Sunday, March 24, 2013

The Perversity of Chickens.


What I have been getting daily from the henspa, with 24 laying hens. 
Plus or minus one or two. 


What I found in the corner between the nest box and the back wall tonight. 


Going to the pasture to feed the wild things tonight.  The girls got a stern lecture. 

ARGGHHHHHHHHH! 

So we woke up to this today: 

''

Thank heavens I went to church yesterday afternoon. 

Our driveway had a lot of snow in it again. 

Our neighbor finally got his tractor started last night, and texted me at noon that he would come over tonight and plow it... but we have not seen him yet... 6:33 now.  Keith must go to Topeka for three days for meetings, but his "state car"... the Tahoe, has four wheel drive. 
Momma will be stuck here with her HHR, that drags the snow underneath it. 

We have plenty of food and feed. 


Yes, I shoveled paths to both henhouses again, and out to the drive, and the whole gateway, so it would open.  I'm a glutton for punishment. 
I'll also never get an award for highway construction, since it appears I can't keep a straight line. 

I replenished the wild bird feed five times today... and put two fortexes full of chicken feed in the old henyards, and two waterers.  Both were empty an hour ago.  The hens and roosters on that side stayed IN... they don't like the snow on their feet, and it has been blowing all day.  I have enough of our special blend from our good mill in Bonner Springs for wild bird feed until Tuesday, then I'll have to get out and get more. 
They are predicting rain for us this week... I'm hoping the ponds really fill up. 


This is Troy and Kathy's pond next door.  It is twelve feet deep at the middle, and was down to three feet.  It is coming up slowly.  The deer and wild turkeys, the foxes, and coyotes all use this pond, as their property is only fenced on two sides. 
I took this picture last Wednesday, the last sun we had. 
It's good to see it gaining water again. 

I worked in the garden for a little over an hour yesterday... and inside, I am going to be starting yet more plants tomorrow.  Our tomatoes are up and going gangbusters... and I have started perennials from seed this year.  I love perennials, but I don't love the high costs.  Once we have the greenhouse up... you know, when spring is really here... I'll start more perennials and grow them on for a year in the greenhouse. 
In the meantime, I am getting so MANY good tips from Pinterest.  I follow the tips back to their home pages and make sure they are real, before pinning.  I also was invited to pin on two group pages, Kingdom of the Flowers, and gardening tips (not capitalized.).  Both are very good pages.  
I am getting such good ideas from them, and I'm going to show you a few in the next few weeks. 

Hoping for the snow to melt quickly, 
that's it for today from Calamity Acres! 


10 comments:

  1. Mary Ann,

    Damn those egg hiding chickens! Hope the ponds fill soon & look forward to the pins from the new pages.

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  2. holy smokies-- look at those eggs and all that snow!
    love
    tweedles

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  3. Oh...it makes me so mad when they hide their eggs! Mad in a nice way, if that's possible. :) The first summer I had chickens, I was mowing in the pen (it's a 50x60 area, so we have to mow it!) and I found two nests of at least a dozen eggs each, hidden under some prickly red root! Grrrrr...

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  4. Those hens crack me up! Bad girls, bad!

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  5. You poor dears!! I'm sorry that you're getting so much snow - sure wish there was some way of you blowing it down here!! You know how it is-- the pasture's always greener on the other side!"

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  6. Is the colour of the egg determined by the breed of the chicken. We only have brown eggs here in Ireland. When I visit the States I only see white eggs for sale in the stores.

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  7. It looks much like your picture at my house this morning. And it is still snowing.

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  8. We cancelled our horse show for Sat. because of the weather forecast. It stormed in the afternoon. But, we were able to get a lot done in the AM. Made our onion and strawberry beds and got them planted. Moved and planted some trees. All kinds of things.

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  9. I had hoped that all of our snow would melt very quickly. Ha, it's just crunchy this morning, not melting at all. It really would be nice for it to just rain, since it is the end of March. And the trees and shrubs and ponds really need it.

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  10. I hope you do get some good rain, and not freezing rain. You be careful doing your chores. Do you put a phone in your pocket? I know, I'm a worrywart. I hope your tomatoes are the best this year. Do you can any with them or just try to eat them fresh and in cooking?

    Love to the three sweet dogs, as well as their Mama,
    Dewena

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