So glad you are back. I can not wait to see the pics of the ducklings now. It sounds like lots has happened during your hiatus. I look forward to the stories and pics. Welcome back.
~ Retired and Starting My Future In The Foothills ~
- Thread starter gryeyes
- Start date
Was beginning to despair that you were burnt out about sharing your retirement. Glad to see you back.
- Thread starter
- #1,633
No pictures for this post, just my nattering. As I type this, five little BCM/Silkie chicks and two turkey poults are zooming around in my office during a brief "out of the brooder" play-time activity. HH procured some Midget White turkey poults and traded two for two of the original 7 BCM/Silkie chicks.
The turkey poults "named themselves" a couple of days ago: Mitch and Madge. Mitch is the first tom I've ever raised and he is such a hoot! Uhhh, make that a Whut! At less than a week old, he started displaying for me. I am going to try to get a photo of him to share, because he is just so darned cute doing it. Especially when his tail-feathers were only a quarter inch long... He holds his wings out to the side, fans his tail-feathers, "shivers" his wings and turns in a semi-circle. Yes, he is the Biggest, Baddest Tom Turkey in the entire world. You betcha.
This confirms both Edna and Edith are hen turkeys, as neither has ever displayed tom behavior like this. The neighbors have been enjoying the older turkey girls in my flock, tickled pink at their very friendly behavior. Those "who know" tell me the sound of hen turkeys coming from my yard is exactly the same as wild turkeys here abouts. No gobbling, just the whuts and whistles and occasional startled sounds. (Not quite sure what startles them, but it's definitely a short, almost bark, "Hey! What was THAT?!?!?!" sort of noise.)
The nights are definitely cooler while the daytime temperatures are still in the low 90s. I plan on moving the 5 chicks and 2 poults out into the kit coop with an EcoGlow brooder tomorrow. They're feathered enough to make that transition. It does mean I won't have Happy Chick/Poult chirps in the house any more.... So I kinda forgot to move them outside today.
3 sides of the house have been painted; now just the window trim around the house and in the screened porch need to be painted. The change in the house's appearance is remarkably fantastic. John took a break from painting today to clean up one side of the house and yard by the coop(s). All the wood bits from construction and repair projects have been sorted into "Keep" and "Toss" categories, with the good wood stacked on one side of the main coop and the rest either stuffed into construction quality garbage bags or stacked in a pile on one side of the driveway. He'll put it all in his flat-bed truck when he makes a dump run.
The flock is befuddled by the open space, as they used to walk over, play or roost upon the untidy stacks. Maximilian still roosts on one short four-by-four section of wood laying on the ground next to the coop, though, so that piece stays. The ducks particularly like standing about where the wood used to lay. No more scrambling with webbed feet across a jumbled mass of wood which used to impede their progress from the driveway level terrace to the higher ground around the house.
Rhoda, my hatchery, RIR, has gone broody! Full blown broody, too - in one of the wall unit roll-away nest boxes.
She's almost 3 years old and has never shown any signs of broodiness before this. I guess all the other broody hens made her jealous or sumpin', I dunno.
Beatrice, the dark Brahma hen, has appropriated one of the bucket-on-the-wall nests, and is brooding on quite a few eggs. Two hens are sharing one of the litter box nests, brooding on eggs in it. Angel hatched a single chick not quite two weeks ago. Monica and Lola's two chicks they share are getting pretty big now, and sometimes meander away from their two mothers, but not for long.
Found a hidden nest in the yard today. All of those eggs are the same size and color (light brown) but nobody is setting on them. There are about fifteen eggs there; such a shame to have to discard them. I don't know how long any of them have been there. Darn.
A couple of days ago I bought a 5 gallon cherry tree and another Crape Myrtle tree to plant. The cherry is self-fruiting so I don't have to buy a second one. It's going to be planted near the apricot tree I bought in July.
John's going to help me set up a drip watering system for the trees on one side of the property, and maybe another drip system for the garden on the other side of the house.
I've had a compost bin kit in pieces for .... a very long time... and put it together last Wednesday. (The box in which it was shipped months ago did not survive the rainy season.) Not that I have a lot to compost from the kitchen - hence the delay in using one -- but banana peels, coffee grounds, onion bits, citrus peels, egg shells and Vinca cuttings can go into it. Plus any used shavings/bedding I glean every now and again. I was jazzed to learn I can even put shredded paper products into it! (Yes, compost newbie here.)
I can hardly wait until the cobbled-together garden "fence" can be replaced with a permanent garden fence. John is designing it out of pipe -- conduit, actually -- and chicken wire. This will make it nearly invisible, compared to one built with two-by-four wood frames. With two gates, one next to the deck and the other by the back of the house. It will also include a Poultry Tunnel along the back fence... the top of the tunnel will be wooden boards like a bench, running the full length of the back side of the garden. The flock uses that space now to get from one side of the house to the other along the fence separating my property from the two properties behind mine.
Let's see, major projects on the horizon: finish painting the house and trim, paint out the white vertical stripes in the exterior Coop wall with dark green, paint the top section the same light green as the house, build the garden fence, then tackle an actual pond for the waterfowl. With a "sluice box" type waterfall from one terrace to the pool on the next lower section of the yard. That is going to be SO cool!
Oh! Jack (my WCB Polish roo) is perfectly fine now. I think he may have gotten weak during the period of time I was unable to purchase commercial feed and was giving a variety of things to the flock. Some days all they got were chopped, hard-boiled eggs mixed with dry cat food, although I did make them some rice and macaroni & cheese meals. (Thank goodness I get plenty of eggs and had a big bag of cat kibble to supplement 'em!) He didn't do as well as the others in the mad crush for food with all the hungry, pushy birds. I had been very concerned about Monica & Lola's chicks but they're thriving. Poor Jack just needed his own all-protein meals to be right again.
I hope not to experience another spell of poor financial planning like that again.
The turkey poults "named themselves" a couple of days ago: Mitch and Madge. Mitch is the first tom I've ever raised and he is such a hoot! Uhhh, make that a Whut! At less than a week old, he started displaying for me. I am going to try to get a photo of him to share, because he is just so darned cute doing it. Especially when his tail-feathers were only a quarter inch long... He holds his wings out to the side, fans his tail-feathers, "shivers" his wings and turns in a semi-circle. Yes, he is the Biggest, Baddest Tom Turkey in the entire world. You betcha.
This confirms both Edna and Edith are hen turkeys, as neither has ever displayed tom behavior like this. The neighbors have been enjoying the older turkey girls in my flock, tickled pink at their very friendly behavior. Those "who know" tell me the sound of hen turkeys coming from my yard is exactly the same as wild turkeys here abouts. No gobbling, just the whuts and whistles and occasional startled sounds. (Not quite sure what startles them, but it's definitely a short, almost bark, "Hey! What was THAT?!?!?!" sort of noise.)
The nights are definitely cooler while the daytime temperatures are still in the low 90s. I plan on moving the 5 chicks and 2 poults out into the kit coop with an EcoGlow brooder tomorrow. They're feathered enough to make that transition. It does mean I won't have Happy Chick/Poult chirps in the house any more.... So I kinda forgot to move them outside today.
3 sides of the house have been painted; now just the window trim around the house and in the screened porch need to be painted. The change in the house's appearance is remarkably fantastic. John took a break from painting today to clean up one side of the house and yard by the coop(s). All the wood bits from construction and repair projects have been sorted into "Keep" and "Toss" categories, with the good wood stacked on one side of the main coop and the rest either stuffed into construction quality garbage bags or stacked in a pile on one side of the driveway. He'll put it all in his flat-bed truck when he makes a dump run.
The flock is befuddled by the open space, as they used to walk over, play or roost upon the untidy stacks. Maximilian still roosts on one short four-by-four section of wood laying on the ground next to the coop, though, so that piece stays. The ducks particularly like standing about where the wood used to lay. No more scrambling with webbed feet across a jumbled mass of wood which used to impede their progress from the driveway level terrace to the higher ground around the house.
Rhoda, my hatchery, RIR, has gone broody! Full blown broody, too - in one of the wall unit roll-away nest boxes.
Beatrice, the dark Brahma hen, has appropriated one of the bucket-on-the-wall nests, and is brooding on quite a few eggs. Two hens are sharing one of the litter box nests, brooding on eggs in it. Angel hatched a single chick not quite two weeks ago. Monica and Lola's two chicks they share are getting pretty big now, and sometimes meander away from their two mothers, but not for long.
Found a hidden nest in the yard today. All of those eggs are the same size and color (light brown) but nobody is setting on them. There are about fifteen eggs there; such a shame to have to discard them. I don't know how long any of them have been there. Darn.
A couple of days ago I bought a 5 gallon cherry tree and another Crape Myrtle tree to plant. The cherry is self-fruiting so I don't have to buy a second one. It's going to be planted near the apricot tree I bought in July.
John's going to help me set up a drip watering system for the trees on one side of the property, and maybe another drip system for the garden on the other side of the house.
I've had a compost bin kit in pieces for .... a very long time... and put it together last Wednesday. (The box in which it was shipped months ago did not survive the rainy season.) Not that I have a lot to compost from the kitchen - hence the delay in using one -- but banana peels, coffee grounds, onion bits, citrus peels, egg shells and Vinca cuttings can go into it. Plus any used shavings/bedding I glean every now and again. I was jazzed to learn I can even put shredded paper products into it! (Yes, compost newbie here.)
I can hardly wait until the cobbled-together garden "fence" can be replaced with a permanent garden fence. John is designing it out of pipe -- conduit, actually -- and chicken wire. This will make it nearly invisible, compared to one built with two-by-four wood frames. With two gates, one next to the deck and the other by the back of the house. It will also include a Poultry Tunnel along the back fence... the top of the tunnel will be wooden boards like a bench, running the full length of the back side of the garden. The flock uses that space now to get from one side of the house to the other along the fence separating my property from the two properties behind mine.
Let's see, major projects on the horizon: finish painting the house and trim, paint out the white vertical stripes in the exterior Coop wall with dark green, paint the top section the same light green as the house, build the garden fence, then tackle an actual pond for the waterfowl. With a "sluice box" type waterfall from one terrace to the pool on the next lower section of the yard. That is going to be SO cool!
Oh! Jack (my WCB Polish roo) is perfectly fine now. I think he may have gotten weak during the period of time I was unable to purchase commercial feed and was giving a variety of things to the flock. Some days all they got were chopped, hard-boiled eggs mixed with dry cat food, although I did make them some rice and macaroni & cheese meals. (Thank goodness I get plenty of eggs and had a big bag of cat kibble to supplement 'em!) He didn't do as well as the others in the mad crush for food with all the hungry, pushy birds. I had been very concerned about Monica & Lola's chicks but they're thriving. Poor Jack just needed his own all-protein meals to be right again.
I hope not to experience another spell of poor financial planning like that again.
Last edited:
Mitch sounds like a hoot, love to see the little boys strut their stuff. My 5 month old Basque rooster, Big Fella, does his hen dance for me - so sweet.
- Thread starter
- #1,635
Plans, plans, plans, plans and more plans! But first, some photos:
Mitch doing his Biggest Baddest Tom Turkey Dance:
.
.
.
This was during the time the poults and chicks were free ranging in the Office/Nursery. I've since put them out in their Integration/Segregation kit coop (with their EcoGlow inside for night-time temperatures). I've crawled into that coop three nights in a row to put them "upstairs" but now I don't bother. They go to sleep in a pile on the Ground Floor now, but they aren't peeping about the change any more. So I've chosen to stop belly-crawling to collect and put 'em upstairs at night.
Belinda in the foreground, Molly behind her:
Buffy, one of the oldest gals in the flock (and one of my original 8):
Cinnamon, wondering what I'm doing. (Sue me for not cleaning up the poop on that "not a coop" kit thing. I do like the way it collects "fertilizer for compost" through the grate portion...) That's Little Bit in the next photo with Cinnamon.
.
Josie and Clara, plus a few chickens in the shade beneath the deck. Notice how Josie's comb flops - I'm guessing Clara is a White (Plymouth) Rock.
.
Gloria The Boy (darned cockerel!) She checks out the Welcome mat, not at all deterred by Lizbeth's presence. Errr... as HE checks out the Welcome mat.
.
Brenda. (Originally named "Penny" when she hatched almost two years ago, but re-named by HH and FL when she lived in their flock. She came back when she got too bossy for their mellow ladies, and the major change in location and size of my flock knocked her down from her high roost for a bit.)
Paprika. That's Angus behind her.
Angus and Princess (who has a full crop!), with Queenie at a waterer in the next photo.
.
Simon.
He hasn't crowed yet, so he is "safe" so far.....
Snow.
Edna and Edith dust-bathing, with the new Delilah.
.
.
Dooley enforcing the "No Chickens in the House" rule. Gloria is constantly testing Dooley's resolve.
Me, this morning, in my usual morning attire. (Yes, the famous Red Nightshirt.) First cup of coffee for the day.
.
.
Now, about those plans..... I've ordered business cards for Egg Sales; I was able to upload Rhoda's Beauty Head Shot image to the card! The back of the card has a small map taken from MapQuest so customers can find the Olmstead Homestead. I'd share the design with y'all but it's got my home telephone number and address on it, which I do NOT want to post on the Internet.
John and I have been discussing the design of an Egg Sales "kiosk" type building, and where on my property to build it. However ,it's a couple of items down the Project List. The Garden Fence is the very next thing after all the painting tasks have been completed. He's re-painted the Main Coop's exterior front wall, covering the white "pin-stripes" with the same dark green as the rest of the wall surface. He's going to paint the section above that wall (where the "Chez Poulet" sign has been placed) with the same, light-green color as my house. I'll post pictures of that when he's completed it - probably tomorrow. He has more white trim around the windows of the house to finish, too.
Yesterday, I bought the rubber liner material for the planned Waterfowl Pond. That's the Project AFTER the Garden Fence. But I was at Green Acres Nursery, picking up bits for the drip watering system John is going to show me how to install... so two strapping young men measured out a 15 x 20 foot length and carried it to my car. Umm, where it will stay, riding around back there until we get to the Pond Project. That swath of liner should be a perfect size to create a rectangular pond about 10 feet wide by 15 feet long.
A few nights ago, the chintzy lock on the screen door to the deck decided to latch itself whilst I was outside in the garden. I've got bits of plastic garden fencing and chicken wire cobbled together to "secure" - HA! - the garden, so it's a real... ummmm..... trial.... to get out of the garden unless one goes up on the deck and through the house. Which I couldn't do, with the screen door locked. I had to clamber over the deck railing to scale the short ladder leaning against the deck. (John uses it to get into the garden without going through the house. Up the ladder, throw a leg over the railing, step onto the deck and then down into the garden. Some of the chickens WATCHED him do this, so they, too, know how to get into the garden. Hence the "HA!") I hadn't anticipated having to do the same exercise. In my nightshirt, by the way. Good thing there are some trees to screen the view between my house and the neighbors' property immediately to the south of mine.
Amy from Bradshaw Feed has requested a dozen fertile eggs to place under another of her broody hens. (I stopped there on the way home from a dentist appointment in Sacramento. There is no way I could drive past Bradshaw Road without turning in that direction to pick up SOMETHING from my favorite feed store, especially after getting bad news at the dentist's office. I have to have a permanent bridge replaced and a new crown, so I'll be back in that direction early next week).
This Friday, HHandbasket and I are going to go swimming again in the Middle Fork of the Cosumnes River where it winds through the community of Outingdale. We know a resident there who has granted us permission to access the river within the confines of the community private property. Probably will be the last time for the water to be warm enough for swimming, as the nights are getting cooler. When the daytime high temperatures are preceded by very warm nights, the river is quite warm. It was pretty brisk this past Sunday, but that was after a few days of night-time temperatures in the mid-fifties. By Friday, there will have been nearly a week of temperatures in the mid to high 90s (and around 60 degrees at night).
I LOVE to swim, although what I do is probably more akin to just splashing around and paddling or floating lazily, looking up at the sky through a canopy of tree branches and gently fluttering leaves. We really should have started this exercise earlier in the Summer, but.... never got around to it until a couple of weeks ago.
Great exercise, but I am wiped out the day afterwards. Nicely wiped out, though, not the "Can't get out of bed" (or the Enchanted Recliner) type of day.
Mitch doing his Biggest Baddest Tom Turkey Dance:
This was during the time the poults and chicks were free ranging in the Office/Nursery. I've since put them out in their Integration/Segregation kit coop (with their EcoGlow inside for night-time temperatures). I've crawled into that coop three nights in a row to put them "upstairs" but now I don't bother. They go to sleep in a pile on the Ground Floor now, but they aren't peeping about the change any more. So I've chosen to stop belly-crawling to collect and put 'em upstairs at night.
Belinda in the foreground, Molly behind her:
Buffy, one of the oldest gals in the flock (and one of my original 8):
Cinnamon, wondering what I'm doing. (Sue me for not cleaning up the poop on that "not a coop" kit thing. I do like the way it collects "fertilizer for compost" through the grate portion...) That's Little Bit in the next photo with Cinnamon.
Josie and Clara, plus a few chickens in the shade beneath the deck. Notice how Josie's comb flops - I'm guessing Clara is a White (Plymouth) Rock.
Gloria The Boy (darned cockerel!) She checks out the Welcome mat, not at all deterred by Lizbeth's presence. Errr... as HE checks out the Welcome mat.
Brenda. (Originally named "Penny" when she hatched almost two years ago, but re-named by HH and FL when she lived in their flock. She came back when she got too bossy for their mellow ladies, and the major change in location and size of my flock knocked her down from her high roost for a bit.)
Paprika. That's Angus behind her.
Angus and Princess (who has a full crop!), with Queenie at a waterer in the next photo.
Simon.
Snow.
Edna and Edith dust-bathing, with the new Delilah.
Dooley enforcing the "No Chickens in the House" rule. Gloria is constantly testing Dooley's resolve.
Me, this morning, in my usual morning attire. (Yes, the famous Red Nightshirt.) First cup of coffee for the day.
.
Now, about those plans..... I've ordered business cards for Egg Sales; I was able to upload Rhoda's Beauty Head Shot image to the card! The back of the card has a small map taken from MapQuest so customers can find the Olmstead Homestead. I'd share the design with y'all but it's got my home telephone number and address on it, which I do NOT want to post on the Internet.
John and I have been discussing the design of an Egg Sales "kiosk" type building, and where on my property to build it. However ,it's a couple of items down the Project List. The Garden Fence is the very next thing after all the painting tasks have been completed. He's re-painted the Main Coop's exterior front wall, covering the white "pin-stripes" with the same dark green as the rest of the wall surface. He's going to paint the section above that wall (where the "Chez Poulet" sign has been placed) with the same, light-green color as my house. I'll post pictures of that when he's completed it - probably tomorrow. He has more white trim around the windows of the house to finish, too.
Yesterday, I bought the rubber liner material for the planned Waterfowl Pond. That's the Project AFTER the Garden Fence. But I was at Green Acres Nursery, picking up bits for the drip watering system John is going to show me how to install... so two strapping young men measured out a 15 x 20 foot length and carried it to my car. Umm, where it will stay, riding around back there until we get to the Pond Project. That swath of liner should be a perfect size to create a rectangular pond about 10 feet wide by 15 feet long.
A few nights ago, the chintzy lock on the screen door to the deck decided to latch itself whilst I was outside in the garden. I've got bits of plastic garden fencing and chicken wire cobbled together to "secure" - HA! - the garden, so it's a real... ummmm..... trial.... to get out of the garden unless one goes up on the deck and through the house. Which I couldn't do, with the screen door locked. I had to clamber over the deck railing to scale the short ladder leaning against the deck. (John uses it to get into the garden without going through the house. Up the ladder, throw a leg over the railing, step onto the deck and then down into the garden. Some of the chickens WATCHED him do this, so they, too, know how to get into the garden. Hence the "HA!") I hadn't anticipated having to do the same exercise. In my nightshirt, by the way. Good thing there are some trees to screen the view between my house and the neighbors' property immediately to the south of mine.
Amy from Bradshaw Feed has requested a dozen fertile eggs to place under another of her broody hens. (I stopped there on the way home from a dentist appointment in Sacramento. There is no way I could drive past Bradshaw Road without turning in that direction to pick up SOMETHING from my favorite feed store, especially after getting bad news at the dentist's office. I have to have a permanent bridge replaced and a new crown, so I'll be back in that direction early next week).
This Friday, HHandbasket and I are going to go swimming again in the Middle Fork of the Cosumnes River where it winds through the community of Outingdale. We know a resident there who has granted us permission to access the river within the confines of the community private property. Probably will be the last time for the water to be warm enough for swimming, as the nights are getting cooler. When the daytime high temperatures are preceded by very warm nights, the river is quite warm. It was pretty brisk this past Sunday, but that was after a few days of night-time temperatures in the mid-fifties. By Friday, there will have been nearly a week of temperatures in the mid to high 90s (and around 60 degrees at night).
I LOVE to swim, although what I do is probably more akin to just splashing around and paddling or floating lazily, looking up at the sky through a canopy of tree branches and gently fluttering leaves. We really should have started this exercise earlier in the Summer, but.... never got around to it until a couple of weeks ago.
Great exercise, but I am wiped out the day afterwards. Nicely wiped out, though, not the "Can't get out of bed" (or the Enchanted Recliner) type of day.
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Thanks for the update and I think Simon is gorgeous!!
That mitch is a cutie!
Love Mitch the turkey and can not believe how gorgeous Angus is. Usually do not care for geese but your two are beautiful.
Great seeing your updates. Love the red nightshirt. It is so you.
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