Case of the Concealed Chicks

I was reading my morning literature, when Husband came in.
"Did you pick up the eggs outside the hen house?"
I looked up.  "No, Salt had went right back to the nest, so I just let her set."
"Well, there's no eggs, and I don't see her, either."

Uh, oh...

I set down the comics, to follow Husband out to the back of the hen house, where there was one bedraggled egg, and nothing else. Oh, dear. But no feathers, no smashed eggs, or torn up shrubbery.

Strange.

I walked around, fearing the worst, when we found a dead chick.  I told Husband that meant she might have fought off something. (We have a multitude of wild critters around.) No hint of her anywhere outside. I decided to feed, to get the other chickens out from underfoot.

I had just cleaned out the area around the feed barrels, and Husband had put a piece of plywood by them to store.  I opened the barrel, and heard a chicken growl.  That is a distinctive "Mama Chicken" sound. Knowing that Edgar was outside, it clicked that there was someone else with chicks.  I listened carefully, and heard the growl again, and peeps.  I carefully moved the plywood back, to find Salt with 4 chicks!

I tried to get Husband's attention, but he couldn't hear me. I turned to put the plywood back, and realized Marshmallow was off the nest.  I walked to her, and SHE growled, and two little heads poked out from under her wing. 

So we took care of the one dead chick, then looked over the rest.  Most of them are Maran types, cute little black puffballs.  One or two are yellow white puffballs. 

I had talked about buying some chicks this year to Husband.  Looking at the 11 we have at this point, he grinned and quipped, "and you wanted to buy a few chicks!" And laughed! 

The saga is continuing, too, as Auntie Bird is still sitting. I had given her three eggs to work on.

Last time I checked it, there was about 10.

I will never learn...     :)

Soft and fluffy!!!

Just because it's a habit we developed, I do the morning feeding and watering of the animals and garden. Husband will close and lock up in the evening.  This seems to work well, and I don't have to lay in bed, panicked that I forgot to lock something, or the chicken house is open... Sigh. 

Husband had gone out on his evening rounds, and wanted to see the two chicks with Edgar.  Didn't see them in the open cage area I had set up.  Then he looked at the roost...

The babies are obviously big enough to follow Mom!  The other one must have been a bit chilly, it was under a wing, says Husband.

Will have to get some pictures of the Tanker Trio, they are growing a little faster, but are going to have a little catch up on the real world later, I just turned off their heat lamp today, (it's supposed to be 102*), and they screeched and ran around for quite a while!  Then they finally realized...

Nothing happened.

Chick letdown? 

A little bigger.

This is a picture I took of the Tanker Trio, yesterday.  They do NOT like the camera flash, and were not entirely sure about the camera itself! (Photo at bottom.)

The little black chick is completely healed, and will have a pronounced scar, but seems like it doesn't cause any problems.  I think when it gets feathers, rather than the "chick fuzz", it most likely won't even show, or at least not be glaring.

The other two are a yellow and white, like Edgar's babies.  So. I thought great, 5, that will be a nice replacement for the ones I've lost this season, (mostly due to old age), and that would be that.

And the Universe cracked up...

I couldn't find Salt. Oh, crud.  Did she get eaten? Run off? Why couldn't I find her?

I had just finished mowing, when Husband called my attention to a little spot behind the henhouse.  There sat Salt, just quietly glaring at us. 

Oh. She's setting. Okay, a few more is fine, I suppose.

I had a chance to count eggs when she went for a quick bite.

Am I rotten to really hope all 18 eggs do NOT hatch?  Yoiks...

Blog constipated, and chicks.

Tried to write a blog post, and I couldn't get Blogger to let me have the page to write on.  So, I will send it as an email and see how that works.  (It didn't, switched to "legacy", we shall see how THAT goes...)

At this point I have 5 chicks.  Edgar has two, and we have three we are calling the Tanker Trio, because she left the nest and wouldn't accept them.  Tanker because we are using our horse trough to keep them, until they can go out with the rest.

One of the chicks had damage to its neck. I wasn't sure it would make it, but I put ointment on it for a few days, and we kept an eye on all of them.  They were all pretty worn out and in rough shape, but seem to have come out of it fairly well. 

This is a picture of the quick care center we made up for them, a cake pan with cedar in it, in a fish tank.  Heat light overhead.  It was... Unique, but it worked.  Hopefully, I will have pictures with them a bit bigger soon.

Close call!

I like for my chickens to be free range, we let them wander all over in the field.  Realistically, I have to be prepared that it means that I might lose some...

Almost happened...

Husband and I were talking, and whoosh, a hawk flew by the window.  I didn't see what commenced next, but the hens were screeching and running for the hen house, and then I saw the hawk fly up to the top of one of our neighbor's trees, and watch.  Uh, oh...

Neither Husband or I could tell if the hawk had grabbed anything.  I was busy making dinner, so he went out and checked.  He looked a bit pale when he came back.

"I can't find the babies."

Oh, crap.  I told him that I would go out and check after dinner. 

It was a rather quiet meal... 

After getting things put away, I put on my coat, and went out, fully expecting to find no chicks, or a small explosion of feathers.  (Hawks 'tackle' prey, and then proceed to tear out feathers. Both lead to a big mess of feathers on the ground...)

I walked out, and saw the hawk had left. Well, plus one, anyway.  Then the group started coming out when I called for them...

Then I heard it, peeppepepepepepeeeeppeeeep!  I looked, Mama had to vacuum packed chicks near under her as she walked. (How she didn't trip, I am not sure...)  But both Salt and Pepper seemed none the worse for wear, shaken badly, but they will live another day.

Whew!

Name update.

So, the twosome chicks that I asked for names about a few days ago. 

We have two votes for Chairo and Scuro.

We have two votes for Sunshine and Midnight.

And a vote for Positive and Negative.

And I will be nice to the ones who won't leave comments, but there were THREE votes for Salt and Pepper, which was soooo  obvious, and I totally missed.

So, I introduce to you,  Salt and Pepper.  (EVENTUALLY with photos.  Sigh.)

Salt now has little feathers on wings and tail.  Pepper, it's funny, has wing feathers, but still has a fuzzy baby chick butt, no feathers... But they are growing like crazy, and I have found out they LOVE themselves some blackberries!  Mom would cluck, and drop the berry, and zzzip, Pepper would grab it and run, Salt chasing after, until Mom would show that there was another berry.  Salt would then grab it, and run.  Whereupon, Pepper would run over and grab Salt's berry.  Salt then would run after Pepper, until realizing that Pepper hadn't eaten the first berry, grabs it, and runs to the far end while Pepper stays by Mom, eating the 'stolen goods'. 

So, they are doing well, and I will have more tales of chickling adventure in the near future. 

Chicks, voting, and... wait, whut?

There are 2 new chicks in the yard.  Heckle had several eggs, and two hatched.  Jeckle tried, but... they didn't make it. 

But anyway. 

The babies are in that little-wind-up-toy-zipping-around-the-floor stage.  And there is one that is so blonde as to be white, and the other is black.  (Except, I finally saw, a small patch on his/her chest.)  So, I came up with the thought, need to give them names. 

Mom came up with Positive, Negative.

Husband came up with Sunshine and Midnight.

I came up with Chiaro and Scuro.  (Yes, I have way too much time on my hands...)

So, I thought, let's put it on the blog, and put up a vote counter.  I then looked.  Well, I thought there was a vote counter, but I couldn't find it!  I am pretty sure I remember one... Huh.

So, great, no voter bit. 

Well, think.  Hmm.

Ok, if you are reading this, could you leave a comment, any preferences? 

A. Positive, Negative
B. Sunshine, Midnight
C. Chiaro, Scuro
D. Other, (with the names.)


Cheap and dirty work around, but hey, gets the job done. 

I still think I remember a vote tally gadget... 

Quick, while the internet is working!

Things are going okay here… We did lose a chick, unfortunately, Mama Bird got in some fights with the other birds, I think she stepped on the one.  Sad.  But the others are thriving, and I have some nice up and coming birds for either selling, or possibly dinner, eventually.  I know we have a few boys, there are some hackle raising and bravado going on…

Ding has decided my Lucky Bamboo plant is a lovely garnish.  She’s killed one, and well on her way to seeing if she can ‘trim’ the other 2 plants…  When she isn’t trying to eat the rubber bands holding my computer’s power supply. (I keep it bound to a tile, so it doesn’t get hot.)  She doesn’t like getting sprayed, so the second she hears me get up, zing, she’s somewhere else, looking innocent.

Yeah. Right. Innocent.

I have been hand spinning some yarn, and hand plying it.  I hope to make socks.  It is taking a while, I forgot how long it takes when you strictly use your hands, no “help” like a wheel, or better yet, an electric spinner…  But it will be fun to see how it comes out.

Husband bought me a dishwasher.

The other, well. Um.

It was time.

It wasn’t cleaning any more, and things were getting worse, and more and more tinkery.  Husband actually took a look at the inner workings, and then got up and started checking around for a new one. (This says something, because he normally fixes things, and only buys new as a last resort.) So, now I have this little wonder that looks like it’s out of Star Trek: The Next Generation, and it twingles and dings, making various sounds to let me know it’s on duty.  I will be getting nervous if it says hello…  Although, who knows, maybe that IS hello!

The weather is finally getting cooler here, I made applesauce, it was okay, but the apples are not very juicy, I had to keep adding water so I didn’t scorch the sauce.  Husband suggested apple juice.  Um, good idea, but I don’t have any.  Guess I should put that on the list for the next time I am in town.

Well, I am writing this right before the “Blood Moon Eclipse”.  I want to go out and see it, it will actually be doing its thing before I turn in for the evening…  I keep reading that this is an “event” eclipse, that it will be a portent of major events and life forces, catastrophes and wonders.

I guess we shall see about all the whatis that will occur later…

I just think it sounds like it will be pretty.

Chicks! Itty Bitty Chicky Committe!

Well, I was beginning to wonder if I was going to have chicks this year, the hens managed to ruin TWO clutches.  But, wonder of wonders, Mama Bird got broody, and now, at least part of the result (she still has some eggs unhatched).

 Mama Bird is a good Mama- to the point that Husband and I wear heavy gloves to handle her... Which should be interesting, since we are going to move her and family tonight.  It will be a secured area so that they can eat and grow in peace.  (I hope.)

I just love the one peeking out!  There is one that has "racing stripes", three little stripes down the back, the others are blonde or orange.  We shall see if Mon Ami is a Daddy!  Several Moms, two Dads, so we have a village.  With 14 eggs, a fairly large village, if they all hatch.  

6 so far...

(Ok, I just HAD to add this... The Great Escape! This is just funny to me, around here, we'd just get the darn happy couple penned up quickly.  I keep wondering if some yuppie type went out in the yard and stepped in some solid fuel exhaust....)  

Aminaly thingies!

So, I have been promising chick photos.  Heeere they are!  Taurus is still not liking the camera, but the chicks have been getting rather blaze' about the whole thing, they don't even look when the camera flashes now...

A baby by Mom, the others have snuck out of the caged area.

This is the best one of them zipping around outside the cage...

And Husband and I are celebrating an anniversary at the end of the month.  So, I have been trying to get some llamas.  What does one have to do with the other?  Well, let me show you my anniversary present from Husband... I haven't given them official names yet, so for now it's one, two, and three...

 

One...

Two...

THREE!!!

They have decided the chicken house (where the food is), needs to be properly watched over.

I have some names... One will be called Dolly (Dali).  (Yes, I continue the puns...)  Husband said he gets to name one, and since it's our anniversary, they are all girls, so he wants one named Annie. 

So, I just need to think of one other pun-filled unique name, and we will have something to call all three. 

I have them blocked from visiting the other llamas presently, they can look at each other over the fence, but not have any contact.  I am sort of wondering what will happen when Lorenzo gets a load of all these cuties...  Lama will probably not care, just scoot them over so she can get what she wants, and life goes on.

We shall see...