Babies

Thought I'd give you and update on the babies.  They are getting big now.

Here are three RI Red/Black Sex Link mixed and one Black Austrolorp.  The one in the front is gonna be a pretty bird.  The Black Aussie (2nd from front) grew much faster and is a bit bigger than the others.  The third from the front is about 10 days younger than the others, but holds his own.  The one in the back has a bit of white on him that I'm convinced with turn out to be tan. 

They didn't want to be still for the photo op!  Busy little buggers, they are!

These two are also RIR/BSL mixed.  I love the light colored one.  But that's also the one who got picked on by the others.  He had no feathers on his neck.  I separated him, but gave him a small buddy to keep him company.  He's started to heal, but keeps scratching the scabs, making it bleed again.  He looks pitiful.

Just look at the poor guy's neck!

Sometimes when I get home from work I don't even go into the house.  I go straight to the chickens and/or the garden.  Last Friday I was in a horrible mood over an issue I still have to figure out.  I went back to look at the birds, and this is what I found!  She was sitting on two eggs, but only one hatched.  He's so funny running around all by himself. 

Here he is close up.  I'll probably take him away this weekend, and put him with the others.  He was always running around.  He had no deisre to look at the camera.

And of course, I could not leave out these little guys!  Aren't they just the cutest!

This cute little guy is the runt.  He's half the size of the others.  But when they are feeding on mama he's off curled up by himself sleeping! 

Here's my last baby pic.  Well, it's not really a baby.  It's the mama.  Not sure what kind of bird she is, but here nest is in our Magnolia tree.  I'm sure the baby has hatched, though, as I found broken shell under the tree.

And finally.........

SKY WATCH FRIDAY!!

P.S.  I don't know which of the baby chickens are hens or roosters.  I just used the terms he/him as general terms.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Born and Raised Right Here

Click To Enlarge

All of these chickens were hatched by us except the bantams in the bottom right and bottom center.  The bottom right were hatched by China, our bantam hen, and the bottom center was hatched by the neighbor's hen.  Bottom left is Little Chicken, our soon-to-be mature rooster.  The top six are all hens from Perogi, our RI Red rooster (pea comb) and/or White Cornish Rock or Buff Orpington.

Poor Little Feller

This is the little guy.  It's the only egg that hatched.  I snapped this pic last night.  I had brought my plants inside because we had a frost the other night.  A small spider was in my hibiscus and had created a big web across to the wall and over the babies brooding box.  I tried not disturb the spider.  I love spiders.  Don't want to touch them, but I am so fascinated by how the operate.  Where does all that silk come from?  If you wadded it all up into a ball it would be three times as big as the spider! 
Anyway, back to the baby.  He was born last Wednesday, October 14th, around 4 p.m.  How lonely he must be, peeping (quite loudly), in that box with no one around to listen.  I can't put him outside yet.  I want him to be at least three weeks of age, as we have had some cool nights.  Only one night of frost, and today will be near 80 degrees farenheit.  I think temps will dip to the mid 50's tonight.  I can't wait to get the poor little fellar outside for some company.  Maybe he can go visit China's babies for tea.  LOL
No big plans for the weekend.  My nephew and neice were upset, as they were not able to visit us last weekend.  They were visiting Grandma and Buddy.  But Mike promised them this weekend.  They both have soccer games Saturday morning.  It weather permits, we will attend the games.  Otherwise, we shall pick them up at their home.  We will find activities when they arrive.  Everyone have a good weekend!!

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.

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.

Gotta Roll Out

Hey everybody! How has your week gone? Mine has been so very busy. I've had so much to do before I have to leave for Florida. Well, obviously that has kept me from blogging like I'd like to do. But it's all good, right? I didn't even get things done here at work that had to be done. I'm making some notes so those here can help me out. I'd hate to come back to work and be way backed up with 2 or 3 week old stuff. On top of that, I had to go to court again this morning for a ticket I got back in February. This is the fourth time I've gone to court over it!! I was trying to get it thrown out, but I've had no luck. The judge gave me one more continuance, to which the assistant district attorney objected. I guess I will just have to pay the lousy fines! But I'm digressing. I have no pics for today. I did lose another bitty. He got into a water dish and drowned. It was awful. He had one eye open and one closed. I buried it in the yard. I"m down to nine now. But I should have some new bitties by the time I get back. I leave Sunday morning for Florida, and I'll be gone for 2 weeks. But I'll get some pics while I'm down there and tell y'all all about it when I get back! Y'all behave, and I'll see you soon!!

R

TGIF!!

I am so glad that it's Friday. Work has been insane, and I am so ready for a couple of days off. This credit crunch has left us hurting for help because we cannot hire. That means that I am having to extra work for no extra pay. We are not allowed overtime, either. My mom wanted me to come for a visit before I go to Florida, but I have so much to do at home, not to mention gettting ready to go. I spoke with her today, and she assured me that she knows I still love her even if I don't visit when she wants. We we gonna meet half way for dinner tonight, but my dad has to work. So we agreed to wait till I get back.
My brother is staying with us. He moved back from Texas a few weeks ago, and is now job hunting. Till he can get himself settled he will stay with us for a while. He just called me a few minutes ago to tell me that Bojangles, the Dominique rooster has escaped and has gone missing. I'm not home, so there's nothing can do about it. I'll have search when I get home this evening.
I got to count the bantam babies yesterday afternoon. There was 11 of them. A short while later I found one dead in their little coop. I'm not sure if Bucky killed it or not. He's a little bit of a hyped up one. Just to be on the safe side, He got put by himself for a few weeks. He is close by, so hopefully he will get used to them.

This is China. She has finally come out into the sunshine! Well, what she could find. We had some nasty thunderstorms yesterday. But the babies were all running about. I had to pick one up. They are so incredibly tiny!! And adorable. Of course one of my bantam pullets is all white, and one of Henry's friends wanted a white one. So, I guess if I get a white hen out of the three white ones, I will have to give it to him. Unless I give him my white pullet. Then I could breed one of my white ones to the cockrel (full grown rooster by then) that I now have. Whatever. I'm digressing just now.

I have so many jalapenos! Mike makes those jalapeno things with the shrimp, cream cheese, and bacon. I love those things. But I have never made jelly. (at least not on my own...I have helped others when Iwas a kid.) So I was searching for some recipes on the internet today for jalapeno jelly. I have four recipes...one for hot jelly, one for mild jelly, one for mint jalapeno jelly, and one for raspberry jalapeno jelly. If any of you have any recipes you'd like to share, please feel free to e-mail them to me. mikenran@gmail.com .

Y'all have a most wonderful weekend. I'll blog at ya later!!

One Moving Day

I got home from work yesterday and went out to feed the birds. I have five bitties (not quite old enough to be cockrels or pullets yet) that have been in a bitty box. But they were getting a bit big for the box. So I had to move them. But I had to divide the coop for the three bantam teens first. So while I was doing all that I decided to let the ladies run around the yard to eat grass, bugs, and whatever else they thought would make a great snack. Those buffs are something else. They are quite sneaky like John Gray's little ducks. I turned my head for a moment and they were gone. Of course, they haven't found a favorite place yet. Sometimes they slip past the short pines into the garden. Occasionally they go around the side of the house to the front yard. Yesterday, they went behind Henry's shed into his back yard. And they do not like to go back into the coop for the evening, either. But I finally got the new coop set up for the bitties, and they loved it. They discovered dirt and went straight to fluffing their feathers in it. The bantams didn't like having to share a coop, but they sure were interested in checking out the new neighbors!! And, yes, China did have her babies. She's not letting them out, yet, though. She barely lets them out from under her wings! I have a pic here, but it's not a clear one. I had a half lid on it to keep the

wheat straw in, so I took it off yesterday to encourage them to come out. She will get hungry soon, and they will follow her out, I guess.

I suppose I better get some work done. I'll be back later. Y'all have a good one!!

Weekend's Here!!

I do love my weekends. The good thing about summer is the longer days. It's nearly 6 p.m. when I get home from work. That means I still have a couple of hours to work outside. Of course, I try to run a couple of miles first. Then it's on to the chickens, garden, yard, whatever is outside. I prefer to be outdoors. I am just an outdoors person. If I don't have anything pertinent to do, I will let the chickens out in the yard, or I will go sit and talk with my nieghbor. But in the winter time I have to drive home from work with my head lights on. That means little gets done outside till the weekend. Even with the longer summer days I wish I had more time to work outside. That's why I like my weekends.

This is my shed. I spend a lot of time here. It's covered in the back and the chicken coop is back there, too. I keep the lawn mower in the back (which will get put to good use this weekend). The feed is in there. And I found a horse shoe that is hanging over the door. When we moved in Pat and Mike painted it to match the house. The roof is green. Just to the right is my big Magnolia tree. I want to put in a patio, but I'm not sure where. Should I put it by the Magnolia? Or should I put in behind the shed, under the pine trees. I want to put a hammock there with a little sitting area for drinks. I even thought of putting an outdoor kitchen there.

Elvis and Prissy go back there a lot. Elvis prefers to stay during the day, and cats around all night. His favorite place to chill is on my bed. During the winter he will come inside at night. He doesn't much care for cold weather. That's something we have in common. He hasn't been feeling well this week. He didn't go outside at all for three days. That's not like him. And I had to bring his food and water into the bedroom. Last night he peed on the bed. Elvis has never done that. He eats, drinks, sleeps, meows, all the things cats do. He's just acting really strange. I don't know what's wrong with him. These are my babies. On the left is Little Chicken. He's about 5 weeks old. He follows me all over the yard. And he runs to me when I call him. In the center are the bantams I got from Henry. They were hatched by their momma. It took a few days, but they have warmed up to me. I added one more to them yesterday, but I don't have a pic yet. And to the right at the five bitties we hatched in the incubator (just like Little Chicken). The five plus Little Chicken are a mix between my Rhode Island Red rooster and my White Leghorn hens. They are so much fun.

Well, I'm outta here for the weekend. Got lots to do. Y'all have a good one. Talk to you nest week!!

A Bit on the Gang

Well, I'm not where I can start posting pics yet, but I suppose I can at least give you some wordage about the gang. Mike and I live on a small plot. It's a little over a half acre, I believe. We have a nice neighbor on one side, Henry. He's divorced with kids that stay with him part time. He's a good guy. He's always offering to lend us things like a hoe for the garden, scratch when we run out before I can get to TSC or things like that. On the other side used to be Ron and Susanne, but they, too, are divorcing. They put their house on the market and moved away. Now the home is empty and up for sale. Don't know much about the folks across the street. Mr. Wade lives across the field behind the house. He owns the field. This Spring he plowed a few rows for Henry and us to plant. I have squash, canteloupes, watermelons, okra, tomatoes, beans, radishes, eggplants, corn and cucumbers growing. Sometimes I let the hens out and have to watch them. They try to get in the garden to scratch.

We have two dogs, Max and Minnie. Max is a Toy Poodle. He's smart and loyal. He's a good dog and very "motherly". Minnie is a Rat Terrier mix. She's over weight. She loves to eat and eats almost anything. I try to keep her on a diet, but she sneaks in bites of cat food and everything. We have two cats, Elvis and Priscilla. Elvis is about 6 years old and all black. He spends a lot of time outside. He's fixed and has no front claws because he was supposed to be an indoor cat. But he wouldn't let that happen. Prissy is a gray tabby. She had kittens in April, but there was no way we could keep them in our little place. I tried to find homes for them, but no one would take them. They went to the pound. I hope they were adopted out, but I'm not going to ask. Prissy stays inside a lot and is still young. She's not even a year old. She was way too young to have babies, anyway. We have a Quaker parrot. Her name is Becky. We got her as payment for a debt. She used to be so mean to me. She tried to bite me every time I walked by. She's changed lately, though. I can't pick her up, but she lets me change her food and water and pet her head. We also have a couple of fish tanks. One has a bunch of Fire Belly Mickey Mouse Platys in it. The other has two African Cichlids, two Opaline Gouramis, and an African Brown Knife.

Then there's the chickens. We have four roosters. Perogi is the first rooster we got. He's a Rhode Island Red. He is so mean. He will spur you in a New York minute. He even tries to spur or bite me through the fence when I feed him. He's by himself at the moment. Bojangles is our Dominique rooster. He's very young. He's in a round with a buff hen, but he's not messing with her. Bucky is our Bantam rooster. He's pretty fiesty, too. Mr. Wade brought us a bantam hen for him. Hopefully she will start sitting soon. She had nine eggs this morning. Henry's bantam started sitting at 13 eggs. Then we have Col. Sanders. I don't know what he is. I don't even know if it's a he or a she. I thought she layed an egg once, but someone suggested it was left from the white hen that had been in the round. Mr. Wade swears it's a rooster, but he don't crow. We have four Buff hens that don't have names (yet). We have 10 black Sex Link hens (also nameless) that are still a bit young for laying. And we have 13 White Leghorns that were rescued from Perdue that lay very large brown eggs. One leghorn has a gimp foot. She doesn't lay. Her name is Dana, after a high school friend also with a gimp foot (lol). We have two bantam chicks that we got from Henry, and should be getting one or two more from him. I think one is a rooster, but I would prefer if the others were hens. I have a small Red/Leghorn mix chick that we hatched in the incubator. His name is Little Chicken. He follows us everywhere and comes when we call. Yesterday her rode around on my shoulder. His sister died in an escape attempt their first night outside. And we have five bitties that just hatched this weekend.

That is our gang. Yeah, I've put a lot up here. But it's a necessary introduction. Hopefully I can start posting pics soon. Hope you like what you have read, and will stick around for a while!!

Chicken Fever

My first blog will be just a little history. Mike and I moved into our first owned home together in November 2008, just before Thanksgiving. There was a dog pen in the back yard we didn't know what to do with. We joked about putting chickens in it. Then, Henry, our neighbor, got some Buff hens and a Buff rooster. So we started talking a little more seriously about it. Of course, neither of of knew a thing about "chickening". We started looking. Then Mike surprised me. One night about 9 p.m. I heard a truck pull up in our back yard. It was Henry. He had found some White Leghorns that were raised for Perdue. They were escapees, so we got a good deal on them. We had 14 hens and a Rhode Island Red rooster that he got the farmer to throw in for us. I started getting frustrated because we initially got them just for the eggs. It took 10 weeks before they started laying. Then Henry got some bitties and raised them. Just recently, we bought all of Henry's chickens from him. He bought his for his kids, but they had little interest in them. He hatched our first 2 in an incubator 5 weeks ago. One died after trying to escape at 2 weeks old. So we have on left, a small speckled rooster. We had 5 more hatch on
Sunday, and there seemed to be one more trying to hatch this morning. Our fingers are crossed. We now have 13 White Leghorn hens, 4 Buff hens, 10 Black Sex Link hens, a Rhode Island Red rooster, a Dominique rooster, a funny looking something (not sure if it's a rooster or hen. Looks like a rooster, but doesn't crow), a mixed bantam rooster and hen, and all our little bitties. It's pretty fun. But this is what I'll be blogging about. Our little chicken farm.