Sunday, May 12, 2013

Happy Mother's Day

I know it's been a few weeks since I've posted anything here.  
In that time we've integrated the bay chicks into the chicken flock.  They are getting big and are all doing fine.

Some of the new pullets


Our oldest hens and also the 2 roosters are now 3 years and 7 months old.  



Except for Freckles, she's even older, we got her as a hen and have no idea how old she is.  

Freckles

We have a few hens that are a few years younger that we raised and adopted through the past 3 years.  


Bonnie, a former shelter hen


Our egg production has diminished greatly, that's why we got 10 new pullet chicks this year.  It was time for some new life in the coop.  This time we purposely purchased all pullets, so we wouldn't have to deal with a bunch of them turning into roosters.  

I'm hoping the new babies start laying this summer - got got them real early to get a good early start.

Also since I've posted we got a new roof.  Yeah to no more leaks in the back hallway when it rains!



We haven't lost any guineas lately - that's always awesome.  We've seen lots of fox and hawks and heard lots of great horned owls, but the predators have not killed, just come and looked and backed off.  Because I'm such a girl I can't actually kill a fox, but I'll shoot at it's feet and give it a good scare.  Maybe I've scared them away?  Often I see a pair of red-tailed hawks scoping out the baby chickens, they circle above the chicken pen.  But the pen has a roof and they know it, so they just watch the chicks and then fly away.  In their hawk minds they probably dream of a chick escaping from the chicken pen, and they swoop down and get their own young-un's a nice dinner.  But not in real life.  


The guineas love the warm weather.  I'm happy they all survived the winter.



The guineas have been laying eggs in the woods.  Sometimes we find their nests and enjoy a month worth of guinea eggs.  I usually have 1 chicken egg and 1 guinea egg for breakfast.  I don't want the guineas to attempt to raise their own keets, it's certain suicide, so I take their eggs.  Most of the time the eggs disappear before I find them, probably taken by fox or coons overnight.









Benjamin and Brindle kept me company as I walked through the woods this morning.







Also since I've last posted our lawn mower broke.  We need to do something and soon!  The grass is taking over!




Lots more is going on, but I'll save it for the next post. 
Don't want to give you too much information (TMI) in one sitting!

Happy Mother's Day!  Hope you enjoyed these pictures of my Sunday morning.
Hope everyone has a great Sunday today.

Shadow and Jack