Sleepy Sunday

Most of my plans for today didn't happen because I slept most of the day. I did manage to dig out one of the planter beds and get it ready to fill with a layer of old branches. Morgan and the Buffs came to check out what I was doing. This editor is acting goofy again and not letting me type next to the photos.

I thought the egg balancing trick was hard to believe too. This Australorp looks amazed! No, I did not put the egg on the board. The last thing I did before I came back in the house was to clean out the automatic waterer and put some pine branches down around it to help keep the chickens from scratching dirt in it. Poor chickens. Nobody cleans the waterer when I'm sick and I didn't think to tell anyone to do it.

I haven't started reading blogs and answering comments yet. Sorry. Hope to get to that soon.

Kristine just told me that HenRoo was out in the driveway today crowing! This is how HenRoo sounded last year. Kristine says now she sounds like a rooster with laryngitis. I'll try and get a video of HenRoo crowing.

Peek at the Past

(May 2, 2009)

My bears!

[8 eggs today]

~:>

Smiles

Chickens In The Pen

   The photos in this post will not enlarge because I am trying out using the Thumbs in IPhoto. The Thumbs will take up much less space in Blogspot and will hopefully allow me to post longer without running out of space. For example 40 KB vs 2.1 MB and they upload much faster.

   I have this stupid ear ache that kept me in the house and away from working on the nest boxes. In the first photo the chickens are busily searching around for the pieces of apple, broccoli and lettuce I tossed around in the pen. It was late today when I went out to the coop and added more bedding to the nest boxes and put out treats. The chickens were very noisy today and kept up a constant chatter.

   Then I finished clearing the leaves and debris off the pen roof so the sun can shine in the coop freely and also shine in the pen and dry it out. I shook the plastic bag and called the hens and they all came except for two. The ditzy Dark Brahma and the skittish Wyandotte both didn't have a clue as to where they had left the entrance to the coop. I guess the only way they get home at night is to follow the other chickens. Morgan and I herded the two hens toward the door where I picked them up and put them in the pen. Then I counted up the chickens and kept coming up one short. Sixteen! I finally thought to look in the nest boxes and found this white brahma. Ok! Seventeen!

   All is well. I knew there weren't any eggs in there earlier because I had just put in more shavings. I wondered if she was getting ready for bed or laying an egg? Morgan and I went back to the house for about a half hour.    Surprise! The Light Brahma really did lay an egg. It was almost 5 pm. I knew some of the hens laid in the afternoon, but I didn't realize they laid them so late.

   Success! I found chicken tracks in the wood ash in the tub. I haven't seen them dusting, so I don't know if they just walked around in it or actually had a bath?

Peek at the Past

(February 18, 2009)
Birthday?

[4 eggs today]

~:>
Smiles

No Control!

Morgan was barking so I went outside to find out what was going on and I spotted this egg when I walked up to the pen. That hen has no control! Tom says she just stops wherever and whenever and lays her egg. I think it is an Australorp hen who has the control issue. The egg is wet when it is laid and so the dirt side of this egg needed washing. It is soooo much nicer when the hens lay their eggs in the straw. I never did find out what Morgan was upset about.

Kristine was out checking on Morgan also and she picked up a couple of Orpingtons just because she could. She called me over to see this hen because she said the hen must weigh at least ten pounds. Our Orpingtons are such calm birds. Sweet chicken. When Kristine put the hen on the ground and kept ahold of her sides all the hen did was sidestep slowly and stretch her wings a few times. Kristine said that this was an example of an Orpington having a panic attack. Kristine is so funny!

After I hung up the clothes, I took a photo for no good reason other than I like how the clothes look drying out on the clothesline. I like how the clothes smell all outdoorsy and fresh. And I like clothespins especially the old timey ones. I'll take a photo of some of the ones I have that came with the old old clothespin bag that Tom found. I even have one with a wire around the top so the pin won't split. And here is a YouTube video that made me laugh. How to hang your wash properly here. I think I failed.

[12 eggs today]

Smiles

~:>

Egg In The Basket

This basket is one of the things that I found when I was sorting through over thirty years of stuff to donate to our town garage sale. I have sooooo much stuff to get rid of that I don't know quite where to start. My approach so far has been to sort through small areas like closets.

I have moved on to a small storage area that has been used as a catch all spot. I am tossing stuff! All that stuff that was saved because we might need it, or once used it, or someone gave it to us, or it's was something the kids had or... There was some kind of reason it got put away. Now I only want to save things that I love, that I use, and that are too expensive to toss.

I remember talking to a lady once who said that people spend the first thirty years of their life collecting stuff and the next thirty years getting rid of it. Sounds about right to me.

Just once in awhile I see something that I think I might find a use for and keep the item. Amazing, but a chicken has decided that she likes the little basket and she has made a round little nest.

Cute. I will keep trying to get a photo of the hen in the basket. When I remember the camera the basket is empty. The hen I saw in the basket yesterday was a Dark Brahma. Today I gave the chickens a peach and two apples for a treat. I will try to get a video of the hens chasing the "ball." Pretty funny stuff!

[11 eggs today]

Smiles

~:>

Hot Muggy Day

This is how it looked all day. Overcast, hot, muggy, and a forecast for the same and for lightning through Sunday. I think we may have a light rain sometime tonight. Maybe? There is a bit of wind also. The lightening bit scares me because I really don't want any forest fires! Especially with the wind and heat. It would be great if it rained! But rain is not in the forecast. 

So, because it feels like it might rain I moved the chicken feeders inside the coop. Poor hens are confused. It was five pm and there was one more egg. That made 11 eggs. I will check again for eggs when I lock up the coop. I shut the windows in the coop too because of the wind.

I made the sandwich with this wall hanging and pinned it together in the lavender areas. Then I went to lower the feed dogs on my Heart Truth Janome and came to find out that I don't have a clue on how to do that even after reading the instruction book. I will have to call the store where I bought the machine tomorrow and talk to one of the repair people or someone. This should not be such a difficult thing to figure out. I can't find the switch. Beats me?

I thought I would try putting some stitching on the trees that would give the illusion of bark. At least I wanted to try it out on some scraps and see what I could come up with. I'll call tomorrow.

I enjoy listening to some of the TED talks and found this talk the other day that just cracked me up. The little girl was too cute and the talk's message is something that should be better known. 

[11 eggs today]

Smiles

~:>

Morgan and the Girls In The Morning (I Added the Bridge)

[4 eggs] + 5 = 9

Bridge links at the bottom!

The hens are eating lettuce

and Morgan is looking for a doggie treat.

She doesn't like lettuce.

I can't remember if I already posted about my remodel

of the chicken coop.

One day I decided I had had enough of bumping my head

going through the gate to collect eggs every day

so I pulled down this end of the coop.

(I know... I should remember to duck)

And just started building.

Wish I had been blogging then.

I would have had lots of photos to post.

I do love power tools.

I had bought a metal white door and some windows

at a flea market so I built a frame out of scrap wood

left over outside paneling, and added the windows and door .

Amazing!

Well, I amazed myself.

I thought that If I messed up I could always just nail

the metal panels than had been there back up.

I added fencing over the windows

inside and out.

Then I added the swinging windows

on the inside of the coop.

The chickens slip in and out under the bottom windows.

I keep them open in the summer.

It was a lot of fun remodeling this end of the coop.

Now Kristine and I are making plans to enlarge

the coop and pen area.

After all, if/when we get the Muscovy ducks

they will need more room.

And...

maybe a rabbit?

Like the Hen Cam has... here.

I would love to add two doe kids to the plan!

But, we need safe housing and fencing.

Have to add that to the plan too.

And a new roof!

I would like to add outside roosting poles to the pen,

but the raccoons can reach in and grab a chicken.

Ahh... but I could add hardware cloth around the area.

So, we can put outside roosts in the plan.

The hens would like to roost in the sun when they have to stay in.

We lock them up in their coop when we leave the property.

Kristine and I are going to see a Movie today.

Monsters vs Aliens

so, this is a short post.

Well, it started out to be a short post.

Strange egg.

Click on the photo, please.

But I do have a question.

I collected this egg this morning from a nest in the coop.

Anybody know what's on this egg.

Kristine says she thinks it is just left over egg shell stuff.

It feels like egg shell, only they are tiny and round.

They do fall off when rubbed.

I wish the photo was clearer. I did set the camera for zoom.

Movie time.

I'll take my camera and I will try for some photos

 on the way down the mountain.

If I get some good shots I'll post them later today.

The movie was a lot of fun!

Rushing to leave I forgot my camera! 

So, here and here are some links to a bridge we took

on the way down the mountain.

When I said that Grandma lived across the bridge

I really meant it!

Have a great day!

Smiles

Bear Trap

I'm sleepy because I stayed up night and day reading my new book. Nonstop reading is the only negative side of getting a great new book. It was great. Now I want a sequel!

Sometimes, Morgan does take a break from chicken herding.

She gets tired too.

I wonder what that stuff is leaning up against the back of the coop?

Could it be the bear trap I promised to show you?

I spy a chicken.

This is a late afternoon egg.

The one in front. The one in back is a wooden egg.

___

Ok, below is the bear trap.

When the bear was coming around,

both we and our neighbors built noise traps.

The idea is that the noise made by all this stuff clanging and crashing

as it is knocked apart will bring us running.

I heard the bear knock down our neighbors metal trap

and they went out with a gun and fired it to scare the bear.

Didn't work. Well, he went away, but he didn't act afraid.

The bear just looked at them for a bit,

and then shuffled away and climbed over their fence.

The bear never knocked down this stuff.

Maybe he was afraid of it. Looks scary to me.

What the bear did do was to climb up the tree on the left and hop down

into the pen next to the chickens pen. Ha!

Scared the bear so bad!!!

He landed on another noise trap that made a tremendous crash as it all fell apart under him.

He left in a hurry and never came back.

Yet.

I'll have to get Kristine to tell the story of how she hit a bear in the head

with a metal dog food pan to scare him out of the coop.

She says I get my bear stories all mixed up.

Good night, our house is under there somewhere.

Smiles