An Unpleasant Chicken Day

Yesterday was NOT cool.  We went about two months without a dcent amount of rain.  Jim Howard and Greg Armbrect said we were getting some, but we didn't.  I'll bet Greg Fischal said we were, too.  But very little rain came if any.  Friday we were slated for a 60% chance on Monday, but by Sunday night it had jumped to 90%.  And the rains came.  My garden needed the rain, too.  I was carrying 5 gallon buckets out to water my veggies one at a time.  It's about a quarter acre, so my arms were a bit sore. 

As most of you know I had chicks hatch last week.  Some came Tuesday or Wednesday with more to follow Friday.  I never got an exact number, but I believe it was around 18 or so.  The bantam with the silkie rooster kept losing hers.  She hatched out 8 in total, but they were dying one at a time.  She still had 6 when we left on Friday.  Dustin, our neighbor fed and watered for us.  He's farmer's grandson. We got home late Sunday so the birds were left to sleep.  I didn't have time to check them before work yesterday, but when I got home I changed and went out to see.  It was still raining and all the birds were soaking wet.  The two hens were huddled over their chicks.  But the bantam/silkie only had 3 doing well with one squished in the mud!  It was the last black one.  I had to put it out of it's misery, and I was at the very brink of tears.  I didn't make Mike do it.  And I felt just awful!  Mike did tell me he pulled one dead chick from her that morning, and two from Bucky and China.  So I wrangled up the remaining chicks...three silkie/bantams and six from Bucky and China....nine in total.  I put them in the brooder box with feed, water, and some wheat straw for warmth.  Both hens clucked on calling their chicks, and the chicks peeped quite loudly from the box.  I felt awful for that, as well.  But I felt they would be safer that way.  I do have a heat lamp for them, as well. 

We also had a couple of pigeon squab hatch last week.  I think one of them is dead, too.  Mama was sitting on them and wouldn't let me check.  But I know one is still living.  I could see it moving.  Got another pigeon sitting on two eggs.  Baby pigeons are so UGLY!  Their beaks are way to big!  Glad they are pretty when they grow up. 

I haven't been commenting as much lately.  I've been busy as a bee in a clover field.  But I still pop in to check on each of you.  Just cause I don't say anything doesn't mean I'm not reading!  I'll try to get some pics up in the next day or two.  I have some, but they are still on the camera.  Have a pleasant day, all.

They're Here!!

We have all been waiting.

I had a hybrid bantam hen.  She is all white, but I have both parents.  They are both black with a tan or cream colored collar.  She was by herself, so I put a white silkie rooster in with her.  Well, they got busy, and she started sitting after laying about 15 or 16 eggs.  It seemed like forever ago when she started sitting.  We'll be away for the weekend, so I figured if they had not hatched by Friday, I was gonna throw out the eggs.  Yesterday afternoon I saw a little white head poking out from under her, but I could still see eggs.  She was still sitting, too.  Then I check in on her this morning before leaving for work.  I saw a black chick, but it wasn't moving.  I think it might be dead.  I told Mike just in case, so he can get it out if it is.  But since she was still sitting I let her sit.  I wll check back in this afternoon.  I can't wait for her to get up.  I'm curious as to how these chicks will turn out!  I will post later when they are out and about with some pics! 

What A Week

I am so ready for the entire week to be over with.  Of course, we look for the weekend to escape from the problems of the week, but they don't go away.  They sit right there and wait for you to return to them on Monday.  I had some unpleasant news this week that has put me in a bit of a predicament, and I am left having to make a decision I really would rather avoid.  I don't want to share any details right now, but I'd appreciate any thoughts and prayers I can get.

With that said, my weekend plans changed today.  My sister had asked Mike and I to go to the Dogwood Festival with them in Farmville, NC on Saturday.  There will be street vendors, live music, rides for the kids, and such.  That was the plan for Saturday.  But my mom didn't see my truck at work this morning when she drove by and thought I was out sick or something.  She called Mike and said that all my brothers and sisters were taking their kids to the festival and it was gonna be pretty quiet at home (for a change).  She asked if we'd like to come out for dinner, and maybe help her plant some flowers or something in the yard on Saturday.  So that's what the plan may be after all. 

The circle is the area where my parents live.  That's the Pamlico River that empties into the Pamlico Sound, which in turn, empties into the Atlantic Ocean.  We live an hour and a half west of them on the same river.  But it changes names to the Tar River half way in.

 Lost a chicken a few weeks ago.  Mike and I left Saturday morning and return Sunday evening.  I fed and watered the chickens well before we left, and when we returned we found our splash silkie dead.  She only had one eye.  The guy we got her from said she had Merek's as a chick, but had recovered well except for her eye.  She was with a blue rooster named Blueberry.

They were camera shy.  In fact, they were handled very little and any other type of living thing shy.  But now he seems severely depressed.  He only sits and refused to walk.  He eats and drinks very little.  I'm not sure if he will last through the weekend.  I tried putting another hen with him, but she does her thing, and he ignores her.  I've given him some antibiotics, but it all seems hopeless. 

SKY WATCH FRIDAY

I got this rainbow out our back door one evening with my cell phone. That was before my sister gave us a nice camera.

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

P.S. Found out where Stripey Cat was for three days.  Farmer set out live traps to catch varmints around his chickens.  Nosey little Stripey Cat wandered over to his place and got himself into a mess.  But Farmer and his grandson realized he was a pet (but didn't know he was ours) and let him go.  He's home safe and sound now.

Time Flies

Time flies when you are busy doing things you'd rather not be doing.  That's not the entire case for me.  I was out of town for the weekend.  Mike and I went to visit my parents since it's been nearly three months.  Shame, shame, we know.  But it was a lovely visit.  We went out Saturday morning and came home Sunday afternoon.  We took our smoker, and when we got there Mike put on two pork butt roasts.  I went to pick up my brother cause his wife was at work.  His three month old daughter, he said, wasn't much for conversation, and his two sons were already at my parents.  His wife brought home all the sides to go with the pork.  We had pork smoked over oak wood, potato salad, cole slaw, baked beans.  It was pretty good.  We headed home Sunday around 4 p.m. with a rug that my mom gave us.  She bought it for her living room, but little lint balls kept rolling up on it.  I think it was just the newness, but it looks great in our living room.
When we got home Sunday evening we smelled something like an electrical fire in the kitchen.  I could hear water running under the house.  We discovered that our hot water heater went to pot!  The thermostat was melted!  There was no water damage, but it costed much more than it should have to replace to heater.  Now the new one is not working properly!  I'm not taking a cold bath....no way!!  I've been heating pots of water on the stove and carrying them to the bathroom!  Hopefully Mike and Pat will get it fixed today.
Aside from a good weekend, I've been pretty busy with work.  There's just a lot going on right now.  But I still wanted to share a few pics, so I'm sharing pics of the little coops that Mike built for the paired bantams and silkies!  Aren't they great?!

***********************************************************************

Everyone have a Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Lacking the Visual Aids

Well, Mike managed to leave the camera in my mom's car....which is now an hour and a half away.  So I cannot take any new pics or down load the ones already on the camera.  But I didn't want that to keep me from posting.  So I am posting today without any pictures to show you guys.  I have a number of hens that should be laying right now, even with the cold weather.  A friend of mine that works for the same company as I do also has chickens.  He is getting eggs from his, but I have not gotten a single egg since before Thanksgiving.  That's about a month and a half without eggs.  I have been feeding them well a mix of layer pellets and scratch grains.  I know there's not a lot of day light now, but I should be getting something!  Well, someone better start laying soon, or I will have farmer come over and dress a few for the dinner plate! 

So with all that in mind, he (my friend) was asking how many hens I have that should be laying.  I didn't have an accurate count, so I grabbed a note pad and tried to count them.  If I'm not missing anyone I have counted 9 roosters and 35 hens.  But some of the hens are not of laying age quite yet.  I have 22 hens that should be of laying age, including 5 or 6 Black Sex Links (known good layers).  With 22 hens of laying age, shouldn't I be getting a couple of eggs a day? 

Here's about what I have:
Silkies: 1 white rooster; 1 white hen; 1 blue rooster; 1 blue hen (white hen lays, blue hen is one-eyed and may not lay)
Orpingtons: 1 buff rooster, 1 black rooster, 5 buff hens; 1 black hen (all laying age)
Sex Links: 6 black hens (laying age)
White Cornish Rocks: 5 white hens (laying age)
Rhode Island Red: 1 rooster (pea comb)
RI Red/ White Rocks: 5 hens; 1 rooster (Little Chicken)
RI Red/Buff: 5 hens (not laying age)
Dominique (I think): 1 rooster
Cuckoo Maran: 1 rooster (Bojangles)
Mixed Bantams: 1 rooster; 5 hens (2 laying age)

Babies for the Weekend

I couldn't resist.  I had to post a couple of these pics of the baby silkies peeking out from moma! 

She would have been a great mom, methinks.  But we removed the babies because we have had some pretty cool nights.  They are in a brooder box with a large breed chick and a bantam chick.  The bantam chick is old enough to be out with some other bantam chicks in a coop.  They are 2 months old, but he's smaller than the others and keeps squezzing through the holes and running out on his own.  After that owl incident I'd rather keep an eye on him.  Mike got some bantam eggs incubating that came from the neighbors hen and rooster.  I'm not sure what the plans are for those. I'll have to ask this weekend.  Everyone have a great weekend!!

*********************************************************************************

An idiot decided to start a chicken farm so he bought a hundred chickens to begin with.

A month later he returned to the breeder for another hundred chickens because all of the first lot had died.
A month later he was back at the breeder for another hundred chickens for the second lot had also died.
The breeder was a bit confused and wanted to help. So he asked the idiot what he was doing in hopes that he could offer advice on what to change.
The idiot responded with, “I think I might be planting them too deep.”

Chicken Pics

My Blue Splash Silkies.  The hen got Mereks when she was a small chick and lost one eye.  She's still pretty young, but seems to be doing okay.  Her name is Blueberry.  No name for the rooster yet.

This is Dana.  She's a White Cornish Rock.  She was being raised for Perdue, which sells chicken in the grocery market.  I have a few others, but she has a messed up foot.  One foot is bigger than the other.  She walks with a limp, but gets around just fine.  Very sweet, gentle, and loving.

One of the five little silkie chicks.  They are so fuzzy and cute.  They have huge eyes!

This is Little Chicken!  Can you believe you big he has gotten!  He's about 8 months old now and is just starting to get his pubescent, sick-sounding crow.  He's a biter, but I think he's just an eater.  He loves to eat!  He's turning out to be a beautiful rooster, though! 

More chickens later, y'all!!

Really Not Worth It

Okay, this is really fast.  I just don't have time to post, but I wanna get a word in nonetheless.  The weekend wasn't horrible.  I kinda had a little fun.  And I expended over 264 rounds of ammunition at the range...shouldn't have had to, but it wasn't my fault.  I didn't get to zero my weapon, so I had to guess at my aim at the targets.  Tents had heat and bunk beds.  Had hot showers and sinks for brushing teeth and shaving.  Hot food served to us.  Good weekend overall.  Fuzzy bottoms born today!!  Mike called me at work to tell me they were hatched.  I was about to discard the eggs because it has been 26 days!  But it was her first clutch, and she got up more than she should have.  Two silkie roosters died this week.  Don't know why.  One was the daddy.  They died the same day with no real visible symptoms of any illness.  Any body have any ideas?  Anyway, that's a small nutshell.  I'll get pics up this week.  Been reading blogs today, even if I didn't comment.  See ya's later!

Update- Stayin' Alive

Rainbows seem to be the theme lately.  So I thought I'd drop one in myself.  This one was taken right outside my back door a few weeks ago.  I was walking out the door to head off to work, and there it was.  Somehow I think the beauty of it was lost on the chickens and cats.  Everything has been going okay. Our visit with Robert was nice.  I didn't get any pics of us.  He took a couple with a disposable.  I will have to get him to send some in the mail.  We visited the  North Carolina Aquarium  at Pine Knoll Shores.  It's right on the beach near Atlantic Beach.  We really enjoyed that.  That evening we stopped and bought some fresh shrimp and lump crab meat (real deal) and had fried fish and shrimp and crab dip at home.  It was awesome.  Chickens are all doing well.  Something happened to the egg turner and out of 44 eggs we only had one single egg hatch.  How sad is that!!  We were soooo disappointed.  I'm really hoping it's a hen.  I do have a white silkie hen that is finally sitting on eggs.  Her first few eggs she just kicked around.  She won't lay in her little nest box I made.  She just layed them on the ground.  So I put down so straw and put a couple of bricks to make a nest-like place for her.  She ate two of the eggs, and I was afraid she wouldn't sit on the others.  But I think she has seven eggs under her now.  Hopefully they will hatch.  I'd love some fuzzy bottoms.  Still looking for a camera.  Soon, I hope.

I do have to say that chickens are not the most intelligent creatures I have ever had the priviledge of working with.  I let mine have free range of the yard from time to time, but it seems near impossible to get them to go back inside.  Farmer said to leave them alone and they will go back in on their own at roosting time, but I don't buy that.  They are quite adept at finding new places to roost, as chickens are curious creatures.  So I entice them back inside with feed...of course.  But a few of them are often behind the coop or off in the side yard.  They know the food is in there, but how to get to it?  They will run, and I do mean run, up and down the side or back or the coop trying ever so hard to figure out how to get inside.  They even jump in the water dishes!  It never occurs to them to walk around to the front of the coop and go inside the very same door they exited from.  I have five tiny bantam chicks that China hatched, though, and they have learned well the little holes they can squeeze in and out of.  Maybe, they lose intelligence as they get older.  Hmmph...don't we all?  My white silkie hen is sitting on one single egg.  She layed some a few weeks ago, but was kicking them around and not sitting on them.  I tried to incubate them, but the leaked.  So I am not sure if she will be able to hatch this single egg.  But time will tell.  I think she's been sitting a week and a half, so I will wait another two weeks before I take her off the egg.  I'd love a little silkie chick, though.  We will see.

MORE CHICKEN CRAP

It seems that there are just never enough hours in a day.  I always have so much more to do than I have time to do it all in.  I did go to the flea market this weekend.  I sold 14 of my chickens.  I sold 6 white leghorns, 4 black sex links, and 4 bantam chicks.  I'm okay on hens right now.  I still need to get rid of some roosters.  I have 5 black orphinton roosters, 1 barred plymouth rock, 1 dominique, 3 bantam, 1 rhode island red, 1 aracona (or whatever it is), 2 silkie roosters, Little Chicken, and 13 young chickens that I haven't sexed yet.  But that's still 14 roosters.  Anybody want a few?  LOL 

I didn't buy anything at the market.  I did look around a little, but I didn't see anything I really wanted at the few booths I visited.  Mike found a guy selling fresh seafood, so we bought some oysters.  Of course, when we got home I was opening the oysters with an oyster knife, like you're supposed to do.  But they were being difficult, and the knife slipped.  It jabbed right into the lower part of my left thumb.  It hurt pretty badly, especially since that's the thumb I broke in four places about three years ago.  It was a small cut, so no need for stitches, but it must've been deep.  My whole thumb went numb, and I could feel pain in my finger tips and wrist.  It's much better now, though.  It really only hurts now when I bump it.

I still don't have a camera.  I'd really like to get one, but I've got too many other demands right now.  Soon, I hope. 

All Gone Wrong

My computer went dead. I mean, I got the blue screen of death!! I couldn't even log on in safe mode. So I had to ship it off the Charlotte for fixin'. Turns out I had a bad memory chip that had to be replaced. That left me without a computer for five days. It was fixed and shipped same day, but you have to give time to get it there and back!! Anyway, it's sorta fixed now. My screen is jumpy like it has had too much coffee, but everything else works. I will call Babs tomorrow to see what I can do to get that fixed.

I missed the auction this weekend. I thought it was next weekend!! Not that serious, cause I really wasn't prepared anyway. However, the next auction is September 12th and 13th! I have drill that weekend, so I won't be able to make it then, either. That really stinks. That means that I have to wait till September 26th before I can go to auction. I might have to put a few hens in the freezer. I just don't wanna be the one to do it. I truly don't mind the chickens being readied for a good meal, but I don't wanna see it happen. I've been feeding them morning and evening and talking to them. I go out and sit and watch them in the evenings! They almost like pets! Kill them if you must, just keep it from my eyesite!!

My grass is entirely too high. I started to mow my grass this weekend. I got about half the back yard done when the mower just died!! I'm not sure what could the matter be, but I will have to get it checked out soon. My sister popped in for a short visit, and my five year old nephew politely reminded me that I need to mow my front yard. What a growing list of things I need to do, eh?!

China has started laying again. I still have seven of her babies left. Les is supposed to get them, but I'm not sure when. Then are about eight weeks old now, me thinks. But she chases them away quite frequently, and now has four eggs in her nest. If I can get rid of the bantams fairly quickly, I don't mind her brooding again. But otherwise is just adding fuel to the fire.

I now have some silkies!! And my white hen has started laying. I am sure I can do well with her chicks! Of course, the rooster is blue. I have a white rooster, but it's her daddy. But I was told that the bitties will be either blue or white. I am learning something new all the time with these magnificent creatures.

I suppose I have blogged on quite enough. I'll give your eyes a rest for now. I'm working on a camera to get pics up. But in the mean time, thanks for noticin' me. :)

Worked to Death!!

I'm back into the swing of things at work, now. But I'm not lovin' the "swing of things". I like my job, but with the economy the way it is we don't really have the help we need. And we're not likely going to get it any time soon. So that means, as my boss so neatly put it, "We are just going to have to do more with less." That is simply translated as my work load will multiple, but my pay check will not. It's getting very hard to keep up with everything I have to do. And that gets frustrating. Sometimes I feel like those Sunday comics where the inbox is full to overflowing, and the outbox is empty. My theme song is from the show "Scrubs". "I can't do this all on my own. I'm no superman."

Now that I've vented, gotta mention my chickens. I got out Little Chicken yesterday, and he wanted to stay right by his pen. He was being quite sneaky, though. I threw in some cucumber slices to all my hens, and he stuck his head in through the wire and stole a few slices. I had to laugh. I got a couple of SILKIES!! I got a blue rooster and a white hen. The man I got them from said I can get a splash hen and a white rooster, too, if I want. But I don't have room right now. I've never been to auction which is 2nd and 4th Saturday of the month, so I'll prolly got in a couple of weeks, just to see how it all works. Then I will try to sell off some of what I've got. Then I want to get into pure breeds for show!! I've got some buff reds mixed that are only three weeks old. I moved them out of the bitty box yesterday into a divided pen, next to a couple of white reds mixed that are about 2 1/2 months old. This morning when I went to feed the little ones had gotten in with the bigger ones. No one was fighting, but I will have to keep an eye on them. Don't want the babies to get bullied out of food.