Oh, My! Chickies!

I have a little story to share, so please stick with me.....

About a month ago, we went to PA to visit some friends, and, as you previously read about, my children were baptized at our home church.  Well, during those days we had a friend "farm-sitting" for us up here.

He did a super job, but he didn't realize he would need to look UNDER the hens that happened to be in the nest boxes in our coop, therefore, when we got home, one "broody" black australorp was setting on a pile of eggs!




I decided to have Grace mark five or six with a sharpie and let the hen sit....just cuz.... It was an experiment, really.  I wondered if my rooster was still.....doing his job....if ya know what I mean!


I carefully counted 21 days, chickens' incubation period, and marked it on the calendar.  August 2nd.  We'd let her tend the eggs until the evening of August 1st, then, bring them inside and place them under the heat lamp to watch them hatch....or not.




On July 31, I send Will and Nate out to clean the coop.  Moments later Nate comes rushing back into the kitchen gently holding something between his work-gloved hands....a chickie!!  Alive and well.  The girls swiftly set up a plastic tub with shavings and rigged up the heat lamp, as the boys went out to gather the other eggs.

Unfortunately, another was halfway hatched, but had been dragged out into the chicken yard, presumably by one of the young hens;  maybe she was confused by that noisy broken egg in the nest box...

We put the traumatized little one under the heat lamp, but we believe the new nursery got too warm, too fast, because she died, as did one other that was just breaking out.  DARN!  I wanted to have everything prepped ahead of time and the temperature adjusted properly to 92 degrees, but that just didn't work out.  I hadn't factor in the day on which we left when I counted....   

Stuffed rhino was supposed to be a comfort while waiting for live friends!

So, we had one live chick and two eggs left.

Anxiously, we waited for almost 48 hours to see some signs of life from those eggs, but....nothing.  Don decided it was time to see what happened.....Were these two eggs even fertilized?  The first was not.....but...

"Peep, peep!"  Indeed, the second had a fully-developed bird in it!  Sadly, however, we discovered that it was deformed and the little guy didn't make it through the night.




So now, we have one very spoiled chick....

Oh, my....This just won't do! We learned, from another backyard flock owner, that single chicks usually fail to thrive.  Chickens are designed to live in groups and interact with each other.  They rely on each other.

Wiggles, that's what Grace named the feisty little one, appeared healthy and strong at 3 days old, but could he/she last until mature enough to go to the coop?  And, would he even know how to interact correctly with the other chickens when he did?


So, at 6:45 in the morning, with our coffee in hand, Don and I logged onto Craig's list to see if we could find Wiggles some friends.....


We ended up at this great, little family-operated hatchery called Beardsley's Pick-a-Chick Farm, in Whitney Point, NY. (beardsley.wix.com/pickachick)


Only $2.00 each for these healthy-looking two-day old chicks!  A $.50/bird discount due it being the last hatching of the summer.  And, what a colorful variety of cross-breeds!





We explained our "situation" and asked if there was a minimum purchase...normally six, but...
"Great,  we'll take five!"  I said with a grin, "But, can you help us pick pullets?" (Females are called pullets, males are cockerels)

One-by-one we chose the breeds/colors we liked, then checked their wing-shape to try to determine gender. (There are other more accurate methods used by professionals, by the way.)

Pretty sure this is a pullet.

Hoping we're wrong, but pretty sure Wiggles is a cockerel!

 Here's hoping we bought 5 hens, because we're pretty sure that Wiggles is going to be a rooster!













Did I really need 6 more birds this year?  This late in the season? 

Probably not.

With CNY winters being what they are, these new hens won't even lay until next spring.....









But, I couldn't bear the idea of Wiggles, literally, dying of loneliness.  Just as we are designed to need each other, so are chickens.  Besides, we are supposed to be working on building our flock so we can offer "farm fresh" eggs to the community, right?

That's my story, and I'm stickin' to it!

"Critters" (part 3)

I could probably share hundreds of photos of our horses, dogs, and cats, but we'll save that for another time. Today, I introduce you to the world's most entertaining pig..........



guinea pig, that is!            

 This is Ema.  We've had her for nearly 2 years, now.  She is a very social creature!  Whenever you enter the room where she's kept, she "talks" to you.  In fact, if we are sitting at the dining room table having a conversation (just around the corner from her "bedroom"), she might just throw in her 2 cents.  She even has different little noises for each member of the family!

                                                                                                               
Ema must be quite the conversationalist, because we regularly find Lady and Mac visiting with her.

And, finally, we have our chickens:

At present, we have one rooster and 13 hens.  We've had a backyard flock for about 5 years now.  We like having a colorful variety, and have kept several different breeds from bantam silkies to leghorns to jersey giants over the years.

At this time, we have barred rocks, Rhode island reds, buff orpingtons, black austrolorps, one leghorn and one americana.

 We don't keep our own chickens to save money on groceries, because we really don't.  Our desire was for our kids to continue to have a direct connection to their food, even though we were no longer beef or dairy farming.  Our last home was less than ideal for gardening, so chickens were our best option.

Will is our resident "chicken whisperer".  He can calm and catch even the most flighty and frazzled bird in the flock!




Below, I am holding my beautiful rooster.  We actually raised him from an egg.  He is a cross between one of our buff orpingtons and a silkie-cross rooster.

My goal with the chickens is to double our flock by spring of 2016, and sell our free-range, farm fresh eggs.  We actually have an ideal location for a little farm stand.  We'll be getting our vegetable garden going this spring, too.....but, I digress........Let's get the maple syrup going first!

Very soon the conditions will be right for the sap to flow, so stay tuned.....