NY chicken lover!!!!

[Cass]

Oh the drama. Broody witch #1 was moved to small side of coop. She took offense and started pecking the Heck out of the other chicks in the coop with her. Thought she ATE one of them, it was no where to be found. Finally found it stuck in the tinest space in the run, with it's leg all raw from trying to get itself free. Freed the chick and broody witch went after it again and again. Where's the Momma you ask? Beats me, all those D'uccles look alike and no one was stepping up to put the attacker in her place. Weeeeelll...I grabbed her the second she came back in the coop and escorted her out of the door...that's it, "escorted", not threw, drop kicked or launched. (You'll never know, now, will you?) I get the chick some water and attempt to repair the damage I did to the run getting to the chick in the first place. Ahhh....ray wasn't getting the drill fast enough so I bent the screw holding the board and got the chick loose. Seemed like a good idea at the time. (Seems I should have waited, but hey, the chick was stuck and hurt and well, you know, needed help NOW)

So I go over to the big side to see what happened to the D'uccle I "escorted" out the door...like was she still alive. And there she sits, on her golf balls, staring into space, happy as a clam. (you ever see where clams live? How can they be happy there?) So I stick 2 eggs under her and take her golf balls. THEN I look at the calendar. They will hatch the day we LEAVE on vacation. ooops...Sorry Denise. (Denise is gonna chicken sit for me, cuz I am doing so for her twice this summer)

Now the broody in the box on top of the rabbit cage is getting really serious about sitting. Like hasn't moved in 24 hours. Sooooo she can have eggs to sit on next week...Sunday, so they hatch the day I get BACK from vacation.

Why do I get the feeling this is going to be a less than "stress free" vacation?

 

[featherz]

Oh the drama. Broody witch #1 was moved to small side of coop. She took offense and started pecking the Heck out of the other chicks in the coop with her. Thought she ATE one of them, it was no where to be found. Finally found it stuck in the tinest space in the run, with it's leg all raw from trying to get itself free. Freed the chick and broody witch went after it again and again. Where's the Momma you ask? Beats me, all those D'uccles look alike and no one was stepping up to put the attacker in her place. Weeeeelll...I grabbed her the second she came back in the coop and escorted her out of the door...that's it, "escorted", not threw, drop kicked or launched. (You'll never know, now, will you?) I get the chick some water and attempt to repair the damage I did to the run getting to the chick in the first place. Ahhh....ray wasn't getting the drill fast enough so I bent the screw holding the board and got the chick loose. Seemed like a good idea at the time. (Seems I should have waited, but hey, the chick was stuck and hurt and well, you know, needed help NOW)

So I go over to the big side to see what happened to the D'uccle I "escorted" out the door...like was she still alive. And there she sits, on her golf balls, staring into space, happy as a clam. (you ever see where clams live? How can they be happy there?) So I stick 2 eggs under her and take her golf balls. THEN I look at the calendar. They will hatch the day we LEAVE on vacation. ooops...Sorry Denise. (Denise is gonna chicken sit for me, cuz I am doing so for her twice this summer)

Now the broody in the box on top of the rabbit cage is getting really serious about sitting. Like hasn't moved in 24 hours. Sooooo she can have eggs to sit on next week...Sunday, so they hatch the day I get BACK from vacation.

Why do I get the feeling this is going to be a less than "stress free" vacation?

LOL!! Thankfully my one second time broody is pretty calm.. but the tiny little araucana is a real biatch. When she gets out to take her daily walk she shrieks like a banshee and jumps at everyone then flies around, lets out another big SHRIEK, does a dustbath, then stomps back to her golf balls all poofed up. I hope she'll take a chick from the few eggs I put in the bator for her.. Maybe I'll let her hatch them - put a few under her at day 18?

 

[HorseCrazyy]

Lol!!!!

 

[stonykill]

Sir William had his 2nd confirmed weasel kill late this afternoon. Here he is. He is a 9 year old Maine coon mix weighing 15 lbs. Natural born killing machine! Cute too!

and my best broody simply named Mama started her hatch. I heard peeping and you can see shells. This is her 2nd brood this year.

 

[pharmchickrnmom]

Stoney--Nice looking predator control you have there! Hope you gave him lots of pets for a good job.

Tried to get one of the girls to take the baby but no go. Looks like I am raising a lone chick....again. I will keep trying though.

 

[horsekeeper]

Perfect hard cooked eggs! I haven't had much luck lately boiling and peeling eggs, so I researched on BYC to get some tips. Tonight I tried steaming for 20 minutes and got perfect eggs. There were four chicken eggs and four duck eggs. Half were about a week old and half were from yesterday or today. Perfect peeling without a single nick. I'm so impressed with this method because some of the eggs were gathered this morning.

Here was a surprise from one of the marans pullets:



Most went for devilled eggs, but this one and a few of it's buddies made a tasty egg salad sandwich.

 

[stonykill]

Perfect hard cooked eggs! I haven't had much luck lately boiling and peeling eggs, so I researched on BYC to get some tips. Tonight I tried steaming for 20 minutes and got perfect eggs. There were four chicken eggs and four duck eggs. Half were about a week old and half were from yesterday or today. Perfect peeling without a single nick. I'm so impressed with this method because some of the eggs were gathered this morning.

Here was a surprise from one of the marans pullets:



Most went for devilled eggs, but this one and a few of it's buddies made a tasty egg salad sandwich.

 

[Cass]

Perfect hard cooked eggs! I haven't had much luck lately boiling and peeling eggs, so I researched on BYC to get some tips. Tonight I tried steaming for 20 minutes and got perfect eggs. There were four chicken eggs and four duck eggs. Half were about a week old and half were from yesterday or today. Perfect peeling without a single nick. I'm so impressed with this method because some of the eggs were gathered this morning.

Here was a surprise from one of the marans pullets:



Most went for devilled eggs, but this one and a few of it's buddies made a tasty egg salad sandwich.

Don't know about "perfect" but the trick to peeling fresh eggs is a tablespoon of vinegar (any kind works) in the water when boiling them. If you are boiling more than a dozen (meaning using a bigger pot) put in more vinegar. Works like a charm. It it weren't for the colored shells you would think you were peeling old store bought eggs.

 

[stonykill]

Don't know about "perfect" but the trick to peeling fresh eggs is a tablespoon of vinegar (any kind works) in the water when boiling them. If you are boiling more than a dozen (meaning using a bigger pot) put in more vinegar. Works like a charm. It it weren't for the colored shells you would think you were peeling old store bought eggs.

I still taste the vinegar although it is probably all in my head. I boil mine ahead of time, cool them, then keep them in a bowl ,no water, in the fridge overnight. They peel like old bland tasteless store bought eggs the next day

 

[horsekeeper]

Stony, I'm liking your pretty ducks. The cayugas I bought locally last year, aren't.

Now that they are outside in sunlight they are showing their true colors, reddish brown under the wings, faint bars on the wings, dark brown feathers, not black, and white bibs. Fortunately the three hens give me three nice white eggs every day and they make sweet pets. They are on the small side and get along well with the chickens and the chipmunks that come in the run to steal the feed.

Brownie the muscovy ended up with 8 ducklings out of 19 eggs. Pretty good considering she managed to fly out of the pen every day and stuffed herself into a tight corner between the pen and an old dresser to brood. The ground is all hard clay, rocks, and steep hillside, so am having a tough time building another duck area to get the rest of them outside. Now there is the complication of making it duckling proof.

Brownie and babies:





Hunk the proud papa and Brownie's sisters who are afraid to come out and get a whoopin for looking at the babies: