Our introduction to keeping chickens, the high's, the lows and pics of our journey.

[ozexpat]

It is funny. I find it odd how people have snow at Christmas while we go to the beach cause it is so hot.... Being I hate all forms of cold weather I am happy to live where I do.

when it gets hot in los angeles I start singing christmas carols. Hows that for imprinting?

 

[scottcaddy]

Quote:

Quote:
Originally Posted by vehve

Fancy, you are an enabler. But we decided that if and when we add to our flock, we'd be interested in an Isbar and a true Araucana. Some nice blue and green eggs.

Felix, you KNOW deep in your heart that you REALLY want a silkie! Why not just keep that adorable little bundle of feathers in the house as a house chicken? Maybe the little feather duster will attract some dust rather than creating it

It might attract a dachshund though. She might think of it more as a chew toy.
Have you even seen a Silkie in attack mode? They are the classic (little man) attitude!
A Silkie will hold her/his own against a much larger critter in most cases!!
Scott

 

[scottcaddy]

Quote: Sounds like a real good start to me!
Scott

 

[satay]

when it gets hot in los angeles I start singing christmas carols. Hows that for imprinting?

 

[Bens-Hens]

Have you even seen a Silkie in attack mode? They are the classic (little man) attitude!
A Silkie will hold her/his own against a much larger critter in most cases!!
Scott

I may or may not have been known to have suffered the same affliction in my earlier years!

I have my doubts the SPW relented on the egg strike, but here's hoping. She certainly looks ready to go, just have to catch her in one of the box's before I believe it for myself!

 

[vehve]

Dachshunds are the Silkies of the dog world. Our's keeps the neighbors 50kg Leonberg in check, and I used to work with a person who had a service dog, a 42 kg Doberman male trained as a dual purpose protector and tracker. She said that once on a walk in a forest, they suddenly saw a Dachshund sporting a GPS tracking collar and orange vest. It was in full working mode, when her Doberman approached it. She sayid it was the first time she ever saw her Doberman back away from any other dogs.

Ben, they do say that good things come to those who wait. So perhaps that's the case. Veera has gone into grumpy mode again. She goes into the nest around 8 in the morning, but doesn't lay until 11-12. She spends her time hissing at anyone coming close. I will have to put up a better partition between the nests.

 

[vehve]

To change the subject back to your introduction to the Finnish language, I stumbled upon a interesting word while surfing the web.

atomiydinenergiareaktorigeneraattorilauhduttajaturbiiniratasvaihde - "atomic nuclear energy reactor generator condenser turbine cogwheel gear"

How can you not love our language?

Oh, and Scott, I went out to the cottage yesterday again, snapped some more pictures for you. Water was 26 deg C, but apparently it was at 28 on Friday. Very unusual, usually it doesn't go much above 20.

Here's the view, panning from right to left.










Here's our sauna.


Here's the cottage, the old one in the front, which was re-paneled last summer to match the extension seen farthest from the camera. Between the buildings is a 25 square meter covered terrace with a little grill/stove combo.

 

[Fancychooklady]

To change the subject back to your introduction to the Finnish language, I stumbled upon a interesting word while surfing the web. [COLOR=252525]atomiydinenergiareaktorigeneraattorilauhduttajaturbiiniratasvaihde - "atomic nuclear energy reactor generator condenser turbine cogwheel gear"[/COLOR] [COLOR=252525]How can you not love our language?[/COLOR] [COLOR=252525]Oh, and Scott, I went out to the cottage yesterday again, snapped some more pictures for you. Water was 26 deg C, but apparently it was at 28 on Friday. Very unusual, usually it doesn't go much above 20.[/COLOR] [COLOR=252525]Here's the view, panning from right to left.[/COLOR] Here's our sauna. Here's the cottage, the old one in the front, which was re-paneled last summer to match the extension seen farthest from the camera. Between the buildings is a 25 square meter covered terrace with a little grill/stove combo.

Lol, that first one would make the cutest coop.

 

[Bens-Hens]

and it's can be pre-heated for a slow cook!

 

[vehve]

and it's can be pre-heated for a slow cook!

This brings interesting thoughts to my mind - incubating in a wood heated sauna.

Blah, I just noticed that the waterline for our washer has been dripping for a while. Don't you just hate it when someone hasn't connected something properly? Too bad it's me. I've been drying the laundry room for a while, now I've got a big fan moving air in there and I turned the floor heating on max. The cabinets have taken some water damage, but luckily most of the water seems to have just dripped straight down on the floor. And no visible damage to the front of the cabinets either. I really suggest closing the waterline to your washers whenever you're not using them.

In chicken news, Veera is acting broody again, she went into her nest around 8, and now at 13 I collected 3 eggs from under her. Until now she's spent a few hours in there every morning, but she has come out whenever she has been finished. Not today though. We also got our biggest egg yet, a 52g olive egg.


And then we have a slight mystery. When Karin went to clean the coop this morning, she found a 41g egg on top of the bedding. It wasn't there yesterday. We thought it was one of the Alhos, but I just removed 3 Alho eggs from the nests, and they've all been laying for the past few days. I don't think a 41g egg would have gone unnoticed for 3 days in there, since we turn the bedding every day. So either something has gone wrong with Wilma's wiring, and she made a light egg, or then Emma has started laying. She's been the smallest in the flock, so I wasn't expecting it for a long while, but now that I think about it, she is 17 weeks already. The egg broke a bit when Karin tried to clean it up, so we boiled it for the chickens before remembering to take a picture of it, but here's a pic of Emma.

Looking at her comb and wattles, they actually have some color to them. I sort of hope it wasn't her egg though, because I was hoping for a slightly different color than what the Alhos lay.

*Edit* I chased Veera away from the nest now again. Hopefully she'll just take a break from laying for a day, and goes back to her normal self again. She's really throwing a hissy fit whenever someone goes near the nest, be it human or chicken. The other chickens are a bit afraid of her, since she seems to be holding alfa status among our girls. (I refuse to spell alfa with a ph. Stop giving me the squiggly line.)