Reaping What I've Sown

For all of you out there who have been saying under their breaths:  "She's going to regret this".... you can all now say "I told you so". 

This morning, Keith did chores again for me, as I am still under the weather.  He did bring me the game cam, and I popped the card into the computer.  I was dismayed to see this: 

Please look at the time.  Yes, it's 7:01 AM, just before it gets really light. 

And that's a big coyote. 

I called Keith to the computer when he came in, to show him that they are really coming close now, and frequently, and that maybe I should stop feeding immediately. 

Too late. 

9:15 AM

Trust me, this is only an "enth" of the feathers, they were everywhere.  

Keith was working clear across the yard on the henspa, and even though he is deaf from artillery, became aware that the birds were screaming in terror. 

He ran in to get his gun... and I stupidly ran out the door and saw a big coyote with a black hen in it's mouth. I yelled at it, and it ran off exactly to the place where there is a passage under the fence, that I showed you last night. 

Keith was furious, because he had intended to kill it.  

I went out there and found at least six places where birds had been attacked, so we think there were possibly two coyotes.  I saw a black bird being carried off, and Keith saw a brown bird. 

They got Legs Diamond, our beautiful young rooster.  Keith euthanized him. 

Of course, barring the door after the cows got out, I have been taking layers over to the henspa, which could accomodate about six more.  I moved four bigger hens, and one tiny little Old English gamebird, Susie, because she is one of my favorites. 

I'll move two more tonight, once all the drama in there has settled down. 

The moral of the story is, all feeding stops today.  Keith is throwing Legs over into the wild area tonight... and I'm going to block the access hole with cinderblocks.  As Keith says, "They'll only find another way in..." because they are opportunistic, and it's mid-winter.  (Jill, my friend the naturalist, and I are both pretty philosophical) 

The birds are securely locked at night and repairs to the henyard fence were on the slate, anyway. 

I'm actually more worried about the skunk than anything.... as was Jill, too. 

In happier news, Keith has been working all weekend on this, and it's looking very good: 

Lag bolts holding the railing tightly to the deck: 

He will go around and screw the bottoms of all the spacers when he is finished.  I appreciate this so much, because sometimes I would get disoriented going across the deck, it was up just high enough to worry me since my eyesight is so bad.  I was very worried about Abby walking off it and hurting herself, too.  There will be handrails on either side of the steps now with the finish of this project today, and the railings are so strong and tight, we're going to hang a planting box from them. 

I'm going to make cookies this afternoon for a meeting Keith has tomorrow, so had best get busy.  

It stuns me that even at 62, I'm still learning the hard way!  

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.

 

 

 

 

Late Sunday

Sunday evening, after a trip to Garnett again to take Nate home to his mom after his weekend here in the city.

 

It was a busy week, and Keith has been working steadfastly on the new henhouse between watching bits and pieces of the Ryder Cup this weekend.

 

The steps for the east side of the henhouse were layed and made.  There will be a railing after they are finished... and a railing around the deck, with a sitting area on it. 

 

Both doors are now hung, though the hardware is not on yet.  The deck, or floor, of the henhouse has been treated, and we are going to lay lineoleum over it tomorrow night.

 

Keith will be gone for the rest of the week for work, so things will come to a halt for a few more days, but we Keith is  pushing to finish it so we can move the birds in a week or so.

 

 

Color has started to show on the lanes near our house.  I jumped out of the car on my way home - this is a mile or so down the road, on a lane that connects two roads.  There are no houses, just pastures, along this section of road.

 

 

Spots of color still in the flower gardens, too... so we are still enjoying them.  After last week's business, I hope to get some weeding , some mulching, and some branch-cutting done while Keith is gone. 

 

 

We can't tell if this handsome guy lost two of his harem or not on Friday night.  We know two hens managed to get out into the pasture in the dark, but a quick walk-around yesterday did not find any piles of feathers, etc.  And darnit... they all move so fast I have not been able to count them.  They got the message though, and last night and tonight, the juveniles (of whom Legs is one)... all put themselves to bed in the big henhouse without a problem.

Whew.

 

 

Farmdog Abby says Goodnight and have a good night's sleep!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Legs Diamond, A Rooster

Okay, he's still a cockerel. 

 

He's one of this year's hatch, one that the nursery man "threw in" as an extra.  I need to watch the box he throws those extras from next spring!

I happen to like this rooster very much.  He has not crowed yet. and he properly kowtows to all the older roosters, big and little, in the big henyard.  He is about to lose all his girlfriends, because all the juvenile pullets are moving to the big henhouse soon.  I have NO clue what breed he is, but he's big. When the tester was here the other day, I meant to ask her.  He's FAST.  He's also going to be Rambo's replacement when Rambo goes.

 

In this picture, he almost looks like a modern game.  That's one of the older hens next to him, and you can see he is taller than she, and almost as big as.

 

Keith has a theory that the reason the roosters in the big henyard get along so well is that they all have their own little harems.  One, Two, and Three, the old roosters, each have one little hen that hangs with them.  Boots (and by virtue of their friendship) Speedy Gonzalez and Nugget, the golden cochin all hang together.

 

 

For this reason, the tiny hens are not moving, at least not the ones in the big henyard.  The standards ARE moving, with the exception of the Polish girl, Buffy.  She is so fractious, and it's hard for her to see... it's not fair for her to move over to the new henyard and have to learn a whole new way of going in and out. If I have to, I'll move a couple of the older hens back who lay only once a week now.

 

Cocky, the rooster in the pasture pen, will be left with only one or two old hens for company.  The rest in that pen are moving over.

Keith is on the phone right now speaking with an emergency manager in a county south of us.  There is a huge brush fire raging down there, and the volunteers from three other counties are responding to the situation.  Keith is getting regular reports in case they need to call for further help.

 

Rain is predicted tomorrow, and a lot of rain (2 inches!) on Saturday, so we are praying it comes in time before anyone loses a home or farm buildings. 

 

We are also praying tonight for the farmer who started the brush fire accidentally on Tuesday across the highway from us.  He went back yesterday to do some caterpiller work on the hot spots, and suffered a stroke. He is hospitalized now.  Some rain would be much appreciated at this point!