A Couple of New Things For Me!

This is my first experience raising chickens. Farmer Man grew up with chickens as part of the farm, so he's seen it all. This was a first for me: a perfect egg - without a shell. Both membrane layers intact, the shape perfect, just soft and squishy! Isn't Mother Nature amazing? Farmer Man says they would get one or two of these a year when he was young, but it's new for me!

Also new for me is the notion of chickens molting. The Leghorns were a year old in May, the Isa Browns were one year old in June, and both have been laying just a little over a year. We didn't go through molting last year - they were too young, I assume. But, boy, are we molting this year! The chicken coop is layered with feathers, the pasture is dotted with them and all the chickens are looking a little, well......dishevelled. Even the usually majestic Rocky the Rooster is looking a little ragged: he's got a definite bald spot on the front of his neck and he's 'wispy' here and there around his neck and onto his shoulders. Hopefully, they'll all grow some new feathers before it gets too cold!

Buddy Goes Wild!

I had a little run-in with Buddy, the new rooster. He's settling in nicely, it seems, but has been a little aggressive with me when I enter the pen to collect eggs. He's been pecking at my feet and making little runs at me! Well, Thursday he went a little wild! He rushed me as I entered the pen, and the next thing I remember is a blur of beige and brown and pain! He went after me with his spurs, cutting the insulated pants I was wearing and leaving two gouges at ankle height. He also came with force, bruising my ankle. I went to work limping, thinking it would mellow out as I moved around, but it didn't. The ladies at work thought I should go to the clinic and have it looked at, so Shelley drove me over there. Well, the doctor orders antibiotics, get off the leg for a couple of days, get the leg up, cold compresses and salt baths! Farmer Man offered to prepare Buddy for the soup pot immediately, a task I knew he was not really up for. Besides, that's not the way we do things here at Aagaard Farms!

Rocky's Baby

An update from Linda: Rocky's little son is a teenager now (in chicken years) and Clucky effectively kicked him out of the nest on the weekend! The three babies are on their own and Clucky has returned to her routine with the other hens. The little white rooster will return to Aagaard Farms, soon. He'll hang out with The Girls and Rocky, and cock-a-d00dle-doo his way around here!

The Chicks Get a New Friend!

Farmer Boy has been looking around for a second rooster, figuring The Chicks need a new flock mate. Come Spring, we'll probably look for a couple more because there are waaaay more girls than guys. Our friend down the road, Mike, volunteered an Isa Brown he had. Farmer Boy went and picked him up yesterday. 'Buddy' is beautiful - the colouring quite different from The Chicks, with a huge comb. Although he seemed a little shy last night (and can you blame him!) he seemed quite comfortable this morning! In fact, he and Rocky were having a bit of a cock-a-doodle-do contest this morning. The two roosters can't see each other: Rocky is out in the pasture and Buddy is in the barn, but they are only separated by about two hundred feet and can definitely hear each other!

We hope Buddy can offer some protection - we lost another Chick yesterday morning. All was fine early on, Farmer Boy went out about mid-morning and the gate had been pushed over. The Chicks were scattered; took us about two hours to collect them and about six hours later another wandered back but one is still missing and must be presumed gone. Farmer Boy has improved the gate and hopefully Buddy will help!

Girls, Meet Rocky!

After a family emergency that took us away from the farm for a few days, we're back and we are sooooo far behind. Amazing what weeds can do if left on their own for a few days! So much to try to catch up on but our first priority was picking up our new rooster! We've been looking through chicken books we've acquired and Farmer Boy really liked the look of Barred Rocks. Two days later, a rooster shows up on ebrandon, our local web gathering spot. Ten dollars for a beautiful young rooster. So we gathered up the dog crate and took a little drive in the country. Rocky came with Colleen's little flock and they didn't want a rooster. So, he moved to Aagaard Farms! We were a little unsure of how to introduce him to our girls. When we got him home we put him, in the dog crate, into the chicken's pasture. Farmer Boy got bold and just opened the door to the crate, whereas I'd been thinking of leaving him there over night so everyone could get use to each other. Rocky did fine. A couple of skirmishes, nothing major, no feathers flying. He settled right into the roost with them that night and everything is good.