Self-taught farmers confidently raising chickens, ducks, geese, and pigs. Our focus is on practices that are environmentally harmonious and respectful to our livestock. We appreciate the beauty around us, clean eating, fermenting, and responsibly utilizing the bounty of the land. If you like thinking for yourself, continuous learning, and connecting with the homesteader lifestyle, check us out.
We’ve been wondering if the strange egg activity lately signaled the beginning of the oldest group of pullets to lay, and today’s finding – another miniature egg – confirmed it.
This one is perfectly formed, just a smaller version of a “normal” egg. Pullets will lay small eggs when they start, but this one is small even for a pullet egg. Continue reading “The Pullets Start To Lay”
We’ve noticed some egg strangeness lately. The other day, what looked like a yolk had been dropped on the poop board. This morning, we found two shell-less eggs (which look like rubbery water balloons) on the poop board. And a “fart” egg – a tiny egg that usually is composed of just egg white – odd but interesting.
We currently have six, one year old adult laying hens; one is broody, so we usually get around four eggs a day. Our batch #1 pullets are about four months old, and our adults started laying at around five months of age, so it seems early for any pullets to be laying. Regardless, this is how it started with the first pullets – weird eggs, some soft-shelled, some with no shells, and a fart egg. Continue reading “Weird Eggs”
It’s a dark and stormy day. Outside, there’s a thunderstorm going on with lightning and driving rain. Inside, in their incubator, the Muscovy eggs are hatching.
Four of the eggs have obvious external pips, and we can hear the ducklings peeping inside the shells. Duck eggs are hard and the membranes are tough, so these little guys have their work cut out for them.
Surprisingly, one of the pipped eggs is one of Piper’s that was added a couple of days after we set the initial group. It’s hatching earlier than expected, but still within the “normal” hatching window.
The last time we tried incubating Muscovy eggs, they seemed to develop but none pipped externally, so it’s a relief to see little bills working to break out of those shells. It may take a couple more days for all of the eggs to hatch, but it looks like we should see some long-awaited ducklings shortly!
The Muscovy eggs that Coraline has been sitting on have finally begun hatching. The poor girl’s been caring for them for five weeks! Protective mom won’t let us get a good look yet, but we (briefly) saw at least three very cute ducklings under her this morning before she covered them with her body again. She didn’t appreciate the phone near her, either, and she took a peck at it to warn us to keep our distance.
Coraline was sitting on three eggs originally, and when we realized she was really committed to hatching them, we put five more we had collected from all the ducks earlier in her nest. We’re hoping that they’re still in the process of hatching, since Day 35 is tomorrow.
When all the viable ones have hatched, we expect that she’ll come out for a drink and then we’ll get a chance to do a more accurate count. C’mon, eggs – hatch, hatch, hatch!!
Earlier, we learned that regardless of how convenient it may be, putting eggs in a coat pocket instead of the egg basket is inviting trouble (and a mess). Well, it’s time for another cautionary tale: don’t leave freshly-collected eggs around dogs. It’s not because they eat them. Here’s what happened…
We have an older dog and a young dog. They both like to play, and they can get pretty rambunctious. We collected an early egg laid by our Rhode Island Red hen and two duck eggs, and set them on a bench just inside the door of the house. We had a couple of other tasks to complete in the garage, where the brooder is, so we left for a few minutes. Continue reading “Indoor Animals Roughhousing…And Eggs”
Our newly broody Muscovy, Coraline, has always been a friendly, sweet-tempered duck. She’s the first to eat from your hand, and will just come by and hang around, even when she knows there are no treats to be had. We’ve never seen her pick on another of duck (unlike Pru), and she just seems to get along with everyone.
That is, until last night. After we got all the chickens into the coop – the teens seem to be getting the hang of it, but two roos were breaking curfew and had to be encouraged to go inside – we herded the ducks into their enclosure, per the standard procedure. We were not expecting a ruffled-up, hissing Coraline to rush out of the coop in attack mode. She chased the other ducks around, grabbing and pulling feathers. Panicked honking by her victims and general mayhem ensued. Even Ty ran away from her. Mother duck on the warpath! Continue reading “A Broody Duck Turns Mean”