Merry Christmas from the farm!

Christmas pictures of Chickens!

It was a lovely Christmas this year! Q-Tip dressed up for Christmas pictures.

 We got another few inches of snow. Oh...and Peppers babies hatched! She had decided this egg setting thing wasn't working for her in the cold so she left the nest about a week before they were due to hatch. I felt bad for the chilled little eggs and put them in the small Brinsea. 3 hatched! First out was a little polish/silkie cross. Then 2 pure silkies. 1 white, 1 black. (of course I forgot to get a picture of them all!) All 3 went to their new home today!

Next due to hatch in the incubator is our winter surprise....GUINEAS! Guineas aren't supposed to be laying after the end of summer. About a month ago, I started to find what looked like Guinea eggs on the floor of the coop. My spring hatches had just gotten old enough to lay. They started and stopped all in the same week! 

I put all the eggs in the incubator with doubts that they were even fertile. 4 started to develop. 2 quit in the first week, but the remaining 2 are going strong and due to hatch on New Years day!

I also have a few more silkie eggs in the incubator, due to hatch with the Guineas. Hopefully they will all hatch and we'll have New Years babies! Finger crossed!

~L

Snow, Snow and more snow!

It's been snowing for days here! At least a week. At first it was just a dusting that would clear up when the afternoon sun warmed the ground. Now it barely gets a chance to settle before it starts again. At least the wind isn't blowing! 

Snowing on the farm

Every morning I shovel the fluffy stuff out from in front of the coop. Not much I can do about what's already packed down. If I can keep them from sinking into the snow though it might help a bit. At least their feet won't be quite as cold! So I shovel a small area for them to come out and stretch their legs. 

They go over to the small pond and like to go under the brooder and pine trees. Normally there's at least a dozen of them out there, but not today! I think they've had enough of the snow and want to stay inside where it's warmer! The ducks didn't even want to come out! I finally convinced them it was ok to swim with a few buckets of warm water added to their mini pool. 

Xander is a water-hog and had to be first in! lol The others quickly followed, taking turns of course! 

It will be awhile till they can use their regular pond....it's frozen solid! Their summer duck house is covered with snow. They spend winters in the coop with the chickens for warmth.

So far so good.....I'll probably add a heat lamp soon. We're using the deep litter method again this year, and there's enough chickens, ducks and guineas to keep each other warm. I'm also thinking about wrapping the run in heavy plastic to give them a protected 'outdoor' area. Plus that would cut down on drafts through the edges of the pop door. Sounds like I have my weekend project all planned!

~L

Pepper tries to set

About 3 weeks ago I started finding silkie eggs in the ground nesting boxes again. I had 3 possible suspects. 

First up is Frank: She hatched out her babies about 2 months ago and I'm expecting her to start laying again very soon.

Next up is Snowball: She's about 8 months old and she started to lay this summer, but has apparently taken a winter break. I'm hoping she started back up!



Last up is Pepper: She's about 5 months old and should start laying soon.

Turns out I caught BOTH pepper and snowball in nesting boxes one day, and happened to get 2 eggs that day! Yeay! Of course, that doesn't mean that Frank isn't laying. (short for Frankenstein....she had a vaulted skull when she hatched. The kids names her! lol) She could be also. 

Well of course this can't just be as easy as a few hens laying. Oh no! Pepper has decided to set her eggs. 

When pullets try to hatch eggs

DAY 1: Pepper got all comfy on the floor of the coop in front of the nest box while her egg sat all alone inside. I picked her up and set her on the egg and she settled in comfortably. 

DAY 2: The egg was so buried under the wood chips it was stone cold. So I dug it out and gave her a few eggs I had collected over the previous days. I cleaned out her nest box, changed the bedding and put her back and she settled in happily. 

DAY 3: Pepper woke up in the nest box, but came out for breakfast and instead of going back in the nest box, she settled down in front of it again. I picked her up and put her back in and she settled in. I came back a few hours later and she was sitting all puffed up, with most of the eggs in front of her NOT under her! Silly bird....I put her back in place.

DAY 4: Today. This morning Pepper was in her nest box on ALL her eggs (5 eggs) I'll give her another 2 days and if she's doing ok I will candle the eggs and see how they are doing. It's a good chance that all this on the nest/off the nest stuff caused the eggs to quit developing. If that is the case, I will swap them for fresh eggs (presumably laid by Snowball and maybe Frank) and see if she can make it work. 

It's her first time, and many hens have trouble with their first clutch. If all else fails, I'm going to be hatching for the spring season soon so I can break out the mini Brinsea and hatch her a few.

Wish her luck!

~L

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Surprise babies! What do I do with extra chicks?

Well of course I couldn't wrap up hatching season when 'I' wanted to! Zippy, my adorable black Silkie hen, decided that there was time for one more hatch. I guess I hadn't paid real close attention to if their were eggs underneath her. She's a great broody so I didn't think about it at all in fact.

Maybe I should have looked closer though because all the sudden I heard baby peeping today! The first chick out was a blue Marans.

First, let me explain Marans genetics to you real quick: I have splash hens and a black copper roo....when they mate you get blue! I don't have any blue silkies. So there is no doubt in my mind, That is NOT from one of Zippy's egg!

Chicken saddles

Well it's finally happened! One of my hens has a bald spot on her back from the rooster. I feel so bad for the poor thing. Not only have her feathers been pulled out but now it's cold enough to snow and she must be freezing!!!! There seems to be only 1 solution to this problem. I bought her a saddle.

No, not like for riding a horse! Although Mr Roo might not pull feathers if he had some stirrups to stick his claws through....but I digress. A chicken saddle is the same basic shape as a horse saddle, but it's made of fabric. 

Sort of like an apron for the chickens back. The feathers get a chance to grow in, and little miss hen stays just a tad warmer till they do. 

Chicken saddles work great in cases of over breeding or feather picking. Pictured above is Princess, a Mille Fluer D'Uccle wearing her saddle.