The Great Thanksgiving Day Easter Egg Hunt with FANG the Egg Whisper!

Ok so I know its past Thanksgiving already but we have been very very busy here at the mini farm with our Market season winding down and with our CSA gearing up!

Of course we all know that Thelma Lou likes to escape and has been left alone to do this on a daily basis. She had a nice nest under the tub and seemed to be content to lay her eggs there. 

Right before Thanksgiving we noticed that we were not getting any heat from our furnace and began the long two week process of finding out the issue. I won't bore you with the details but in the midst of all the activity around the furnace one (of many) heater repair men alerted me to the fact that I had a cat sitting on a nest of eggs. WHAT? So, off I went to investigate thinking surely he must be mistaken. I found ANOTHER nest which of course was Thelma Lou's and hiding ever so stealthily(is this a word?) was FANG the newest of our "drop off" cats. Of course with Fang being all white he was not doing such a good job of being stealthy and so he was easy to spot. The repair man assured me that Fang was indeed sitting on the nest when he discovered him. Fang..the egg whisperer continues to sit on Thelma Lou's eggs in hopes of...hatching them maybe...who knows around here!

Its Me, Its Me, Its Ernest T!

To continue the saga of Thelma Lou we need to go back and revisit just why she decided to leave the peaceful confines of Mayberry and seek greener pastures. Now those that know Chickens told me that Thel had gone "broody" This means she wants to sit on her nest and hatch some little Thelma Lou's. Problem is there was no Barney or Andy or even a lowly Ernest T to facilitate the process. She would sit and sit and sit much like Horton sitting on Mazies egg in the Dr Seuss classic to no avail!

We would remove the eggs each day to discourage her but she still just loves to sit in her private nest and wait.

My chicken mentor Marvin keeps telling me over and over that I need a Rooster. He says a Rooster will take charge and keep things in order.I think he just wants to get rid of one of his problem boys. He even said he would bring one "Ernest T. Bass right to us.
I am not ready for any rooster much less one named after one of the most cantankerous characters in all of Mayberrydom!

Roosters would challenge ME, produce chicks that I have no place to hatch yet and the girls and I have done pretty good on our own.

So..Ernest T you will have to wait till next spring...maybe.

If I get an Ernest T will I have to have a Mrs. Wiley?

Up next! The GREAT Thanksgiving Easter Egg Hunt with Fang the Chicken Whisperer!

Prison Break

Today marked the first time since getting the girls that they all managed to escape. After cleaning their coop I failed to properly lock the gate. As I was returning from the Greenhouse I noticed all the girls were having quite the big time pecking and scratching at everything that moved....OUTSIDE the coop.
Since the dogs and cats are used to them, they posed no threat. Other than Thelma Lou the seasoned escapee, the other girls did not have a clue how to get back in. Thelma Lou on a daily basis escapes, we let her visit her slum crib, lay an egg and then whoever passes by will open the gate for her and in she waltzes.
So, I clucked, I clapped, I whistled...I even took out my earphones from my I Phone and played Pavoratti to them...Wait..These were not dogs and they paid no attention to me.
So,with daylight dwindling I left the gate door ajar, went inside made dinner and left them to their instincts.They will want to roost when the sun goes down.
A few hours later all eight are inside perched just as if nothing had happened. I know some prison wardens wish their prison breaks would end this simply

Up next...It's Me It's Me It's Ernest T!

Thelma Lou moves to the Slums

For some reason Thelma Lou does not like her digs at Mayberry and has chosen to move to the slums! 

We noticed a drop in egg production and also noticed that Thelma Lou was always OUTSIDE the coop. Upon further investigation we saw her squeeze underneath an old American Standard Bathtub circa 1930's and settle in. She nestled down and began choosing leaves and twigs around her to "feather her new nest". Bob's thoughts were, "she's happy, leave her alone." Of course this intrigued me and I kept an eye on her throughout the day. At dusk we discovered this nest had 5 eggs in it! So...since hens only lay one egg a day, it would appear that Thelma Lou has been slumming for quite some time!

 The eggs were gathered and the next day Thelma Lou AGAIN made her way to her new ramshackle nest. She seemed quite happy to be there and at the end of the day simply made her way to the gate and we ushered her inside with no fanfare whatsoever!

Not one to tamper with nature I figure I will just let her be and continue to gather eggs from the slums!

Juanita vs Daphne, Round 2

Ding....And now in the left corner we have Daphne, and in the right hand corner, Juanita.
Every morning as I make my way out to greet the girls they exit the coop with such pent up energy that it makes me want to eat scratch corn and laying pellets.
Skippy my sweet docile Sussex heads right for me in hopes of a handout. However, Daphne and Juanita seem drawn to each other like a schoolyard bully and the poor kid that seems to always get picked on.
Ruffled feathers, screeching and squawking,erupt till Daphne runs to the opposite end of the yard.
Why I this I wondered. Juanita is clearly NOT the top hen so I guess her insecurity is taken out on poor Daffy Daphne.
With the larger space both girls have lots of room to co exist without interacting that much.
After all in TV land Daphne lived in Mt.Pilot!

The Coop Deville gets an upgrade!

So..to continue!
Daphne and Skippy were making the adjustment quite nicely but I just did not feel that this coop design was providing all the room they needed to move around and if need be to find a quite corner to move to SHOULD things get ugly between two or more girls.
So..with a small sum in savings that had been previously earmakred for a NEW king mattress, I made the decision to purchase wire, posts and a ready made gate for a new yard.
Bob and I picked up the supplies and in less than a few days the girls moved from their present coop into a MUCH bigger yard. The coop is still in use and as they go in at night to roost we still close the door to keep out any unwanted guests.

As the girls were introduced to their new yard they immediately began exploring and pecking at every little blade of grass or moving bug. They ran, they hopped, they flew at each other, the chest butted..it was quite a site. Inside the area was an old mound of mulch and in less than 24 hours they have stripped it bare of ANY vegetation and are scratching it down in hopes of finding some grub worms or any other treasures!
Up next..round 2 of Juanita vs Daphne!

Hens Gone Wild..The Backyard Coop Edition!

Thanks to Pat for the inspiration on the Blog Title!

So...Day 4 of the initiation of the new girls and I still felt uneasy. Skippy and Ellie were just not adapting very well and Charlene was being very inhospitable. Friends that know Chickens assured me that they would settle down. I had hand fed and watered the new girls for 2 days now fearing that they would starve or thirst to death. Little Ellie makes sounds like a tiny piglet (I know this sounds crazy) and it just broke my heart to see her running towards the waterer with Charlene hot on her little furry feet. 

Sunday afternoon we noticed that Ellie had some pecked places around her neck and this REALLY bothered me. I had read that hens will go after blood. This and her pitiful sounds made our decision so much easier. The box was found that she came in and we took her back to Creekridge farms where she was raised. She is so tame she rode the whole way in my lap (with newspaper under her). I feel much better!

Today I am happy to report that Daphne and Skippy are out in the run eating and drinking and blending right in.This just goes to show me that I still have lots to learn about Chickens!

The Fun Girls Plus One!

The flock is complete! We now have a grand and final total of 9 girls. No more due to room and the fact that I think I have exhausted every female name used in the Andy Griffith sitcom.

Skippy, Daphne (Spotted Sussex) and little Miss Ellie (Salmon Faverolle) joined us this evening. I sure hope they all get along well. Thelma Lou was chattering non stop but Skippy (Spotted Sussex) was holding her own. Marvin had tamed the Sussex so much that I can pet her while she eats. It is my intent on sitting in the coop with them until they are all a little tamer. You have not felt such softness till you have petted a chicken. I hope no one takes my picture.

Screamers, Double Yoks and Water Balloons

I know, I know..what a title! The Fun girls were supposed to be the next topic but since they have not arrived yet (and this is entirely my fault) I thought I would cover a new topic..weird eggs.

My hens as you know began laying in mid August and so for the first month I was getting a steady supply of eggs both medium and small, brown and beige and maybe a little pink one, a gift from the Aracana's. But..late last week I was gathering the eggs when I saw an egg in the middle of the coop, not in the nest box. When I reached in to retrieve it, it POPPED! Just like a little egg water balloon! So, off I went to google EGG WITH NO SHELL. Turns out this is a normal occurrence with a hens reproductive cycle and it just missed the shell part. A few days later I found TWO of the largest and longest eggs to date. Who laid these? Well who knows but after mentioning this to my friend Marvin he said in his famous drawl..."Them's called Screamers!"

I saved these two large eggs for a few days and showed them to anyone who came within 5 feet of the house (UPS Lady, Fed Ex Man, friend who walks her dog by the house) and I even took them to work in a cooled lunch box to show off.

Sunday I finally boiled them to make my Sunday egg salad and low and behold I had a double yolk! 

Since my girls are special I think I will request one that is like those Russian stack dolls! An egg within an egg!

Pick a Little?

About 12 days ago or so when I titled my next post I knew right were I was going with this title...now I don't have a clue. One word to describe this phenomenon is MENOPAUSE. I would forget I had chickens if they were not clucking to me right outside my window. But I digress..
But while we are on the subject of clucking.... last week I awoke to more than the usual come feed me clucks that I am greeted with each morning. These were more like..GET OUT HERE WE HAVE INTRUDERS! Sure enough, hanging on the side of the coop was the newest drop off cat, FANG! She is still a kitten and is fascinated with the movement of these giant birds and was just curious. They were not amused. A quick shooing of Fang and they were ok. Its strange what unique sounds they have. Most days its just the normal soft clucks and other days they seem to be more agitated. Saturday night my good helper David dropped by to help us in the greenhouse and asked if he could feed the girls their nightly lettuce scraps. When he entered the coop, just as I do, you have never seen such a fracas! They flew up and around and made such a horrible racket. I went in, David went out and I assured them that all was well. They immediately settled down. I guess they do LOVE me!

Up next...The Fun Girls!

Rainy Night in Georgia!

We interrupt the previous post in progress to report that the girls had their first experience with being handled rather roughly and being moved several times today.
Bad weather from Hurricane Lee has sent us loads of much needed rain but not all in the space of a few hours. Some flooding has already occurred and will continue through out today and into Tuesday.
At about 8:00 am this morning we noticed that the area we had moved them to was more than likely going to flood.
With a pry bar and a furniture dolly and two strong men (Gib and Bob) we started the move...but wait...the girls were out in the run and needed to be moved into the coop. Simply saying "Girls go inside" did no good. So Bob...6'3" stooped over, entered the run and backed all the girls into a corner and proceed to catch each one and place her in the coop. You have never heard such indignant sounds! Finally all were inside, the door was shut and the move began.
Warning....do not attempt to move a VERY large structure such as this wearing Crocs! I so wish someone had filmed this. Bob was the only smart one with boots on!
The coop was moved with a few engineering modifications and they are now just outside our bedroom window where we can monitor the water issue. It took them about 1 hour to come back out of the coop but they are now happily pecking at fresh grass!

Decoy Eggs

My girls were born in Feb/March and so I expected them to start laying about August. And true to that they laid the first egg on August 18th. They steadily produced one to two a day then 3 and are now up to 4 sometimes 5 in one day. This means that not every hen is laying an egg a day but hey, I am thrilled to go egg hunting each day just to see what is there.
We built 3 nest boxes as we were told that up to two or three chickens might occupy the same nest box at one time so 3 it was. But...after about a week or two of only getting eggs in the left hand nest and none in the other two it made me wonder what was up.
After talking to some folks who were raised on a farm, they advised me to put a fake egg or golf ball or ping pong ball in each nest and that would encourage them to lay there. I had some nice wooden eggs that I had picked up in Germany some many years ago and so I placed one in each of the other two nest boxes. The next day..an egg was laid in one of them. Maybe this worked or maybe the nest was occupied and so one of the girls finally went "next door" When you gotta lay, you gotta lay I guess!

Next...Pick a little, talk a little, cheep, cheep, cheep, talk and lot, pick a little more!

Swimming Pools..Movie Stars

Ok, so I am a child of the sixties and my mind just plugs in some sort of sitcom flashback, ie in this case  The Beverly Hillbillies.
But truly the girls have made their very own...dirty water pool!
I had no idea that chickens drank as much as they do, and in this hot dry weather they have consumed a gallon a day. Except when they very cleverly tilt the hanging water feeder ever so slightly until the water tips over into the hole that THEY dug. Then they take turns sitting in it or drinking it. Its very frustrating to take the time to clean that water feeder and fill it full of not tepid, but COLD water and then find that later in the day it is all in a hole.
On the other hand I had no idea that chickens were so inventive!

Up next...Decoy Eggs!

Green Eggs?

Call me crazy but if my chickens eat lots and lots and lots of green things would we end up proving Dr Seuss right? Not so I am afraid, but our girls do eat lots and lots of lettuce and basil and watercress and pretty much any bug they can catch. ( and they are GREAT bug catchers)
But...all green things aside they do need more than all the green stuff we provide. Even our super mineral rich lettuce and herbs is not enough. We feed them some sort of minerals that friend Marvin mixed up for us as well as some Layena crumbles or pellets. Cracked corn and scratch makes up their daily feed as well as about one gallon a day of water. Each morning as I approach I am greeted with a chorus of sounds that everyone should be privy enough to hear. It just makes my day to know that I am a part of such a beneficial arrangement with them. I take care of them and they in turn reward me with some of the most delicious eggs I have ever eaten!

Next... Swimming Pools, Movie Stars!

Pecking Order

Did you know that chickens will find the highest thing to perch on and then all fight over who gets it. Well not really fight but they dang sure stress out over getting that one spot. This happened soon after we got the girls into their new home. They did not go into the coop that first night but all 6 tried to get up on the 2 X 4 that supported their food and water feeders. Was suprised that they found it! We watched in awe as 4 girls were seated comfortably while the other 2 tried to get there and ended up shoving one or two off. 6 would simply not fit. So...we removed the board, mounted the feeder and waterer another way and this solved the issue. Now all 6 girls march into the coop around dark and happily occupy the 4 perches! Pecking order solved!

Next...Green Eggs?

The Mayberry Girls

Before we begin our journey, I need to explain just how the girls got their names. I am a HUGE fan of Andy Griffith and have seen ALL the episodes so it was no contest on what these girls names would be. 

Clara and Aunt Bea are our two Domineckers. Charlene and Juanita are our two Silver Laced Wyandottes and Helen and Thelma Lou are the two Aracanas. Thelma Lou and Helen are also the most vocal and had I known this at the beginning I would have named THEM Charlene and Juanita. If you know AG characters you will know why.

Now.... I am by no means an expert on chickens so my first experience with them came when we made a trip to see Marvin and Susan our dear friends who would be raising the chicks for us. Susan IS a chicken expert and can grab one up with ease. After my first visit my head was abuzz with questions on feed and water and diet and nests and well you get the picture. I could not catch one much less hold one without fear of being pecked to death.Those poor chickens had no idea what THEY were in for.

During the time we were waiting for our chicks to mature Bob got busier with the coop and by early June they were ready and so were we.  Bob built a rather elaborate Palace complete with a wooden floor, lots of venting for air  a nice big run with a metal roof and two clean out doors making it easy for ME to clean out the poo.Thank you Bob for always thinking of my needs! LOL. Bob and Marvin ran around the chicken yard catching two of each kind and transporting them to a big cardboard box.  After a short ride we moved them into the new coop and their new life with us began.

Next....Pecking Order!

I'm an Egg Farmer!

As I make my way out to greet my 6 chickens each morning it occurs to me that I am about to greet 6 beautiful girls that have impacted our lives. A few short months ago I knew nothing about raising chickens. ( and I am STILL learning) Knew that only Farmers had them and that why should I give myself one more animal to take care of. 

All of this changed when my husband and I realized that we had a serious issue with getting rid of the ever present, constantly growing pile of lettuce scraps from our hydroponic greenhouse. Goats, horses, cows and friends gardens had all been the recipients of such scraps and frankly I was tired of having to beg folks to take them off our hands. So..what to do!

Bob was reading an older issue of Mother Earth Mag and came across an article on backyard chickens and thus the idea was 'Hatched."

1 year later and after many hours of work on a Poulet Palace, the idea is now a reality. Each day that I gather the eggs I wonder why it took us so long to get started!

Up next....the Mayberry Girls and how they came to be.