Dirty Girl!

It's been windy, rainy and cold for almost a week now. Hard times for a chicken, who likes to take a dust bath. Not much dust right now! So, The Hens have been trying, anyway, and getting something a bit more like a spa experience. I wonder if we could package and sell Aagaard Farms mud bath.....The results show the most on the white Leghorns, but I know the Isa Browns are a little caked right now, too.

Hello, Ladies!

 A little treat for The Hens, and Rocky!  They love their scratch!  The Browns (Isa Browns) we raised from day-old chicks and they are quite comfortable with us.  We've handled them a bit since they were little babies.  The Whites (Leghorns) we acquired when they were older and they have never been as comfortable with us.  Plus, in my opinion, the Leghorns are just 'flightier', way more jumpy!  You can see Rocky the Rooster's body in behind the Browns.  He's fairly comfortable with us - he was hand-raised by a nice young man as a 4H project and has always been well treated.  And no, it doesn't hurt when they peck at my hand.  It's kind of like being gently poked with a fork.  A bonding moment, don't ya know?

A Stroll, and Then a Bath!

It's a very nice day in the neighbourhood!  Currently -6 C, projected high of -3 C (about 26 F).  Farmer Man had gotten some nice straw on the snow, spread out around the chicken coop door.  We 'seeded' it with some nice scratch and hey! if Rocky and The Hens didn't come out to play!  They're having a nice little stroll in the sunshine - getting their Vitamin D.  I noticed that The Girls (the Leghorns) were looking a little dingey and dirty.  Now, in case you don't know, chickens have dust baths.  They snuggle into a little depression in the dirt and then throw soil up onto their backs with their wings and feet.  In their wood chip bedding, there wasn't much chance for a good bath.  The Chicks (the Browns) weren't looking as bad, but the white hens, well, it wasn't their best look!  So, we devised a little bath: a large size kitty litter box filled with potting soil (Sunshine Mix without fertilizer), a little sand and a little diatomaceous earth.  Although the Chicks were the first in - The Girls are looking better already.  And, as the weather is suppose to stay quite nice, the snow is receding in a few places so they may be able to dust bath under the spruce trees soon.

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!

The Chicks Are Growing Up!

Farmer Boy went out early this morning to let the chickens out. What did he find? Two little brown eggs in the pen with the Isa Brown chicks! One, unfortunately, was broken but the other is a perfect little egg. And not a real tiny egg, like some of the first from The Girls - a really decent-sized, medium egg in a gorgeous shade of brown, like coffee with a lot of cream!

And Then There Were Twenty Two....

We got home from CSA on Tuesday night to find some of The Chicks out of the barn. They were mostly congregating under a large, old spruce just outside the barn doors. We had forgotten to put the gate across the barn door! We gathered them up: Farmer Boy 'herding' them with a tall walking stick. Our Blaze, a Border Collie mix, has never shown any interest in herding; he was oddly missing through this whole operation. When we got them back in the pen, six were missing. So, the search was on! After literally beating the bush around the barn, we found two more roosting in another old spruce. We kept looking, and it was getting dark now. Just as Farmer Boy located another one in front of the house, our neighbour drove up. She was quite upset: she had just taken away two chicken carcasses from her two farm dogs. She felt very badly, and we had to assure her it was not her fault or her dogs, we were the ones that left the barn open. It took a while to catch the little hen in the front of the house. There's a long line of big old spruce, with branches to the ground and it was hard to get in at her. That mission was finally accomplished, it's quite dark and one chick is still unaccounted for. Farmer Boy said that she would be roosting in a tree by now, and if she's okay, she'll be around in the morning to get fed. Well, still no sign of her more than twenty four hours later, so we have to assume she's gone. Yesterday afternoon, we spotted a fox out in our alfalfa field so there are so many possibilities about what might have happened: our Blaze, the neighbour's dogs to the west, the neighbour's dogs to the east, foxes, coyotes or hawks. But now, there are twenty two little Isa Brown chicks.

Chicken Coop in Motion

With the help of the crew, we're somewhat caught up; work on the chicken coop progresses. We've got walls, two out of four isn't bad for a couple of days work between harvesting for CSA and the Neighbourhood Country Market. We'll have a south facing window and door, and there will be a window on the east side. Little chicken doors, at ground level, will be on the north and east side. New fencing will be built, tight up on the building. We're probably going to divide the coop and the two doors will open onto two separate pastures. That way we can keep the Isa Browns and the Leghorns separate: tooooo many girls for Rocky, otherwise. Don't want to stress the rooster, don't you know?

Pre-Teens

The little Isa Browns are about eight weeks old now. They are growing up nicely. A few weeks ago they looked rather like ratty baby vultures: their heads will still small and fairly smooth, but wing and neck feathers were sprouting nicely. Now, their combs are coming in, they are fairly well feathered and their true colours are showing. They are getting old enough that they are starting to want to roost, so Farmer Boy will have to get in there and create some roosts. Otherwise, their feed container is the only likely spot - and that is not the best idea!

A Bummer of a Summer, So Far!

Middle of July, literally the 15th of the month, and the daytime high was 15 Celsius (roughly 62F). The nightime low was 6C (about 48F). Not the kind of weather the tomatoes, peppers, melons.....well, most vegetables want or need! Not the kind of weather people want or need, either! We were shutting windows, wearing extra layers and even thinking about turning on the heat! Things are growing very slowly. As a matter of fact, last Saturday was the first day EVER that we went to the Farmers' Market at Riverbank Discovery Centre and did not set up a table. We had almost nothing to sell, and the little bit we had we were saving for our CSA on Tuesday. Then, Tuesday, it poured; we had to cancel the CSA pick-up 'cause it was toooooo mucky to get on the land to harvest. Will it never end? Will we ever make any money this year?

The few bright spots are our animals. The Girls are laying consistently well - about 15 or 16 eggs a day. The little Isa Browns are growing like weeds. The Berks are settling in very well, they appear to love being pastured and are romping throughout the day. They recognize Farmer Boy when he goes to feed them, and they all run up to the fence when he talks to them. Very cute!

Another concern is a white truck we spotted in our alfalfa field Monday night. It had pulled right in and was parked by a camper stored on the edge of the field. The driver must have heard us, and drove away, right through the middle of our alfalfa field! He or she accelerated past us and hid their face by holding up a small dog in the window. Now, if someone was interested in buying the camper, don't you think they would come over to talk, introduce themselves or something like that? The field has no fencing or gate, so it is pretty accessible. We are a little casual about security, so the incident has mobilized us to be a bit more careful and watchful. It's not really how we'd like to live our life, but that's the way it goes!

The Terrible Twos

The little Isa Brown chicks are just over two weeks old! They've changed so much it is rather amazing. They are starting to get more mobile, they can easily fly up to the enclosure around their pen, and may even start roosting there soon. From the pen, they could conceivably fly to the desk, then to the wall unit, then.........It makes it, um, interesting to care for them now because anywhere they've been, they've pooped so we have to be very careful getting into the pen. No more sitting on the edge to watch them.

In the evenings they still like to snuggle up under the heat lamp; we have raised the lamp and they don't get right under it anymore. It may help that we are finally getting some hot weather, with nights staying up around 14 Celsius (roughly 60F) the little ones don't need the lamp as much. Last night was the first night that we left a window open in the sunroom. Partially to keep it cooler, partially so that the smell didn't build up! Yes, we need a chicken coop soon!! Farmer Boy has been so busy setting out seedlings that the coop is still in it's raw state. As the chicks continue to grow, they may be able to escape the sunroom soon and we'll wake up with a couple in bed with us!

They Grow Up So Fast...

The chicks are growing rather quickly! It's only been three days they've been with us and we can already see changes. Particularly the wings; the babes have little wings all of a sudden, with little spotted feathers where only fuzz used to be. They are getting a wee bit bigger, too. Not really noticeable but a little heftier. They are a little steadier on their feet but there is still some rough-and-tumble around the food dish. They picked up on the eating thing really fast; they all try to stand in the dish for best pecking. Quite cute (oh, no, there's that "c" word again!)

The 'girls' are doing very well, too. We got seventeen eggs today, almost one from everybody! They have definitely filled out a bit since they arrived. They've settled in rather nicely: all the eggs were inside the roost tonight, and almost half were in the nests! It will be interesting to move the 'girls' into the finished chicken coop and it will be reaaaaally interesting to try to mix the two groups! The 'girls' are Leghorns and the 'chicks' are Isa Browns, so at least we'll be able to tell them apart!