Almost the End

How I miss this sight in the morning... the view down the hill 

to the Spehar's ponds.  Mr. Spehar (the elder Mr. Spehar) has returned from 

Croatia, and has put plastic over his greenhouse frame last week, and 

plowed his half acre garden that sat idle last year.  He pumps water 

from the closest pond to the garden during the summer. 

Here's one last picture this morning of my beautiful Ferdinand, he of the 

loveliest of crows.  

While in the cable office the other day trying to straighten out our service, a gentleman heard me 

mention that I had some chickens to re-home. 

He piped up and took my name and number, telling me his son in law kept chickens. 

The upshot was, the son in law and his little two year old, Ms. Josie, came over 

last night to see what we had. 

This morning, I met them there, and they took Ferdie, God Bless them, because I was 

dreading having to give him away in the parking lot of the feed store... 

The beautiful Henrietta, friendliest of girls....

Mama Hen, though she was old, went with him too, because she is 

a good mother to the little chicks and hens. 

And my dear old Polish girl Buffy, seen here with her three now-bereft swains. 

He also took the tiny Speedy, my second-favorite little rooster. 

Fancy and Folly are gone. 

Snowball is gone, because she will set anything and stay on the eggs. 

You see how determined she is. 

And Fleura, the little bantam hen in the middle, is gone too. 

These two, Moe and April, are all that is left on the henspa side. 

April is a porcelain D'Uccle, but she is bonded so tightly to Moe I just could not 

separate them. 

 And Fluffernut... no one has wanted the year old Fluffernut, laying daily... and just the happiest of 

little chickens.  

I think she is still there. 

So three, where there were nearly 40. 

I left them alone, penned in their yard today, to recover from the trauma of their 

friends leaving. 

The man who took them is a very skilled chicken keeper, we had a long talk about 

his "operation".  A short haul truck driver, he and his family live on 6 acres on the west side 

of Tongie.  I knew I recognized his older daughter yesterday... it turns out she is one of the high schoolers that volunteer at the Good Shepherd, so we had a good talk about that, too. 

He has, in past years, raised upwards of 10,000 pullets for resale at 8 weeks... wow. 

I am confident my birds will be treated humanely and with consideration. 

Yes, God has blessed me again in this dispersal, to find loving and caring 

people to give my pets. 

So, what is left? 

The three bantams may come with me here.  I had decided against it, but 

if there are indeed just the three, then the small Orscheln's coop would work. 

It would not take up much space in the yard, and I could still have my birds. 

In the old henhouse are the three Porcelain D'Uccle roosters.  One has a bad leg. 

They are all about two years old, they were from the same hatch. 

I am going to take them next Saturday to the parking lot of the feed store, and give them away. 

Yes, I know they may go to people who will have them for dinner that night, but they are small and pretty, so they may have a chance. 

That leaves only the three elderly roosters, and the little hen with them in the rafters of the old henhouse. 

I am going to give them a while to be able to come down on the floor of the coop, and go out in the sun and have a few weeks of normal chicken life.  Then, when we are finished with all the clean up at the old place, and it is about ready to show, we will make a decision about them. Ideally, if someone were to want the place soon, they would accept the roosters as their new pets.  

Yes, it hurts me. 

If I can catch the hen, she will stay with me. 

I also have an offer from the mother of the goat people that she would take 

any I have left... but not the three old boys, so I have that in hope in the back 

of my mind. 

It has been a long, hard process, and not one I would wish on ANYONE. 

When you have pets... not livestock, pets... you become the steward... and it is up to you to treat your pets humanely and wisely to the end.  I have tried to do that with my flock that rewarded us so richly with eggs for the food kitchen for three years, and for family and friends. 

Here is little Abs this morning, laying in a patch of sunlight when I got home. 

She has an infection in both eyes, which we are now treating with drops three times a day, and she seems calmer already.  How itchy and miserable she must have been, plus the move... she must have been just beyond herself.  I moved the kitchen rug out to the door yesterday for Lilly to step on, as the yard has been muddy... I'll brush it off and put it back today... and...

Keith showed me how to operate this! 

Can you believe I could not figure out how to "bend" it to push it along?  

I'm empowered now! 

Thank Heavens it's Finally Spring

Look who got to go to the old house this evening to help me lock up the birds. 

She got to run down in the pasture... and walked through the house, sniffing around.... 

but know what?  She was ready to get back in the car and go home with me again. 

This makes me so happy... it's the white lilac I planted 3 years ago, and is now 2 feet tall... and healthy, as 

you can see.  A friend suggested I dig it up and take it, but honestly, I am not sure where I  could put it here. 

I'm thinking about it.  

It was six inches tall when I planted it. 

Daffodils are up... but not blooming in the rain today.  Judged by what was in the 

wheelbarrow, we got about an inch of rain at the old place last night. 

We are expecting storms tonight, during the night. 

The beautiful Ferdie is still here.. I am trying so hard to find a good home for him, the rooster with the 

most musical cockadoodledoo I have ever heard. 

Two of the three last big hens are in the new henhouse with him. 

He tolerates Moe, for some reason, but beat up the other roosters. 

Little Fluffernut stayed up in the rafters for some reason, while the others had a treat. 

My brother, Pete,  who has dementia, celebrated his 74th birthday yesterday, 

on April 1st.  His was the only birthday my paternal grandmother could remember! 

He was able to come to his wife's apartment from the nursing home for a small party with 

some of his grandkids, and me.  We had turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, 

his favorite vegetables, rolls, and a cake. 

It was good to see everyone, but hard for me to accept that the happy go lucky brother 

whom I have known all my life is hidden somewhere inside the body of this man who can't quite remember 

everything.  

So life goes. 

We are still in the throes of moving, but Christopher and I needed a break.  I took him home to Garnett this 

morning so we could each have a respite of several days.  I'm going out to clean and load more things 

in the morning... and we'll plan next week sometime to load the next big things out of the storage buildings. 

As I told Keith tonight, "If I haven't seen or used it in ten years, we can donate it!"  

Chicken Stuff

 

Legs Diamond, a Keeper.

 

Please note Legs' comb.  See the black along the tops?  That's caused by cold weather.  It can be helped by putting Vaseline on the comb when you know the weather is about to dip (like tonight, for us).  It's 45 now, but will be 29 as a high tomorrow.  I have had roosters nearly lose their combs to cold, and the Mediterranean breeds suffer more than others.

 

This is one BIG rooster.

 

Do you know about Kathy Shea Mormino, the Chicken Chick?

 

She wrote a great article on quarantine, and why we should all do it.

 

You can find it here.  After you read this article, you will know the importance of keeping new chickens isolated from your flock for a while.  Do we all do it?  I venture that most of us don't, even though we should.  Do I?

Ummmmm...... no.

 

Don't do as I do, do as Kathy says.  In fact, her blog is chuck full of great information and ideas.

 

We are facing a crisis here.  We have seven little roosters in the little henhouse.  I have been moving hens out of there since the henspa opened.  Six of these creatures have ganged up on the two year old partridge cochin left in there, and a battle royal has been going on daily.  It's time, unfortunately.

Keith can do it, though it is unpleasant, so our resident fox is going to have some good meals for the next week.

 

Once these guys are gone, the last five hens, the three Welsummers (two of whom have started to lay again), Rockette, the gold penciled Wyandotte, and Fluffernut, the little home-bred brown girl that I hatched last summer in the Brinsea, are moving to the Henspa.  That leaves the little henhouse empty except for it's resident mice.  At that point, I'm going to thoroughly clean it out.  (except for the mice nests)

 

 

 

Two of the worst fighters, and their friend Fluffernut.

 

 

Another view of Legs, who is a huge rooster, and some of his girls. Oh... and Rosie.

 

 

I got these out of the henspa an hour ago.  I will tell you that my friend's hens are definitely laying, and some of my little girls aren't.  They are just taking a day off, though, as I am getting plenty of bantam eggs out of there.  The two oldest girls, Mack and Mable, are laying often enough to justify their being there, too!

 

Should I be getting 22 eggs out of there daily?  I guess in a perfect world, I would... and we may have to address that problem someday soon, too.

 

(22 hens and four-roosters-soon-to-be-three in there).

 

We are expecting snow here tomorrow, and bad driving, so I'll be staying right here at home.  I'll share a good recipe with you, too, that I made today. 

 

I hope that this post hasn't depressed people... it depressed me a little to write it, but in the middle, I went outside and found yet another rooster fight.... it's time.