick to come to full growth, and hatch. Granted, this can fluctuate by a couple of days depending on heat, but the incubator has been at a steady 100 (give or take a percentage of a degree) since I set the eggs.

It was crazy! Last night I thought I heard some peeping coming from the incubator. I thought, NAH!! Can't be! They're no where NEAR their hatch date! And all the eggs were still intact -- not a crack to be seen!

Well, I wasn't crazy after all! This morning, a cute little reddish-blonde colored chick hatched! And, it hatched from one of the eggs I set late, with a hatch date of June 3! I can only imagine that I picked up an egg that one of the hens had been sitting on, giving it a head start on growing, but really ... it was the STRANGEST thing going in to turn the eggs and finding a chick! And, what's even crazier...there's another egg that looks like it's about to hatch as well! I'm really not sure how all of this happened. I just know it did. Today was day 13 for the chick and it's egg to be in the incubator ... soooo crazy!

I candled the rest of the eggs, and they all look like they're right on target for their projected hatch day. Saturday should bring 6 chicks, and next Wednesday, a dozen more -- if things go well, that is! And as for the four eggs I'm not sure about ... well, we'll see how things turn out for them too!

Here a chick, There a chick...

Early April I ordered some specialty breed chicken eggs, shipped as fertile eggs meant for hatching. I ordered eggs from two different breeders, and ordered three different breeds of birds. I prepared the incubator and got things ready for when the eggs arrived. One of the shipments arrived timely, and in great condition. The other shipment took a couple of days longer than planned, and the box looked like it was pretty roughly handled during shipping. I let the eggs sit for a day to "rest" after being shipped, and then set them in the incubator. 21 days passed. Out of the 21 eggs I incubated, only two hatched. I let the eggs stay in the incubator three extra days in case we had any stragglers, but no other chicks hatched.

I got one Salmon Faverolle (the yellow one in the food dish, and I suspect it's a cockerel) and one Golden Cuckoo Marans (the one on the right -- hopefully a pullet, but I'm not so sure). The little striped chick in the front center is from one of the eggs we hatched from Crazy Brown Hen's nest after she left the nest with her three little chicks.

This is the Golden Cuckoo Marans chick. What a face!

I'm happy with the two chicks, even though I really would have preferred two pullets, but let me tell you...these turned out to be a couple of expensive chicks. None of the eggs from the roughly handled box hatched, and several didn't even start to develop.

So, since I had such a low hatch rate with the specialty breed eggs, I decided that I needed to test out the incubator before attempting to hatch any more specialty breed chicks. To do this, I set a few eggs from the farm girls in the incubator.

The eggs have been in the incubator for two weeks, and they have 1 more week before they hatch. Tonight we candled (with a strong flashlight, not really a candle) some of the eggs to see how things were progressing... what do you know! We've got BABIES!

Candling eggs is something best done in a warm, dark room, and it needs to be done quickly so the eggs aren't out of the warm incubator too long. There was lots of movement, and we could even clearly make out legs and feet in several of the eggs. What fun! And just for you, I took photos!

We did all of this very quickly. We used a small bright flashlight, a shotgun shell shot glass (it's top is narrow!), and a macro lens on my camera which was mounted on my tripod. In normal light, these eggs look like any other egg. It's only by shining the bright light into the shell that you can see what's happening inside!

The flashlight is at the top of the egg. The large white area at the top of each egg is the air cell that stores oxygen for the chick. You can see the blood vessels around the membrane. The large swooping vein really moved around as the chick moved inside the shell.

You can see a leg and foot in this photo. This was a very active chick!

Another very active baby in this egg. The lighter colored spots you see are actually part of the egg's shell. They seem to be where the shell is just a bit thinner than other areas.

This was the first egg we candled. This chick put it's two feet on the side of the membrane several times. I was able to get this photo taken just as it started to pull it's feet back towards the middle of the egg.

Candling eggs is great fun! I only wish we could do it longer! You've got to be very careful not to jostle the egg, and too much time out of the incubator could be deadly to the baby. But what an amazing thing to be able to see the chicks move inside the shell!

Three Goat's Antics

We've recently been letting the goats into the larger barnyard area, and they think it's just so COOL that they can get closer to the house, closer to the driveway (they let us know if anyone pulls into the driveway), and they've got a HUGE round bale of hay to munch on! What more could a goat ask for (well, other than a left open gate, freshly groomed flowerbeds, and all the grain they can dream of...)

All of the wonderful things the goats have available to them, and BAD Boxcar Betty still insists on eating the grass on the OTHER side of the fence. And wouldn't you know it, she got stuck. It wasn't a dire straights 911 kind of stuck. More of a pathetic "oh man...I'm going to be in so much trouble if Farmer Lady sees me" kind of stuck.

As Betty's luck would have it, I did see her. And even better, I had my camera handy!

"...maybe I should go back through this square..."

Callio-Pea can't quite make it to the top of the hay on her own, so Alan helped her to the top.

She thought that was pretty alright! "I am the tallest goat NOW!"

Betty has yet to make it to the top of the hay. Not for lack of desire, though. Instead, she just eats. I'm pretty sure she wants to eat through the entire center of the bale. Betty loves hay.

Maggie is able to get to the top of the bale on her own. She is the smallest, and by far the most agile of the three. She found the top of the bale to be the best place to lounge. That pine cone next to her foot was her afternoon snack.

Maggie takes the top of the hay bale very seriously. She stands guard, making sure Callio-Pea and Betty don't make it to the top.

Meanwhile, Betty scratches an itch and contemplates her next deviant act.

How Many?

I actually have a card to share with you today, but first I must write this post. It's just too fun!

A little background: Crazy Dark Brown Hen went missing about a month or more ago. We were sad. Then one day, Alan saw her milling around with the other chickens. All was good. Then she went missing again...

We figured she'd made herself a little nest somewhere hidden from view and was sitting on who KNOWS how many eggs! Did you know it only takes 21 days for an egg to develop into a full-sized, ready to hatch chick?

One day, Alan saw her go into the TALL weeded area near our drain field, so at least we knew where she was. We just couldn't find her nest. It rained and rained and RAINED for several days and nights. I was sure that she would get rained out of her little hidden nest, or if she managed to stay on her nest, that the eggs would take in too much water and wouldn't hatch.

Then one day, Alan saw her out on the sidewalk all fluffed out like she was guarding baby chicks under her wings! Sure enough! She not only managed to survive her time sitting, but she also managed to hatch some babies even though we received several inches of rain during that time!

To keep her and her babies safe, we've been keeping them in a brooder until they were a bit bigger and could better tolerate being around the larger chickens. I started letting them out during the day so they can run around and be busy little chickens, but still keeping them in the brooder at night for safety.

Yesterday evening while I was out and about taking photos on the farm, I found Crazy Dark Brown Hen next to the garage getting her and her babies ready for bed. How they managed to get on top of a double stack of hay bales is beyond me. They're just so little, they must have really given it their all.

These photos aren't the greatest ... the sun was almost set, I was in the shadow of the garage, I had the camera set to allow as much light as possible for the shot, but that meant I had to have a really shallow depth of focus. So as much as it pains me, the photos are not as good as they could be. But they capture a moment in time here on the farm that was just too cute NOT to photograph. So please excuse the soft focus of the photos. It was the best I could do with the light and camera gear I had with me.

Can you guess how many chicks she has in this photo?

Crazy Dark Brown Hen, with HOW MANY babies?

Are you sure there's just one?

Do you think there are only two babies?

If you guessed THREE, you're RIGHT! Three little cuties! I'm pretty sure the one on the right and the black one are boys... *troublemakers* But jeez, they're cute!

The day that we saw her with her chicks for the first time, we also found her nest. She had been sitting on 14 eggs. She hatched three. Just in case there were others about ready to hatch, we gathered the eggs and put them under another hen who'd just started sitting in the chicken yard but didn't have any eggs to sit on. We don't like to let the hens in the chicken yard sit because the other hens are a danger to the babies if and when they hatch. But she was a good, immediately "warm" spot for the eggs.

A couple of days passed and I decided that since there weren't any other hatches, that I would toss out the eggs. I didn't want them to be a mess for the sitting hen. I lifted the sitting hen off the eggs and saw that three of them were in the process of hatching! Not wanting the babies to hatch with all the other hens around (it would be disasterous), I gathered up the eggs and took them in the house and put them in the incubator. Three chicks hatched that day, and three more hatched in the two days to follow. They're being raised by me in a brooder with a couple other specialty breed chicks I hatched in the incubator the week prior. *grin*

Cows Eat Grass

I went out in the pasture this evening to see what was happening. It wasn't too hot, and the evening light was just great! I had hoped to get wildflower photos, but I kept getting too much help from the donkeys. It's not easy taking photos of small things when you've got a donkey (or two) rubbing on your hiney!

So instead, I took photos of cows eating grass. That's as exciting as it got! Here are some photos documenting the fun.

Houdini eats grass.

Pixie Dust eats grass.

Queenie eats grass (for two).

Dixie Chick eats grass. She's Houdini's mom.

Dixie eats grass (for two - she's a WIDE load). She's Dixie Chick's mom, and Houdini's Grandma!

And if you're wondering, donkeys eat grass too! This is Fitz.

And this is Fitz coming over to say hello...

I must have looked lonely...

Nick came to see me too... Nick is a mess. She's always rolling around in the burrs.

And Houdini came to see me too...

Houdini likes to get REALLY close...

And beg for head rubs... that's my hand and his eye.

He loves head rubs... this is an action shot!

His cheek...

His nose...

His... well, I'm not sure. Another action shot!

The other side of his nose.

His forehead and eyelashes. Too bad I didn't get a shot of him licking my arm! He's a pest...

Then Houdini went off to play with Truman. They are buddies. I think Houdini is licking Truman's face (or telling him secrets).

Off to find more trouble...

Oh hey! Farmer Lady!

And then he came back to see me again.

Closer...

Closer...

...closer...

...almost there...

"Excuse me, Farmer Lady, do you have any cookies?"

He's pretty cute, that's for sure!

Chicken Portraits Part II (or is it Part III? ...IV?)

As promised, here are some more chicken portraits taken a couple of evenings ago while the chicks were out having fun in their new yard for the first time. They were all so TIRED by evening! All that flitting around chasing bugs and swinging off the tall grass really wore them out!

The always adorable Curly Que, coppin' a squat on the rim of the feed container...

One of the Golden Comet girls, coppin' a squat IN the feed container...

 
Tipsy Frizzywinkle, showing off her sylin' doo! Such charm!

Wiley is a little TINY rooster. He might stand as tall as the length of my hand. Maybe. I think he's a Dutch bantam, but I'm not sure. First I thought he was an Old English Game Bantam (OEGB), but I think he has the wrong color legs for an OEGB. I haven't taken much time to research him. I bought him out of a "mixed bantam" group, so that's why I'm not certain what he is. He'll be a looker though, that's for sure! His gold feathers are coming in really nicely!

This photo of Curly Que just makes me LAUGH! What a CUTE chicken butt!! *giggle*

Chicken Portraits...and a coop update!

...can you handle more chicken photos? ...I hope so...  *grin*

This is Chatty. She's considered to be an "Easter Egger" pullet. She is a cross between an Old English Game Bantam (her mama) and an Ameraucana (her papa). She was one of the chicks that hatched down in the barn in December.

Chatty just started laying cute little green-shelled eggs late last week. She's an adorable little gal, who LOVES to talk. She also loves to be held. And she was the best helper while we were working on the new chicken yard. She had to make sure every screw and every wire was in just the right spot. And she told us what she thought every step of the way.

Chatty used to live at the barn with her sisters and some of the older barn hens, but she got in the way of one of the older *bossier* hens and got a terrible 2" open wound on her neck. Thankfully I interact with the chickens daily and was able to get her isolated and treated right away. She has healed up nicely, but still has a large scar on the back of her neck that interrupts the growth pattern of her feathers.

This is Cheeks, one of Chatty's sisters who also hatched in December. She is also an "Easter Egger" pullet, but hasn't started laying eggs yet.

Cheeks also used to live at the barn, but like Chatty, she got in the way of one of the older *bossier* hens and ended up with a open wound on her head! She immediately joined Chatty in our ICU ward where they both got treated (and spoiled). She has healed up nicely, but has a scar that interrupts the feathers on her head.

See how she's holding her wings out from her body? That's one way a chicken keeps cool on hot days. Nothing better than a nice cool breeze under your wings when it's 90+ degrees out!

Because these two spent so much time away from the barn, and because they seemed to be the two that got picked on by the older hens, I've decided that they'll be integrated in with the babies at the new coop. I refer to them as the head injury duo.

We finally got phase 1 of the new chicken yard completed so yesterday the chicks had their first full day in their new yard, and didn't have to be supervised! It was a great time for photos -- I'll share some of the chick photos tomorrow!

Here's a photo of the coop as it is today. It doesn't look like we've made much progress, but we have! There are still lots of things left to do. Like frame up the small windows we added in the storage area of the building, cut in and finish the large window on the back wall of the coop, finish the chicken door (right now it's just a rough cut hole), continue working on the full chicken yard, paint the trim, and a whole slew of other odds and ends. See the red cord coming out of the window? That's operating the HUGE fan we have in the coop to keep the birds cool. I can't believe how HOT and HUMID it has been here. I don't think I could wish any harder for cool temps and rain!

The 10'x16' roof over their back yard took longer than planned, but I'm glad we did it. It provides great shade and will keep the ground behind the coop from getting too muddy and gross when we actually DO get rain. This kind of covered area really expands the living area of the birds, giving them just that much more space out of the weather. We'll be adding a 30'x30' run off the far side of the coop. The large 30'x30' yard will have two access doors. One from the existing 10'x16' back yard, and one from the front side of the coop. The original plans were to have a 30'x30' yard on both sides of the coop, along with the 10'x16' run at the back, so we'll see how that comes along.

The small wooden structure you can see in the yard is a brooder, which is typically used to house small chicks in the coop when they still need a heat lamp. The front of the brooder folds down, allowing the birds to go in and out as they wish. That is where the head injury duo have been living, enjoying the yard during the day yet having the security of a locked brooder at night. Now that the small chicks are able to access the yard, the head injury duo get to see the chicks but not physically interact with them just yet. They all need time to get used to each other before they're allowed to mingle together. After a week or so, they should all be used to each other and the head injury duo will be able to live with the others, having free access to the coop and yard. This is a nice, safe way to introduce birds to each other. And safe is always best...

Stay tuned for more!

Cluck cluck!

Meet Chainsaw!

Yes, Chainsaw is this little chick's name... odd, I know, but they can't all be NORMAL!

This little chick was the first one of our farm hatches this spring. It is part red frizzle cochin bantam (but it's feathers didn't frizzle) and part buff silkie, and it's feathers are so soft and smooth!

For the longest time we thought this might be a little rooster... then we thought maybe it's a hen... now, I'm not so sure about either one! It needs to get a little older, out of it's "adolescent" stage for me to be sure. So, for now, IT is just Chainsaw.

Chainsaw is one of my favorite chicks. It loves to cuddle. That might have something to do with me, though. When it was still in the house, before they moved out to the coop, Chainsaw was the one I would hold while Alan and I watched TV in the evening. Dancing with the Stars is a favorite around here... Chainsaw is rooting for Ty Murray. *grin*

Here are a couple photos of Chainsaw as a young chick, looking cute as EVER!

It's feathers have always been kind of "poofy" and stood out a bit from it's body.

It's wing feathers were (and still are) so much longer than it's body! Perfect for flitting around the chicken yard in search of bugs!

...Chainsaw might just have to come in and watch the Dancing with the Stars finale with us!...

Boxcar Betty ... AKA: BAD Betty!

Oh, little Boxcar Betty.

When you see Betty, your first thought is "oh what a cute little goat!" And she is. Her little frosted nose and ears... her smiling eyes... her wattles... what's not to love?

And then you get to know Betty. She's rotten most of the time. She has the worst habits. She charges the gate in anticipation for her meals. More often than not, she ends up spilling her share of grain on the ground because she is too busy being CRAZY to keep all four feet on the ground. She jumps on the goat house and off the goat house, and on the goat house and off. She spins in circles, overjoyed at the thought of SNACKS! She puts her muddy feet on me (ouch!), and pretty much makes a complete pest out of herself. Betty is a goat. Pure and simple. But she is pretty darn CUTE when she's not being such a mess.

Betty has other bad habits as well. She likes to ESCAPE through the gate (which makes bringing in food and water even more challenging).

The other farm animals agree, Betty is a BAD goat.

One of the neighbor's longhorns: "Oh, yea... little Betty. She's always tellin' us cows to pass the grass. Pass the grass? Sure, I'll pass the grass.... ahhhh.... I love passing grass."

Marble, Wishbone, and Admiral: "Betty's not THAT bad... she spends so much time getting in trouble, we get to eat her hay!"

Callio-Pea: *chomp chomp chomp* "I don't mind it so much when Betty's busy getting in trouble. I just eat hay!"

Callio-Pea: "I love hay... I love Betty's hay the most."

Maggie: "I can do tricks! Betty can't do tricks like I can! I can dance! Betty can't dance! And Callio-Pea can't dance! Only I can dance! But what's even more fun than dancing is tattling on Betty! And you know what!? Betty's being bad RIGHT NOW! Wanna see me dance? Cause I can dance!"

...Bad Betty gets an idea...

 

Betty: "I think I can..."

Betty: "This tree is so tall..."

Betty: "Ohhh, I'm so close..."

Betty: "Just a little closer...."

Betty: "Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! I knew I could do it!"

Betty: "I got it!"

Betty: "Wow, these leaves are really stuck!"

Betty: "I love leaves!"

Betty: "I might not be able to dance, but I can eat TREES!"

Wishbone: "Hey, uh, Betty... mind passing some of those leaves my way?"

Betty: "I sure hope Farmer Lady isn't looking... I'd be in so much trouble!"

As bad as Betty is (and she really is BAD), she's a stitch to have on the farm. She's always stiring up trouble, so things are NEVER dull down at the barn. Betty is a Pygmy goat. Though I'm doubtful that she's full-Pygmy.

If you thought Tipsy was cute...

I thought I'd introduce you to a couple more pullets...  Get a look at these cuties!

This is Curly Que, the little frizzled Golden Laced Polish pullet who hatched here on the farm April 1st. Her coloring is so much FUN! Polish chickens all have fancy feather plumes on their heads. Hers won't be as big and showy as a pure Polish hen's, but it'll still be sassy and fun! The next time I take photos of her, I need to make sure it's not in front of the coop! The wood siding of the coop is the same color as her feathers, and I think you miss out on some of their flair! I also need to make sure I have some assistance during her photo sessions. She refused to sit still long enough for me to get too many photos. She is a very busy, busy bird.

She's one WILD and CRAZY chick! (Pardon her little naked neck showing -- still working on growing in all those feathers!)

This little beauty is a Birchen Old English Bantam. She's TINY! That is a 2x2 perch she's sitting on, to give you an idea to scale. Isn't the lacing on her breast feathers pretty! What I love about these little Bantams is that they're such sweet little birds. The males can be little pistols, but the pullets are just as sweet as can be! She likes to sit on my shoulder when I'm in the coop. ...which is really great until she POOPS! *grin* I haven't decided on a name for her yet. It's gotta be something dainty... something beautiful...

And speaking of something dainty, this little thing hatched on Saturday! She's a Golden Cuckoo Marans and will grow up to have feathers that are a beautiful mix of gold, black and white. She will lay eggs that are a warm, dark brown.

And here she is about 12 hours after hatching... what a cutie, eh? A bit sleepy, but you would be too! She's standing with her stuffed chicken friend -- our tried and true surrogate momma/friend while we wait for other chicks to hatch. Thankfully, it wasn't long before she had a REAL chicken friend to share the brooder with. A little Salmon Faverolles hatched on Sunday -- pics of "her" later!

Welcome to the farm, girly girls!

Our little pullet has a NAME!

My GOODNESS! There has been so MUCH participation in the naming of our little pullet! 267 (and counting) comments, many with SEVERAL name suggestions! And that doesn't include the numerous emails I received as well! You're all so fun for playing along! And you came up with fantastic names!!

Thank you, thank you for all the FUN suggestions! I can't tell you how many belly laughs we have had reading every SINGLE one of them, and taking them all into consideration. We even got plenty of good names for some of the other girls in the coop too! And for that, I'm EXTRA grateful!

I've decided on a name for our little gal. The name was suggested by Mary Ann Kelemen... I'm delighted to introduce Tipsy Frizzywinkle!

There MANY other names that were so close... here are a few that *almost* got chosen...

Pwaula Pinecone (as said with a Boston accent) was a close second, suggested by Renee's kids. Renee made sure to mention the Boston accent for pronunciation, and went on to say that she and her kids live in Kansas...  Hahaa! What a crack up!!

Pinecone, for obvious reasons... Prickles, Phillis, June Bug, and one that topped the charts from my Dad was Edith Ann, like, one ringy dingy, two ringy dingy, Lilly Tomlin's strange operator from Laugh In. So MANY fun suggestions...it was a difficult decision!

I really can't tell you how much FUN this was for us! Thank you for playing along! And Tipsy thanks you too! Cheep cheep!

Mary Ann, drop me a note -- I've got a little something to send you for your winning suggestion!

Name This Chicken!

Come on! You know you want to play!
Let's play Name This Chicken!

Let's meet our little pullet!

Our little beauty is a cross between a Buff Silkie hen and a Red Frizzled Cochin Bantam rooster (how she got such dark feathers is beyond me...). She is five weeks old.

Unlike most of her young chicken friends, she's not from a hatchery! She was hatched out right here on the farm!

She enjoys high perches, june bug snacks, and scratching in the grass.

And, she doesn't really care for photo shoots...

So, let's hear what you've got! Name This Chicken!

PS: You never know... there might just be a prize awarded for the winning name!
PSS: A "pullet" is a young female chicken who is less than one year old.

Meet Truman!

Finally, Hillary brought baby Truman up to the barn! She's kept him waaaaaaay out in the pasture since he was born. Alan managed to get the two of them into the barn yard so we can be sure to keep an eye on both of them, and make sure they can get out of the weather. Having him in the barn yard means he's always on hand for photos! Yay! ...if only there were more time in my day.

Everyone was interested!

Pregnant Princess was interested... *Princess had better have a GIRL this year!* Alan said he needs to go tie pink bows on her belly...

Pregnant Queenie was interested...

Pregnant Dixie was interested...

and even CRAZY Boxcar Betty was interested!

Of course, they were probably more interested in the grain Hillary was getting more than baby Truman, but STILL!

Good times in the barn yard!

...and we didn't even get a COOKIE!

The pasture is loaded with bluebonnets this year! Thank goodness! We only had a handful of flowers last spring, and it was just dismal. We had a few HOT days last week, so I knew I needed to get out and take some photos before the flowers were gone.

Miss Daisy was LESS than thrilled, as you can see.

Then something across the pasture caught her interest...

Mister Farley thought the entire scene was just too boring, but he did an OK job of listening to me -- he just wouldn't LOOK at me.

 
But he did think the flowers smelled nice!

A bouncing baby BOY!

Well well well! If you're not into baby chickens, maybe you're into baby DONKEYS!

We KNEW Hillary was pregnant, but we didn't know the due date. Today, we learned that it was TODAY!

Hillary delivered this CUTE little fella this morning. This will be the last baby donkey born on the farm, as all of the boys have had their plumbing altered since Hillary got pregnant (way to go, Fitz...).

When this little fella is old enough, he'll make a visit to the vet's office as well for some alterations. Until then, he'll get to bounce around the pasture and sniff wildflowers 'till his heart's content!

I was able to run out to the pasture at lunch, so you're looking at high NOON photos (ack!). And by the way, it hit 95 degrees here today. *I wilted*

I think Hillary is happy to have lost some baby weight... it feels so GOOOOOOD to roll!

Ooooh yeah, right there....
"Tell me when you're done, Mom... I'm so embarrassed!"

A little to the right....

Which way, that a-way!
"You know, I could really go for a snack!"

"Come on kiddo, we're outta here!"
(Oh, Hillary...I see your boobies!)

Residents!

Hmm... I guess the white trim with black polka dots isn't a hit after all! Good thing I didn't actually PAINT it like that before I found out it was such a bust of an idea! *grin*

I was asked to post a photo of what the perch ladder looked like when it was suspended from the ceiling -- there you go, Chris! There's a short chain above both of the outside legs of the ladder so the ladder is held up on both sides. Works like a charm! Sorry for the low quality pics -- it was early, I was using my point and shoot camera, and had to use the flash. Argh! But you get the idea anyway...

We knew it was going to be HOT today (in fact, we're at the beginning of a HOT spell), so bright and early this morning Alan and I added a layer of wood chips to the floor of the coop and moved the majority of the chicks into the new coop. We've still got the youngest ones in a brooder in the house. They need to get a bit older (and grow more feathers) before they can move out into the coop.

This is their first time on wood chips, and some were a little more comfortable than others. But after a short time, the babies thought it was a PARTY! The white and black chick on the left is Sweet Pea, the cute little white chick we had hatch from one of Olive Oye's green eggs. Dang it, I think it's a rooster. Poo! In fact, I think all of the chicks in this photo are roosters. Bigger POO!

 
The brown and black chick in the middle is Edwina, who is one of our farm hatched chicks (as opposed to store bought). Edwina is half Ameraucana and half Mille Fleur. The little dark brown frizzle chick on the right is another one of our farm chicks (yet to be named). She's half frizzle and half golden laced Polish, so she will have crazy curled feathers, and hopefully a plume of feathers on her head -- though I think if she does it will be small.

If you're wondering why they have bright green marks on their legs, that's how we marked them as we vaccinated them, so we could tell who'd been vaccinated and who hadn't been. Every now and then, Alan got a little carried away with the green grease crayon and they ended up with an entire green leg instead of just a green middle toe!

Here's another farm hatched chick, yet to be named. Every time I look at her I just LAUGH! She's half frizzle and half silkie. She's just the FUNNIEST thing on two legs!! Like the Polish chickens, Silkies also have tall standing feathers on their heads, but usually they're a bit shorter and not as "showy" as the Polish head feathers. Hers are a RIOT!! I think there are 5 feathers coming in. Hopefully she'll get a few more!

This is one of the bantam chicks we picked up at the farm supply store. She's the smallest of all the chicks, but she's mighty! She has big beautiful eyes!

"Whoa, is that my TOE?"

Peck peck peck peck peck peck peck peck peck...

This is a Golden Comet pullet (girl). I love this in-between stage they're in. Losing their baby fuzz and growing in their first feathers. They're so awkward looking!

Here's the cute little frizzled Polish again, looking for snacks...

Yup, still too scary...

MORE Coop Progress!

We spent two or three hours working on the coop again this evening. We needed to get it to a point where we can move the chicks out of the house into the coop. They're outgrowing the brooder! We managed to finish all four sides of the vinyl flooring, installed insulation and wall boards below where the large window will be cut on the back wall, and installed PERCHES!

I wanted the perch ladder attached to the back wall with hinges so that I could lift up the ladder and have the perches suspended from the ceiling when I clean out the wood shavings in the coop. I think it's going to work PERFECTLY! (I saw this idea on a coop design shared at backyardchickens.com - I think it's a brilliant idea!) I don't even have to duck my head to stand under them when they're suspended! We put some short pieces of chain on the ceiling above each side of the perch. We added a couple of hooks to the legs of the perches so that the perches can be suspended from the ceiling. That, along with the vinyl flooring and the WIDE opening door will make cleaning out the coop a breeze!

I have a little wagon that attaches to the back of our lawn tractor -- I'll just pull right up to the front of the coop, swing open the doors, raise up the perches and sweep away!

Tomorrow evening, I'll add a layer of wood chips to the floor, a waterer and feeder, and introduce the babies to their new digs! They're too little to be outside just yet, so we have time to work on the chicken door, chicken run, and the window on the back wall. We'll also be adding in some nest boxes as well, but we've got plenty of time before they're ready to lay eggs!

In time, my dears, in time!

Cluck cluck!

Edited to Add:
I had to see what polka dot trim would look like. Here it is with a little digital editing magic -- HAA!!!

Coop Progress!

This past weekend Alan and I worked on the chicken coop. It's coming along nicely, but wow, it sure takes more time to do things than you'd think.

We started with stacks of supplies and amazingly enough, we've made good progress.

Some time last week we laid down the center of the sheet vinyl flooring. This will make for easy clean up, and will protect the wood floor of the coop. I got a steal of a deal on the flooring! $8 at Lowe's -- gotta love clearance!

We also started to frame in the internal wall that will divide the chicken area and the feed storage area.

The walls of the shed were not insulated when the shed arrived. With Texas heat, we thought it would be best to insulate the building to help keep it cool.

I hung the insulation while Alan framed in the internal door. The kind of wall insulation I bought is encased in a vapor barrier so it was a snap to install! We put weird foiled bubble insulation on the ceiling. It's kind of space-agey, and we're hoping that it will improve the lighting, making it a big brighter.

The foiled bubble insulation was easy to install around the roof beams. The shed stays nice and cool now!

Once the insulation was done, Alan started cutting wall boards. He cut, and I installed. We're a good team!

We also finished the internal door, added wire to the internal wall, completed two sides of the flooring (the other two sides of the flooring will get finished once we have the back wall where the chicken pop door will go).

Lots more to go, but so much progress has been made!

Look what followed me home....

I ran into the farm supply store this evening just MINUTES before closing to pick up two bags of pine chips and a little canning jar water dish.

They had a big trough full of red chicks.

They had a big trough full of golden comet chicks.

They had a big trough full of assorted bantams.

I'm not sure how it happened, but the Silkies followed me home.

Really! They just followed me home!

And I'm now banned from the farm supply store until WELL after "chick days" are over. They've never had so many "chick days"! I thought it was safe! Lesson learned... beware of parading chicks.

And Silkies!? They're the hardest to resist!

Oddly enough, I received an email from my Dad tonight. Yesterday, a new fishing boat followed him home! ACK! Could it be genetic!? ...I will say that at least they didn't ALL follow me home! See!! I ...I mean they... showed SOME restraint!

My Mom says she can't raise chicks this year -- I'll raise them for you, Mom!

Beginnings of a Coop

I've been wanting a larger chicken coop and yard for the girls. Since Alan and I have busy schedules and building a larger coop would take an enormous amount of time for us, I decided to make things a little easier on both of us. I ordered a locally built 10x16 garden shed that we will convert into a coop. If the building is small enough, the company I ordered it from will build it at their location and deliver it to your location, set it, level it, and drive away. Or, if the building you want is too big to transport, they offer on-location building. Ours was small enough to have built at their location and be delivered.

Last week, a man in a truck pulling a really cool hydraulic trailer showed up with the shed, complete with wide swinging doors and one window. The trailer did all kinds of strange maneuvers until the shed was set very gently in place on our property.

Today we started customizing the building into the new coop! We added hardware cloth (sturdy woven wire) around the base of the coop to keep things like cats, raccoons, armadillos, and chickens out from under the coop, and then "disguised" the hardware cloth with short cedar flowerbed picket fencing, purely as a "cute factor" detail and to further discourage critters under the coop. The pickets are made of wood that I *might* paint white since they're currently all different colors of cedar. We'll see. *grin*

Tomorrow we'll start modifications on the interior. We'll be adding insulation, adding a dividing wall so we can have a feed storage area separate from the chicken house area, installing linoleum flooring for easy cleaning (we scored a new piece of linoleum flooring on clearance at Lowe's last week for $8.00), creating a large window on the backside of the coop and two smaller windows on the storage end, adding nest boxes, perches, brooders for chicks, and of course CHICKEN doors! We will also be constructing a large run that will connect to the coop, so the girls can safely get out and scratch around in their yard and do what chickens do.

Of course not everything will be done in a day, but we'll get there. I'm excited!! I have plans to do a little painting on the coop -- some red and some white, and maybe even add some shutters! Or a flower box beneath the window!

Every coop needs a good name. Care to offer up suggestions - I KNOW you'll have good ones!!

PS: See the band of purple in the background? That's one of our pastures, filled with bluebonnets! Gorgeous! Now that the cows and donkeys are all out of that pasture, I'll be able to take the dogs back there and get some photos. That'll be fun!

Hey Buckaroo!

I thought I'd share this little 3x5 card made with fun The Cat's Pajamas stamps, in honor of Alan selling three of our calves! Tomorrow, Chuck will go to his new home where I have no doubt he will be spoiled rotten.Next week, Cleo and Cup will go to their new home where they will be introduced to their new herd friends. They'll make cute babies for their new owners!

Later this year, our cows will start having their 2009 babies. I think Princess will be first, and either Lucy or Pixie will be last to deliver. New calves are so fun!

Chick Pix

I took a few photos last night of some of the new chicks we've got in the brooder. This is the little chocolate colored chick we had hatch about 10 days ago. I was going back and forth about who it's mama was, and clearly I was WRONG! Turns out, this chick has Silkie toes and frizzling feathers! So there's no way her mama could be Doily, Pearl, or Tina! You can kind of see her wing feathers sticking out as they do their cute frizzle curl. It will be fun to see her grow up! (Sorry it's not all in focus... it was dark and I needed to use a shallow depth of field to allow enough light to even take the photo at all!)

This is Edwina, a cross between our Mille Fluer Peanut and our Ameraucana Edward Scissorbeak. Peanut lays the smallest eggs on the farm, but hatching from one of Peanut's itty bitty eggs didn't stop Edwina from growing and growing and GROWING! She TOWERS over all the other babies in the brooder! And look at all her pretty feathers coming in! She is a very sweet, mild mannered chick. Except when a bug gets in the brooder... then she gets a little CRAZY running and jumping and peeping like mad. Bugs in the brooder are VERY exciting! Hopefully, Edwina will lay green eggs...

This is one of the little Golden Comet chicks we brought home from the farm supply store last weekend. Golden Comets are a sex-link bird, meaning that the pullets (girls) are a different color than the cockerels (boys). So it's easy to tell the males from the female birds. She'll grow up to be a pretty gold and white colored hen and lay nice, brown eggs. Can't wait!

Hope you're enjoying your weekend!