Surprise!

One of the Black Australorp hens went broody early this spring. She protected her eggs like they were gold and bloodied my hand more than once when I tried taking eggs from her. So, hey, go ahead and SIT!!! And sit she did for weeks and I had just about had enough this morning. I told Don....those eggs have to go. She's been sitting way too long and obviously the eggs weren't fertile or they would have hatched by now.

Imagine my surprise when I heard the loud PEEP PEEP after everyone had left the hen house this morning. Mommy left the nest for awhile and these two were left singing in the nest; with about a dozen more eggs that are yet to hatch.

As they say....."Don't count your chickens until they hatch." I didn't and now I have two little darlings. These are the first hatchlings at Catfish Corner. My previous attempts at using an incubator were a failure so I'm pretty happy to welcome these two special little ones. In honor of the event---and because they will be distinctive by being DIFFERENT from the rest, I have named them. Butter Puff for the one in the foreground and Spotty for the one in the back. It has two black spots on it's back...don't know how to sex them, so I will have to wait and see what they turn out to be. 

Now that these eggs have started coming to life it will be interesting to see how many do actually hatch.

Came by it honestly.......

 
I found this old tattered photo of my Grandma Anderson with her cute little chicken coop! I'm not sure where this was taken but at one point she had a nice flock of hens. I don't remember chickens at their place as a child, so it must have been earlier.

Maybe it was all the chicken poop that helped fuel the GORGEOUS flower and vegetable gardens she tended.

Hanging out with the Chickens

Our self appointed Mother Hen has been keeping a close eye on her charges. None of our previous broods have had the advantage of having a foster mom. This "Production Red" is such a sweetie. She first adopted the little Wyandotte rooster. She ran around and found the tastiest bugs--pointed them out to him and let him gobble them up. Then she would scratch up goodies--do her little cluck call and over he would come to eat her findings. Now the other youngsters are hanging closer, too. It pays! When it's time to go in for the night she nestles in the chick area and protectively spreads her wings over as many as she can. They are getting pretty big so not as many fit anymore.

It's relaxing to just sit and watch their little society. We have a big bushy tree that they gather under and hang out. Some of the older hens are grumpy and there are some territorial squabbles but for the most part everyone gets along.

Our new little crown prince is growing. He is a Wyan- dotte, but he looks like a Barred Rock hen. He is about twice the size of his sisters. I fear he might be the only rooster out of the four we started with since we have lost several to coyotes. The little fellas get bold and go to the edge of the yard which is prime hiding grounds for the predators. I was hoping to have more roosters, and we might, but this is the first one to show signs of development.

It was so blasted hot and humid yesterday that we lost one of our Barred Rock (right) hens (not this one!). The hot temps really take a toll on the older ones and this one in particular had been getting more feeble in the past week.

Don has been ordering new equipment to do some serious coyote trapping and having a dead chicken as prime bait should help.

We Will Miss You, Louie

We were so sad to find our rooster, Louie, graveyard dead out by the barn this morning. I had been out earlier in the morning to open the hen house door and I was welcomed with his 100-decibel cock-a-doodle-doo. Everyone went out and I dumped the corn and crumbles, fed the horses, the Paisley cat and the geese. All was well.

Don and I headed out to the barn about 11 am to put the mower on the JD tractor and Louie was at room temperature in front of the box stall. Not a mark on him. No sign of attack. Nor a sign of a struggle. The poor guy just gave up the ghost.

He has been our rooster in residence for the past three years and was a pretty healthy specimen. It was near impossible to get too close to him while he was vertical, but in this state I could appreciate his nearly three inch spurs, his full fluffy tail feathers and hackle. He was a cool rooster.

The only living bits left of Louie are now the fertilized eggs in the frig, and those that will be laid today. We were suddenly on a mission to get an incubator to bring those little calcium encrusted blobs of his DNA hatched to continue a generation of Louie's offspring. Out came the "chicken book" so I could find out what to do, and learned I have some time to line up an incubator and with a little luck we will have some little Louie's and Louisa's running around in a few weeks.

Louie had over 30 hens in his harem so there leaves little doubt that he died a happy rooster; probably doing what he liked best.

Chick Day - Late

It was chick day here this morning when my order of a dozen Gold Star laying hens and two dozen Cornish broilers showed up at the post office. Most people have the common sense to get their new chicks in the spring. I thought we had plenty of chickens and decided to skip a year. Then the coyotes, raccoons and owls made their dinner plans.

Most of the summer we weren't shutting the door on the chickens at night. They go to bed way later than we do in the summer and it was just too much of a rodeo trying to herd them into their room every night.

The raccoons eventually caught on to our security breach and decided it was fun to go in at night and terrorize them. Owls probably took some during the day when they go out to forage in the pines and the last straw was having coyotes here in the yard at night howling and yipping. Egg production has gone to one or two a day. Horrors! I am going to have to buy eggs at the grocery store!

I talked Don's cousin Clint into taking a dozen broilers in exchange for his help on processing day (he and Don can decapitate---I don't like that part). It will take only seven to eight weeks of growth to have chickens for the freezer and probably four months before the Gold Stars start laying.

Our Weekend

We had to say goodbye to one of our original red hens yesterday. She was one of our favorites because she always wanted to hang out around the patio or the breezeway so we would see her everyday. It was apparent her three years on earth were catching up to her and she spent a lot of time just resting with her eyes closed. Saturday the little Benson kids were here to meet their new pony, Emmy, and Paige played with Little Red, and petted her quietly. The end seemed pretty near and Sunday was a nice day to move on.

The pony rides went well--Emmy was so patient and we had many trips around the barnyard with the kids. Everyone had multiple turns until we decided "the pony" needed to rest!  Uncle Donnie was prepared to make grilled hot dogs for the finale until we were informed the kids won't eat hot dogs with grill marks! (I'm worried about their upbringing!)  So we boiled their hot dogs (this will be the last time) and we grilled ours and had a little picnic in the backyard. Grandpa Benson showed up so they got a chance to see him, too. 

After a few turns at T ball, watching inch worms and playing hula hoop, their mom and dad were ready to take them home. It was only a four hour visit but seemed like more! We collapsed in the easy chairs until bedtime. 

It was also the night for a graduation party being held across the road from us. We were informed earlier that there was going to be a band and that it would be going on into the night so it wasn't any surprise but what was surprising was that it would be LOUD HEAVY METAL all night. Real head banger stuff. Lots of screaming and no music involved. I was hoping for country western. I have no idea how Don slept through most of it. I finally dropped off around 2 am and then he took over watch and said it finally wound down around 4. I was pretty much shot for the next day--big party person I am--I can't even stay up late! I worked off my fogginess in the garden by transplanting zinnias. The cucumbers and melon seeds have just sprouted and things are looking good. 

Thoughts on snow and.....food

It's been snowing all day at Catfish Corner and since Don was feeling cruddy we stayed home and postponed an eye appointment for him at Eau Claire until after the first of the year. I made a nice roaring fire in the fireplace and he rested while I made more Christmas treats. Today was two batches of peanut brittle and all things covered in chocolate. 

It's only 5 degrees out and I saw that Cerra had opened the door on the chicken room. (A special talent she has--opening doors, gates, hearts) So I had chickens out running around instead of staying indoors and doing their job of egg laying. The little golden Buff Orpingtons - affectionately known as "The Buffingtons" - seem to think they are above living in the hen house and are constantly forming their own colony in the other box stall, or on the hay bales, or out in the woods. I have found that my Parelli carrot stick works well to round them up and get 'em moving back to home. Just call it Chicken Savvy.

They are this year's chickens and were late bloomers. Some are just starting to lay tiny little eggs. My daily gathering has grown to up to 21 eggs. Today was good at 19. I'm getting more customers than I have product. The pullet eggs are small but so good. Deep orange yolks that stand right up. If you wanted to eat a raw egg, I think this would be the variety to use. There is no comparison between a battery raised egg and a home flock egg! Fried in a pool of butter........but I digress.

Since I got the chickens in I figured the horses could be fed early and then I'm done with the outdoors until morning. Cheyenne (pictured) came running and thought that was the best idea I have had in a while. A scoop of black sunflower seeds for a treat and a thick leaf of hay and it was bon appetit at Catfish Corner.

Our Rooster Louie

Rooster Louie--Took a pic of this big guy yesterday. It was a gorgeous fall day. I'll post more photos later. I know how to do it now! Louie is OUR LAST ROOSTER. Last year I got chicks -- Barred Rock and Reds -- straight run. That means you get whatever hatches. Boys or girls. So I had a multitude of BOYS who grew up into roosters. Roosters have specific needs and they got to be really obnoxious. They wouldn't leave my beautiful hens alone. Hens without feathers are not pretty. Heads rolled. Yes, folks, country people know where food comes from and it's an unfortunate reality that it involves a harvest. At the end of the day there were three roosters left.

They were named: Larry, Louie and Lucky, inspite of the fact that farmers never name animals that are intended to enter the food chain. Lucky was so named because he ran into the woods and survived the day. Larry, Lucky and Louie lived in their ways until one of the hens showed up totally broken down. The next harvest arrived. All of a sudden Larry was going to spend winter in the freezer--with his compadre (not so) Lucky.  That left Louie. He's a Barred Rock rooster--he is magnificent (although I think the red ones were much prettier) and he is the "cock of the walk". And he knows it. Eyes are on him. Hens are growing new feathers. If he can find a way to contain himself he might see spring.