An Early Post

Big Day for your blogger. 

I have lunch with my first cousins at 12:30, then back here to do chores... because... Keith and I have a date tonight!  At Christmas, daughter Andrea and son in law Nick gifted us with a certificate for a show at the New Theater Restaurant in Overland Park.  Tonight, we go to have dinner and see "The Buddy Holly Story".  My friend Marcia has seen it and said it was fabulous (she's going back with her sister!) so we are really looking forward to our big date.  The food there is very good, and we have always had a good time when we have gone in the past. 

This is Nugget, whom, you might remember, is the "mother" of the three not-so-little chicks I showed you several days ago. 

About six weeks ago, Nugget went broody again.  She plopped herself into one of the exposed nest boxes in the big henhouse, and rarely came down. 

She is no longer laying... but Buffy the Polish girl would hop up there, and lay in the box where Nugget rested, so I checked under her daily. 

Here she is on the 3rd, totally exposed but doggedly setting. 

See all the mouse holes?  We will never build a henhouse with insulation... this already had it... the mice and snakes made good use of it. 

Back to the point.  Last night, while I was doing the pool water, Nugget jumped down and came outside.  Boots and Speedy were so happy, as she was "their" hen.  She ate and drank and ran around a little.  I talked to her, because I was so glad to see her up and out of the warm house. 

Last night, when I posted the blog... I wrote that we had not suffered any losses in this heat. 

This morning, I found Nugget dead under that box.  

She was our last cochin, and only three. 

My guess is the stress of going without regular food and water (only steps from her in the above picture, just out of camera range) in the heat did it. 

She did not have the "long stare" that a chicken gets before it's natural demise. 

Could also have been a snake, but her head did not have that slimy look where a snake (sorry about this) has tried to swallow them and then backed off, unable to. 

We have seen snakes do that to ducklings and chicks, never a full grown bantam. 

There are now only two small hens in this henhouse, both black and whites... and six large hens, only three of whom are laying. 

Pretty soon it's going to be batchelor's quarters if this keeps up, since there are ten roosters there. 

Once there were almost fifty birds. 

Here's Speedy, the Old English Gamebird rooster, with one of the hens that is still laying, this morning.  

We are expecting the hottest day of the week today.  I did frozen bottles twice yesterday, and the fans were blowing all day and night.  Keith always asks me which is worse when I am dithering... and tonight, I think the popholes stay open.  I have not seen any sign of possums in a long while. 

The heat stress could be worse than the predators tonight. 

We expect calmer, cooler temps for the weekend, and this blogger will be glad to see it! 

Now, off to the garden to do some watering after reading a few blogs. 

Everyone have a great weekend! 

A Week Later

Thank you all for your comments and prayers for my sister Kathleen.  She is still with us... and remaining about the same... though we had a very bad day last Tuesday.  The family gathered to say goodbye, but she pulled through that crisis and continues on.  Her cancer is so far advanced that at this point, it would be a miracle for a cure to be had.  She is at home, a shadow of herself, but still with us for a while longer.

So, after four days of nursing duty, Keith and I took an evening to go to our first T Bones game of the year.  The T Bones are an independent league ball team, that plays in a stadium about ten miles straight down the road from us.  This year we bought all Saturday night tickets, but for an extra 25.00, we got our same good seats for five extra games. 

Unfortunately, our team is almost totally new... we recognized only 4 players from last season, and three of those were pitchers, whom we don't get to know all that well.

Batter up!

The first pitch of the new season goes out.  The two teams looked almost alike, uniform-wise.. the T Bones, in their tenth season, have changed from their maroon jerseys and striped pants to black jerseys (with maroon numbers) and white pants. 

Unfortunately, we lost.  However, Frank White, formerly of the Royals, is now our first base coach, and tonight, we saw improvement already. 

This was the first of our extra five games.

Keith is on vacation this week, so yesterday afternoon he made something for me.

I separated the standard chicks from the bantams last night, remembering the chick who died in the stampede last week.  The standard chicks had become 2 1/2 times as big as the banties.

Two of the bantams that were born in the Brinsea appear to be either purebred or half-bred mille fleur, and are heavily booted.  I am trying to figure out how to get this little group established with Fancy and April, the two grown porcelains.  It's going to take another pen... and I'm still working on that problem.

Here are the Turkettes tonight up on their doghouse roost.  Clarabelle has a terrible time trying to fly down in the morning.  They really need a proper roost, since they can't fly up to join Jackson on the top of the little henhouse.

We came home at the top of the fifth, it was downright chilly at the ballpark!

A Beginning

We have had a dry start to the weekend, but rain is in the forecast, and the skies are clouding as I type this.  I'm trying to find a good recipe this morning for something to take to the picnic on Sunday.  I'm looking forward to relaxing for a few hours. 

I'll let you know what I come up with! 

I have amended this post from earlier today... I tried for several hours to add several videos, and finally gave up and posted just a short paragraph.  After chores and cutting grass tonight, I came in to try one more time.  Here, then, is the video I was able to load.... the cochin bantam and red bantam cockerels in their "chicken hutch" and the biggest of the brassy backs getting a drink.  Look at how absolutely beautiful their coloring is turning out! (the brassies)

A Disgusting Evening

A few weeks ago, someone asked me how Rosewitha was doing.

You see, here at Calamity Acres, the female side of the farming pair jumped the gun when we signed to buy this place, and bought a pair of Japanese white/blacktailed bantams and a pair of  Buff Brahma bantams at auction, and we actually had to board them somewhere until we closed.  That was the first lecture on infrastructure, seven summers ago.

In time, we adopted from Olathe Animal Control a purebred Buff Orpington rooster (our original boy Rambo), and three hens that appeared to be production reds, Helen, Rosie and Ruby.  Of all those birds, Ruby is the only one left. 

These chickens, though the "set" had been bred out of them, proved to be prolific breeders.  Wilma, the first Japanese hen, set a clutch, and from them we got One, Two, Three, Four, Studly and Butch, and another rooster, Speedy, who has been long gone.  We also got a bunch of hens of varying sizes, including the two identical bantam hens Dovey and Rosewitha.  Both were excellent mothers over the years, and could be depended on to protect and teach their babies right.  Dovey we lost during the tail end of winter, she failed and Keith had to put her down. Rosewitha, after raising the clutch with two other mothers in the little henhouse in September, went back to the big henhouse to live in the rafters with the Little Bunch who lives in there.

There's Rosewitha in the middle.

Tonight, I came home from work after a particularly long day.  Keith was playing in a golf tournament and was going to be an hour or so behind me. 

I let the big dogs out, and fed the little ones right away.

As I went out, I noticed Lilly by the henhouse.  Then, a few minutes later, she was out by the shop.

As I started chores, I found this:

Feathers where feathers shouldn't be, at the corner of the big henhouse, in the yard.

Pretty soon, I saw Lilly Ann over by the shop, and yelled to her she better be behaving. 

Oh. Yeah.

When I got over there to do the little six chicks still in the shop, I found another pile.

Right about then, Lilly attacked Ranger up in the garden.  I knew then she had hidden her kill where she had hidden Studley during the winter.  I thought about it for a few minutes and realized it had to be Rosewitha.  How she got on the wrong side of the fence, I don't know.  When she did, she obviously couldn't figure out how to get back, and she was so old she never flew anymore.  No, I didn't beat Lilly but I have been upset with her all evening.  I don't care that it's her nature, I'm tired of her killing my birds.  She has killed three in the last six weeks.  It's tiresome.  This little hen was a good mama and a good layer, and never hurt a flea.  She's in a bag in the back of the truck, and Keith will take care of her tomorrow, we don't want to burn her because we aren't burning tonight, and the ground in the pasture is very hard right now.

Lilly Ann needs to stay away from mom tonight. 

There won't be a gate in the new henyard, it will be entered by going out a door in the henhouse itself, so the birds will not be able to get out.  We are also considering putting a picket fence around it too high for Lil to jump to even come near the birds.  Barring that, she won't go outside unless we are out there watching her. 

I've had my tears, and I guess I shouldn't be crying over an old bird, when so many people have lost everything they own in the tornados of the last month... but she was a good little bird and I'm feeling pretty sad right about now.

A Great Sunday

After our fun Saturday night, we came home to find the tornado sirens had been blown in our own county while we were "next door" at the game.  The small town of Reading in Lyon County was destroyed by a tornado, and Keith stayed up until 3 on the radio as the Incident Management Team arrived and took over organizing things.  They stay approximately two days, set up support systems, and then turn things over to the locals.  They have access to calling in the Salvation Army, Red Cross, and beginning to organize volunteers.  They also lliase with the state for aid.  One other important thing that many people do not think of is a specialty in Kansas now.... animal volunteers who come and pick up the pets that are dazed and confused and hurt or wandering in shock.  Those pets for the small town of Reading that was virtually wiped out were being taken this afternoon to Emporia's shelter. 

Then, in midafternoon today, another tornado or tornados struck Joplin, Missouri, and the death count is currenty at 24.  Please pray for all those affected by these terrible new disasters, along with those affected by the flooding, etc.  Keith is on call to go if he needs to, tomorrow or Tuesday, so is waiting to see.

In the meantime, he worked very hard on the base of the henhouse.  As he said this evening, it will be strong enough and will have enough windows and a nice door and small porch, that anyone moving here after us can have it cleaned and then let their mother in law live in it!

Of course, I did not take a picture because I helped hold the two end boards.  I'll get one this week.

This morning, we put together the Ware Chicken Hutch that I got on sale at Tractor Supply last month.  It is not a very sturdy little cage, (they make the rabbit version the same way, but the Chicken Hutch has a roost and a small "egg door"), but it is now inside the 4 x 4 pen, and the babies are locked up in it tonight for the first time. 

The Seabright was the first to decide to lay down in it.

It has a door that I can latch shut at night, so tonight, for the first time, I can shut them up outside in the pen. There are tarps over the top of it, and a cement block up against the gate.

When I went out there at 8, they were all bedded down in the straw.  The good thing is, during the day, they are small enough to walk around under it, so they lost hardly any space in the pen.
They figured out how to walk up and down the door quickly, and how to roost.

Here are the two Mille Fleur D'Uccle cockerels figuring out how to walk up the door to the hutch.  There is one Millie pullet with this bunch, the other two are in the little henhouse and getting along fine. The Millie pullet with this group was attacked when in the little henhouse, and she is bald and appears to not have good sight in her left eye, but is healing now and getting along fine.

The buff cochin chick that looked sick last weekend was in the shop all week, and she is doing fine, pooping, drinking and eating well, so I snuck her in with the juveniles after dark tonight.

What a relief it was not to have to load everyone up in their cat carrier, take them in the big henhouse, and then divide half into the nursing cage and half into the rabbit hutch!  Whew! 

Here is a Brassy Back Old English Gamebird cockerel and pullet. You see how tiny and delicate the pullet is, the smallest of all the bantams.  Of course, straight run... I got three cockerels and only ONE pullet.

My eventual plan is to have a pen of OEG's, one of Porcelain D'Uccles, and one of Mille Fleur D'Uccles.  That's the Welsummer cockerel next to them, he makes five of her.  As HE was attacked while in the little henhouse, he is with the juveniles, but the Welsummer pullets are still in the little henhouse.  That will all get sorted out, too.

We spent the balance of the afternoon on the new henhouse, and gardening.  I got almost all of my plants in the ground, but have some iris still to put in in the next two days.  I am going to take Friday off, I hope, and have a four day weekend.

Here is last year's bed, I was filling in holes in it.

And lastly, here are the babies going to bed tonight!

That Time of Year

This is really getting to be a chicken blog, but it's that time of year.

Our chick count in the little henhouse is still only two living chicks.  There were four originally, and now 14 dead ones.  Two living chicks I found dead, and another 12 killed as soon as they pipped.  We tried to save one, but it died during the night.  I caught the same two hens, Snowball and Flora, doing it several times.  Part of the reason for this is the hens that are sitting have no protection from the others in the flock, as there are no real nests in the little henhouse.  We also made it too wide, so we can't reach the corners, and though we intend someday to cut in cleanout doors on the sides, for now, we have only the one pophole in front, and two cleanout doors in the back, where we reach in and put food and water.  (and clean out dead chicks!). 

Here are some of them tonight; there is a group that rarely goes outdoors, including the smallest rooster.

You can see the silkie influence in this bunch, they are silkie/cochin crosses.  Silka, over on the right, is the purebred buff silkie in the bunch, and you can just barely see the black cochin behind her.

Flora, the light brown bird right in front of the camera, is one of the chick killers.

While outside, the rest of the Little Bunch was eating and running around and preening themselves in the late afternoon sun.

There are some nice Brahma Bantams in the bunch, but there are three roosters and two hens.  My plans are to make a group of the two purebred hens, and the cochin/brahma cross in this picture.

Here is another picture of one of the roosters, a purebred hen, and what I think is a brahma/cochin cross hen:

Sorry my shadow is looming over them.  The rooster is on the left, the hen to his right, and the cross on the ground to their right.  She is a very pretty bird herself.  The person from whom I got them does not like crosses.  I think they can be very beautiful, and as I raise them mostly for eggs and our own pleasure, it does not matter that much to me.

Tonight I have decided that I'll put the bigger chicks who were out on Wednesday in the little henhouse after dark.  I can tell you that tomorrow they will be freaked out, and hopefully will stay in and not be pecked to death by the hens.  If they do go out, I am going to have to net them all, so wish me luck in the very wet henyard.  These are the Welsummer and Partridge Rocks. They are too big for the horse trough they are in, and the smaller bantams are crowded in their trough. 

Keith got home from his week-long trip tonight, and I told him that there is something making noise in the rafters of the big henhouse.  He has gone to Sears for something, but is going to get a four - foot stepladder as he has to look for eggs every night on that section of ceiling still up.  He doesn't want to pull his hand out with a raccoon attached!  I think it MUST be a squirrel, as a raccoon would have been killing chickens by now.

We'll keep you posted!

Linking to Farm Friend Friday and Farmgirl Friday on this Good Friday, at Verde Farm .

Tomorrow:  Helpful Links for Hobby farmers!

Another Conundrum

I was going to write about something very serious tonight, but it is so cold here in Tongie right now that I have had to turn the furnace on again, and I've left it til late to post, so it will be short and sweet. 

I had planned to move the bigger (standard) breed chicks out of their water tank quarters tonight, and into the little henhouse, so that they would wake up in the morning and the other birds not be freaked out.  However, it was so chilly when I got home, and we are now expecting rain for days in a row, that they are going to have to stand their tight quarters for a few more days.  The temps are supposed to come up, so I may try it. 

Once they are moved, the banties can be separated and moved half and half in the two horse tanks in the shop, because they are also getting big. 

And then, of course, I lost my mind when I stopped in the feed store tonight, they had some pullets from Cackle Hatchery there, and somehow, three more came home with me.  They are in with the porcelains in the nursing cage, locked up tight against the snakes. They are supposedly three americaunas but let's just call them two Easter Eggers and what looks like a barred rock pullet.  I let the clerk pick, as I could not bear to look at the ducklings in their box.  So that makes.....28 new chicks Mary Ann has bought, plus the 12 year-olds bought earlier.  Yes, folks, the chicken population is growing exponentially, and I am going to be buried in eggs soon.  Maybe Keith won't notice..... (faintly hoping).......

This weather is also delaying garden work, because it's just too cold to get out there for long... and I've had to unpack the sweatshirts for about the third time.  Crazy weather!

These are the Welsummer and Partridge Rock birds in their tank.  They are almost too big for it, this perspective does not show how big they really are, they are at least twice the size of the bantams.

There are seven of these big birds.

Three more cockerels in this picture of the little guys.  The brown one whose back you can see is one of two Brassy Back Old English gamebirds. 

That's a Mille Fleur on the left, but they are not coloring out as nicely as I had hoped.  There are a cockerel and I think two pullets in the batch.  Once I went to a swap near here (but many years ago) where a guy had a huge tub of Mille Fleurs... and I asked him why he had so many... they were all of his culls!  One of the most agressive roosters I have ever had was a Mille Fleur.

Hopefully the weather will cooperate and I can get the bigger chicks out of the shop and into the little henhouse.  They will probably stay there while all the laying hens move into the new henhouse.   

A Determined Mother

Silka... tonight:

Notice the tip of the iceberg under her breastbone?  I crawled in there.... there were TEN EGGS under her.

I'm not telling Keith.

She, Flicka, and Rosewitha hatched at least 30 chicks last year.  Rosewitha is living in the big henhouse again now, and so far, Flicka has not plopped herself down on any eggs, thank heavens.  Let's see.... 12 new bantams, but one a cockerel.... 22 chicks in the shop under lights.... hmmmm..... 15 original occupants (with the loss of Ruffles) in the little henhouse.  I sure hope that new henhouse gets built quickly before golf season goes into full swing!

Hopefully, my friend Joani will be interested in some nice-colored and hopefully frizzled bantams for this summer!

I didn't have the heart to throw them out.  

Ch-Ch-Changes

Winter is back, at least for a short while.  I came home to this:

And this....

The popholes were frozen open, but we managed to get them shut.

The odd thing is, it's not freezing cold yet, but was 31 degrees when I got home.

The little birds were snug in the little henhouse, and the new bantams are finally starting to move around, eat, and drink.  The silkies have been huddling for two days, scared of the others.  They had been kept in very tight quarters, so the henhouse must seem like a palace.  They have never been outside, but the door will be open for them as soon as the sun comes back.  They are being given scratch and protein pellets, but were given only scratch at their old home, so they are still getting used to the pellets.  The "old" birds, the originals, are used to scratch as a treat, and eagerly eat the layer pellets.  You can see the buff brahma scratching in the fortex feeder. (and the rooster eyeing them)

These guys weren't really bothered, though they are settled in their barn for the night.  They have lots of good hay to eat, and we left the hay buffet half in the barn so they can eat at their leisure.  They know how to stay out of the wind.  Here they were eating their feed for the night.

Temps are not supposed to be terrible, but I just let Lilly Ann out, and there is at least an inch to an inch and a half of snow on the deck already, in the last hour. 

C'mon Spring!

The Little Bunch