I am sad to report this morning that we have lost one of our adult hens. Serafina was found dead this morning in the red-mini coop. :(
When the flock went to bed, they were all happy and healthy. Near as I can tell, it was the heat that got her. The last two nights have been unusually warm around here, and this particular morning was muggy beyond muggy. Our guess is she either got smothered in the coop by the others on accident, or she simply couldn't take the heat.
I'm concerned about disease, but we cleaned the coop and found no traces as far as I could tell. We're going to keep a close eye on things though because if disease is the case, the whole flock could be in danger.
In the meantime, we are sad to lose Serafina. She was one of Izzy's hen's and the biggest one at that. She will be missed.
Friday, August 12, 2011
Numero Dos
With the addition of our 6 full-sized hens, we are in desperate need of an additional chicken coop. Now that the baby chicks are out and about and needing a place to sleep, the pressure is on to get more room/nesting boxes for all our hens.
JL has been working feverishly these past few nights on a new coop. If there is one thing about my husband, it's his extreme dedication. I love this trait though. No project will lay undone around this house. If he sets his mind to do something - it gets done! And fast! I'm already impressed with his progress in just the few nights he has worked on it!
We are basically modeling it after our old, red coop with just a few improvements. For one thing, the new coop is going to be MUCH bigger. It will also have a full sized door so we can easily go in and out. It's a huge pain to try to squeeze in the mini door on the red coop to change food/water etc etc. With this new coop - no ducking, squeezing or curling up into a ball will be necessary!
The plan is to move the big flock into the new coop and give the red mini-coop to the baby chicks. If the baby black/white chick doesn't turn out to be a rooster, then we will be getting a second rooster to tend to our four baby hens. I don't see why they wouldn't need their own protection! ;-)
Stay tuned for updates on our coop project!
The kids had their own project going while we worked on the coop!
May I present: The Bench!
JL has been working feverishly these past few nights on a new coop. If there is one thing about my husband, it's his extreme dedication. I love this trait though. No project will lay undone around this house. If he sets his mind to do something - it gets done! And fast! I'm already impressed with his progress in just the few nights he has worked on it!
We are basically modeling it after our old, red coop with just a few improvements. For one thing, the new coop is going to be MUCH bigger. It will also have a full sized door so we can easily go in and out. It's a huge pain to try to squeeze in the mini door on the red coop to change food/water etc etc. With this new coop - no ducking, squeezing or curling up into a ball will be necessary!
The plan is to move the big flock into the new coop and give the red mini-coop to the baby chicks. If the baby black/white chick doesn't turn out to be a rooster, then we will be getting a second rooster to tend to our four baby hens. I don't see why they wouldn't need their own protection! ;-)
Stay tuned for updates on our coop project!
Just Add Ham
We got our first green egg this week!!! Not sure if it's Serafina, chicken #5 or chicken #6, but it's one of the Americana's. I sorta think it is chicken #6 because Cogburn was following her around the day before. ;-)
So far, we have brown with dark brown speckles, green (although this particular one was more of a light blue), and a giant brown. Sandy lays the brown with speckles, Barbie and Topsey lay the giant brown ones, and the green/blue one is one of our Americanas.
So far, we have brown with dark brown speckles, green (although this particular one was more of a light blue), and a giant brown. Sandy lays the brown with speckles, Barbie and Topsey lay the giant brown ones, and the green/blue one is one of our Americanas.
A Whole New World
Our baby chicks are finally out of the garage!! Well, kinda. We don't have a coop for them just yet, so technically they still sleep in the garage. But during the day - they can be seen roaming around the ranch doing their chicken thing.
So far, the other chickens don't seem to mind them a whole lot. Although, Serafina doesn't care for them too much. She tried to peck one of the black ones the other morning until she finally just ran and hid somewhere. I think she is the alpha female or something. She was pretty preturbed that there were new girls on the block.
Cogburn has taken a fancy to them. He likes to dance around and strut his stuff for them sometimes. But, for the most part, the babies run around in their own flock. Minding their own business and taking cover when the big girls come around.
We think one of the black and white chicks may turn out to be a rooster. He/She has always been more aggressive than the rest. And when He/She saw the big flock, the first thing He/She did was run right over and start pecking at the others. Kinda a rooster move - like he was protecting his flock from the strange, large birds that were around suddenly. Only time will tell...
So far, the other chickens don't seem to mind them a whole lot. Although, Serafina doesn't care for them too much. She tried to peck one of the black ones the other morning until she finally just ran and hid somewhere. I think she is the alpha female or something. She was pretty preturbed that there were new girls on the block.
Cogburn has taken a fancy to them. He likes to dance around and strut his stuff for them sometimes. But, for the most part, the babies run around in their own flock. Minding their own business and taking cover when the big girls come around.
We think one of the black and white chicks may turn out to be a rooster. He/She has always been more aggressive than the rest. And when He/She saw the big flock, the first thing He/She did was run right over and start pecking at the others. Kinda a rooster move - like he was protecting his flock from the strange, large birds that were around suddenly. Only time will tell...
Yet Another Bug
The list of new, strange bugs is endless here on Buffalo Clover Ranch. The other day, my Dad spotted this weird thing (and I apologize for the fuzziness of my pictures - it was difficult to get a decent close in shot with my phone).
Fuzzy, large (as everything seems to be lately), all black with a few specks of yellow.
At first, we thought it was a fuzzy fly. Turns out it's a Carpenter Bee.
What the heck is a Carpenter Bee? Basically, it is a bee that likes to carve holes in wood. They don't really pollinate anything, they aren't aggressive, they don't serve much purpose far as I can tell. Seems their greatest purpose is to feed the woodpeckers. :)
Ours looked like this one. See how we kinda thought it was a giant fly? They are weird lookin'
You can read more about them here if you'd like.
What the heck is a Carpenter Bee? Basically, it is a bee that likes to carve holes in wood. They don't really pollinate anything, they aren't aggressive, they don't serve much purpose far as I can tell. Seems their greatest purpose is to feed the woodpeckers. :)
You can read more about them here if you'd like.
Monday, August 8, 2011
Sundays on the Clover
I love Sunday afternoons. We get to spend a lot of family time together, and I relish it. The heat of the day brings movies and popcorn inside the house, but by late afternoon, we are outside enjoying the land. This particular Sunday, we had family in town visiting, so all the animals were out and about for a bit of socializing.
Peggy and Delilah enjoying an afternoon out on the Clover
Isabel and Wyatt love to feed the chickens
Grandpa and James enjoyed tossing airplanes around the yard
Nana and James
We are trying to socialize the ducks a bit more. They are super soft and really sweet, just shy.
Cogburn is also very lovable!
A Conversion
We are getting there on our eggs! So far, our top layers are Topsey, Sandy, and Barbie. The Americanas have yet to leave us with anything. But, in this heat, who can blame them. Hopefully this fall we will get more production.
In the meantime, fresh eggs are delicious! They taste more like egg, and they aren't rubbery. I made a batch of chocolate chip cookies yesterday with our eggs and they were wonderful! The dough had a richer, almost nutty taste to it. And the cookies were crispy but soft and rich. Yum!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
