Hatching with 2 broodies

[MistyMountain]

MM, I feel lucky that I never tore my ACL playing ultimate - very many of my friends have. Sadly, I have almost no cartilage left in my right knee, though, so I'm retired as well. Had to switch to biking and long romantic walks with my dog.

Ah but retirement can be nice, lol. I am super excited about T-ball for my oldest this summer!

Teila, Love the chick pics! My vote is that Blondie and the darker blue grey one are pullets!! Blondie and the Boy Band---LOL!!

Great Felfie, TGG! I love Cookie's color. I added a couple blue LF cochins to my April chickie order. A color I don't have yet!

Love the saddle, Liz! Let me know how it works for you. Poor Cleo is starting to show some wear. Willie has been losing points with me a lot lately. It is becoming a bit of a chore to knock him down from his high horse on a daily basis. I used to only have to remind him once a week that he is below me. Now I can barely make it past the grapes before he starts stalking me. It is frustrating to have to pen them up so my boys can go outside and play without being stalked by Willie. It would be different if they were anywhere near the chickens, but Willie will leave his post to go about 50 yards away to harass my boys. Priorities, Willie, priorities.

Weather has been super nice here. Up to 10-12 eggs a day now. We.. eat.. a LOT of eggs now. It is fun to go out to the coop, scoop up 6 eggs and fix them up for the family. I'll never buy eggs again! It's already 60* here with a high of 74*. Love it! All the grapes are pruned and the mountain berries have been pushed back to a manageable size and location. Apple and peach trees this weekend, hopefully. Now that Willie takes his job so seriously, I have been letting the flock free range in the afternoon. I have not seen any hawks in a while, but I have all the confidence in the world that Willie will hold up his end of the deal if one shows up. They are so much happier. Send some broody vibes my way, would you? Those Americanas are vicious when they are in the box. They sound like mean squirrels if anyone tries to explore their box! The leghorns, on the other hand, just let everyone walk all over them.

Oh, also, finally got hubby on board to name our place. Sycamore Springs Homestead We have some amazing springs in back, which lead to the giant revolutionary war era sycamore tree.

 

[texgardengal]

Quote: Oh what a heartbreaker....It is so exciting when you have the eggs and the chickies and then when you lose one it's rough. I guess you have to develop some thick skin when it comes to raising animals. It's also really rough on the little that is alone....maybe she can get him a buddy....
Rousseau is so fetching in her saddle. TG is so right this is the perfect color for her...adorable!!!!
Quote: The mental picture of this had me laughing so hard I was crying...hubby thought I was losing it....lol I still cant think about it without laughing. (but I think he is getting used to my chicken obsession...."are those pictures for your chicken friends?")....lol ok. here are some pics i took yesterday.

 

[lizgarf]

So adorable, TGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I wonder if they'll all be blue coppers?
Gotta run and get ready to fly to San Diego for an argument! Ack!!

 

[tommysgirl]

Ah but retirement can be nice, lol. I am super excited about T-ball for my oldest this summer!

Teila, Love the chick pics! My vote is that Blondie and the darker blue grey one are pullets!! Blondie and the Boy Band---LOL!!

Great Felfie, TGG! I love Cookie's color. I added a couple blue LF cochins to my April chickie order. A color I don't have yet!

Love the saddle, Liz! Let me know how it works for you. Poor Cleo is starting to show some wear. Willie has been losing points with me a lot lately. It is becoming a bit of a chore to knock him down from his high horse on a daily basis. I used to only have to remind him once a week that he is below me. Now I can barely make it past the grapes before he starts stalking me. It is frustrating to have to pen them up so my boys can go outside and play without being stalked by Willie. It would be different if they were anywhere near the chickens, but Willie will leave his post to go about 50 yards away to harass my boys. Priorities, Willie, priorities.

Weather has been super nice here. Up to 10-12 eggs a day now. We.. eat.. a LOT of eggs now. It is fun to go out to the coop, scoop up 6 eggs and fix them up for the family. I'll never buy eggs again! It's already 60* here with a high of 74*. Love it! All the grapes are pruned and the mountain berries have been pushed back to a manageable size and location. Apple and peach trees this weekend, hopefully. Now that Willie takes his job so seriously, I have been letting the flock free range in the afternoon. I have not seen any hawks in a while, but I have all the confidence in the world that Willie will hold up his end of the deal if one shows up. They are so much happier. Send some broody vibes my way, would you? Those Americanas are vicious when they are in the box. They sound like mean squirrels if anyone tries to explore their box! The leghorns, on the other hand, just let everyone walk all over them.

Oh, also, finally got hubby on board to name our place. Sycamore Springs Homestead We have some amazing springs in back, which lead to the giant revolutionary war era sycamore tree.

Sycamore Springs is a great name! We also had a beautiful day here yesterday and today is shaping up nicely too. It was cool but lovely. I have a NH rooster that I have to remind too. He has actually never made contact but I don't trust him. He rushes me and I have to defend myself then pick him up and teach him some manners...his short term memory isn't much though. Like your Willie he is back at it. Next time I catch him I am going to cut his spurs and he will be replaced but maybe not be for another year or so... My other NH roo is wonderful. He is a total gentleman and seems to have good protection instincts.

Oh what a heartbreaker....It is so exciting when you have the eggs and the chickies and then when you lose one it's rough. I guess you have to develop some thick skin when it comes to raising animals. It's also really rough on the little that is alone....maybe she can get him a buddy....
Rousseau is so fetching in her saddle. TG is so right this is the perfect color for her...adorable!!!!
The mental picture of this had me laughing so hard I was crying...hubby thought I was losing it....lol I still cant think about it without laughing. (but I think he is getting used to my chicken obsession...."are those pictures for your chicken friends?")....lol ok. here are some pics i took yesterday.

Thanks for sharing the baby picks...I see a lot of blue babies in there

Glad I made you laugh. I was shocked. She leaped up in the air and flopped on her side. It was like she was totally disorriented and under the influence. She is back with her friends now and is able to behave quite normally.

I covet your Splash!!! I love splash mottled specked laced and penciled...and columbian and solid jet beetle black, blue and red. I am phasing out my brown birds....that is terrible I know. I am not getting rid of them all just replacing with one of these ^^^^^^^^ when they need to be replaced. My two favorite girls are a brown EE named Rose and a Chocolate Barred Rock named Godiva. Rose lays a pretty egg too. Not into buying from hatcheries at all now that I know more about them but the EEs from Privett are sure sweet and they have nice egg color.

 

[texgardengal]

Great Felfie, TGG! I love Cookie's color. I added a couple blue LF cochins to my April chickie order. A color I don't have yet!

ThanksMM. Yes Cookie is so pretty. I love her color. Am learning the "chicken colors". What i was calling gray is blue...I'm glad I like blue because it looks like I'm going to have a lot of them! I'm so jealous!!! I left all my fruit trees and berry vines behind...have added a strawberry patch but I have so much more I want to plant. I was looking at berry vines yesterday at the nursery but they didn't look so good. So I'm still looking. I'm trying to work up the nerve to let my bunch free range. The littles will be allowed out to the big yard soon... My adults I would love to let them out in the field because I have a neighbor who has >50 birds who free range and "visit" my flock daily. Maybe they would become friends and free range together during the day??? I know mine would love to get out and roam al little. Great name! How far is the Sycamore tree from your place. That sounds interesting. Is it really that old???
Thanks TG. I like the splash too. I would like a variety of colors though. I LOVE the penciling (now that I know what it is called. Lol). Would really like to add some hens with penciling to my flock.

 

[MistyMountain]

Thanks, TG! I am so happy he finally gave me some input! Now on to make a logo for myself. Oh the spurs deal. Luckily, Willie only has little rounded nubs and his size does not allow him to get up all that high. He has not made it past my rubber boots. It is almost as if he focuses on fighting them and once he looks up and realizes it's me he backs off a bit. If spurs ever become a problem in the future, I might need to lean on you for your support and wisdom! I have my final hatchery order on the way in April. Rolling the dice on getting more mean roosters. We shall see. After that all chicks will come from my own stock or through hatching eggs and broodies, hopefully. Virginia has some strict laws on shipping and receiving poultry. I am so nervous about disease.

TGG, we shall see if anything comes out of these this year!! The property has been seriously neglected. The apple trees are a tangled mess of suckers and cross over branches. The peach trees would probably be better just to chop down and start over. I would love to have a nice big strawberry patch in the future! These deer will be our biggest problem. The sycamore marks the southeast corner of our property. We own 2/3 of it and the neighbor owns the other third. I couldn't tell you the exact distance other than walk down the hill, cross the spring, and follow it up stream to the base of the sycamore. My husband measured it. You multiply the diameter in inches by the specific tree's growth rate. Depending on how you count things, it is roughly 288-336 years old. I will try to get some good pictures next time I go back there. Hot enough here today that I could almost go sit back there and soak my feet in the spring!

 

[Teila]

G'Day Team Broody

Aaaw, poor Blanche .. hhhhm, OK, I have to be honest; I laughed also

Beautiful bubbies TGG!

MM Sycamore Springs Homestead .. perfect!
Hhhhm, sounds like Willie is having consecutive bad feather days!

Good luck with the argument Liz

No real news from Casa Del Chookie .. everybody well and happy.
Work has been very busy which means no time to check for Team Broody news.

Bubbies are 3 weeks old today. Still swaying towards 3 boys and 2 girls; Blondie is doing her part and still looking very much like a pullet. She is so sweet and has the biggest clown shoes!. The 3 'boys' are really mischievous and you can see in their eyes that they are looking for something to do that they shouldn't be doing; Blondie just potters around and looks at everyone with the cutest little expression If the darker grey does turn out to be a pullet, she will be named Tammy; she definitely has a quieter personality also. She is feathering out dark so still waiting for a final colour. I will try and get some more pictures this weekend; if I can get them to stand still long enough.

The latest game is to run up the ramp and jump off onto mumma's back and then proceed to peck her in the back of the head! Cilla just stretches her neck towards the ground and they fall off! Apparently, it is more fun if you do it together, tandem jump!

The additional uncovered run I put up is going really well now they are a bit bigger and cannot squeeze between the wire! Integration is going to be so much easier this time around also; Dusty, Tina and Suzi are already talking to them through the wire

Yep, still Tina and Suzi .. still no gender defining eggs or crows!

Time to flop into the recliner and try very hard not to fall asleep before dinner!
Take care Team

 

[lizgarf]

Good luck with the argument Liz

The latest game is to run up the ramp and jump off onto mumma's back and then proceed to peck her in the back of the head! Cilla just stretches her neck towards the ground and they fall off! Apparently, it is more fun if you do it together, tandem jump!

Haha!! Love the game! That sounds like good fun - and also a clue that you may have boys on your hands, since that's what Desi does now - jumps on the backs of all his mamas and aunties.

The argument went unusually well, thanks!! The odds are heavily against me in my line of work (I handle the post-conviction appeals of indigent criminal defendants), but this time the judges seemed to agree with me and berate the government, for a change! Woohoo!

TGG, I'm still in awe of the adorableness of all of those fuzzy butts! So sweet!!
You said you were looking for berries - have you tried online? I have gotten good bare-root berries from groworganic.com and rolling river nursery. They're both in California and I think they ship out of state. They have good quality and prices. The 50 strawberry plants I planted (for about $10) a month or so ago are doing great! Some are even starting to fruit! I'm really excited about the upcoming fruit season!

The saddle seems to mostly be doing its job, though Rousseau's exposed tail feathers are still dwindling. Dammit Desi! But, overall, everyone is in good spirits. Still only 4 out of 7 layers, even though Desi has been jumping on all of them. Not sure what that's all about.

Here is Rousseau showing Jan she can still dust bathe with her saddle:


And here is Jan helping me prepare for my argument (in possibly the best Felfie yet):

 

[Teila]

Quote: Tee hee ... I think I can hear her saying "Watchya doing Mum? Ordering more treats for me?"

She is cute!

 

[kimmerjo]

I HEAR BABIES!!!!!!! Yea so excited