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“F” that, indeed! I never fail to amaze myself with unexpected optimism; for example, hoping that the water hose will work during a cold snap. With this hope, however, comes the very real possibility that it’ll be dashed…and I’ll end up soggy and behind schedule.
Continue reading “Farm Follies: Frost-Facilitated Foibles”
Finding the unexpected is one of life’s small pleasures. “Ordinary” beauty is all around us, even in some of the most unglamorous places. When you see it, take time to appreciate it – even if it’s the kind of ephemera that exists for mere moments.
Continue reading “Haiku: Fugacious Feathers”
Our laying flock must see us as egg thieves: each day – multiple times a day if it’s especially cold out – we collect their freshly-laid eggs. If a hen is sitting, we reach under her fluffy feathers and feel around for eggs – a treasure hunt, of sorts. Most of the girls in nest boxes enter a trance-like state, which I like to call “the zone”, and they don’t even seem to realize that an egg thief is there to take their eggs – they don’t move, protest, or do anything but remain blissfully docile. Most.
Continue reading “Haiku: Watching And Waiting”
2021 was a bad – no, terrible – year for shipped hatching eggs. What, just a few years ago, may have been decent to good hatches, were, this year, either complete busts or very difficult hatches that resulted in only single hatchlings or a few struggling chicks; accordingly, I’m anointing 2021 the Year of the USPS Great Egg Delivery Debacle.
Continue reading “Post-Hatch Recap: 2021 Shipped Eggs”
This sassy red hen is Beatrix. While she’s generally a healthy girl, she developed an infection called bumblefoot. I’ve seen it just a couple of times in the many birds we’ve raised and it can range from minor to serious (as in Beatrix’s case). If you raise chickens, it’s important to know what to do when you see the signs of bumblefoot so that you can take action to keep your birds healthy.
Continue reading “Farm Fowl: Beatrix’s Bedeviling Bumble”
It’s been busy around here with all the incubation-related activity, and I admit to having skipped an update with the results of the second candling of the two remaining eggs from this severely shipping-damaged group. After ending up with only 2 eggs (of 13) developing after the first candling, I didn’t have high hopes of having any eggs make it to lockdown. But one did.
Continue reading “Update: Lavender Ameraucana Hatch #3”