Razzberry Corner

Banana Cupcake Sunday

2012-01-22T08:24:00.000-05:00

Icy Walk

2012-01-21T08:40:00.000-05:00

Last night we had an ice storm. This morning we awoke to everything covered in ice! The ice is expected to melt by noon today, but it's cold outside now!

Come on outside and check it out with me...

These first couple pictures are of ice on the cars.

The guineas were not happy with the ice. They were up on top of the chicken coop and refused to come down to the ground. The one on the right has ice on her back - it looks like she put glitter on!

Lets go in the chicken coop and say good morning to the chickens! They didn't want to leave their coop to go outside, so they were all hanging out inside. Here's Muffin, lead rooster. He approved our visit to the coop. If he didn't approve, he would have attack us. Today he was friendly.

This is Luna. Luna doesn't look good. I'm worried about her. She just sneezed. Luna and her sister Virginia are 2 hens that we purchased as adult hens off Craigslist last year. I will never buy a bird off Craigslist again. Luna's been sneezing for the past year, since we got her, it just seems to be getting worse now. She's a great hen, has gotten very friendly, and lays every day.

Cinnamon is laying an egg!

Dotti is looking outside. Dotti is Muffin's grand-daughter; she's still a pullet. She lays green eggs.

Here's Freckles, our very first hen - we bought her as an adult with a batch of chicks from an Amish farmer. She was with us through the early days of chicken-raising. She's a senior now and doesn't lay anymore. We couldn't have had a better first mama hen than Freckles.

Let's go for a walk outside... Bundle up...

Past one of the fields...

I'm heading up to the cemetery. Looks like someone else, a family of deer, were here just recently.

Rest in peace. It's quiet out here. And cold.

The ice is starting to melt in the road. My hand holding the camera is cold, I'm going to head back now. Thanks for coming on the walk with me!

Ahhh, nice and warm inside!

Happy Saturday!

Angel Food Cake

2012-01-16T12:34:00.002-05:00

To celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day today, I made an angel food cake! I'm off work today, and I've been wanting to make an angel food cake since I got an angel food cake pan for Christmas! I actually bought the pan for myself since I realized I didn't have one, and then I also realized I've never made an angel food cake before! So today was the day!

I downloaded the following recipe from food network. I really liked that it came with a video on the website that showed Alton Brown actually making the cake. It looked easy! I can do this!

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/angel-food-cake-recipe/index.html

The craziest thing is that it takes a dozen egg whites!!! The recipe calls for an entire dozen! I actually used 15 egg whites because my eggs are small. Luckily, I usually have 5 dozen or so eggs in my fridge at any given time. I do love my hard-working chickens!

The most important thing is to bring the egg whites to room temperature before baking begins!! I've attempted to use cold egg whites before to make meringue - they don't get fluffy when they're cold, I guess. My previous meringue was awful. And the recipe called for fresh eggs. My eggs were laid yesterday ~ guess that's fresh enough!

This time, my eggs whipped up higher than could fit in the mixing bowl! Yeah! My batter was fluffier than what was shown in the website video.

For Christmas I also got a new mixer as my old one broke. This was my first time using it.

My cake pan was pretty small - only 7 inches around. I thought it was cute because it was small. But then I wasn't sure for how long to bake the cake, as the pan was smaller than the one used in the recipe. I ended up baking my cakes for 23 minutes. I made 2 angel food cakes because they were so small. It's important to cool the cake upside down.

I used almond extract in my cakes. You can use any flavoring - the recipe called for orange extract, but said any flavor could be used. The cake turned out light and fluffy ~ just perfect. The cake itself didn't have much flavor, it was just light and airy and moist and good. I served the first one with warmed blueberries. The second one had mixed berries as a topping. Next time I'm going to use another extract other than almond and see how it tastes. There will definitely be a next time for this cake!

I loved this angel food cake - I give it 5 forks up!

Now you go give it a try and let me know how it turns out!

Diesel Fuel Spills in NJ Waters

2012-01-14T11:35:00.000-05:00

Although this didn't happen here at Razzberry Corner, this happened to my sister in NJ, and I felt compelled to mention it here.

On January 12, 2012, twenty-six thousand (26,000) gallons of diesel fuel spilled into NJ waterways, including Big Timber Creek, Greenloch Lake and Blackwood Lake. The area is a country, wooded area, with lakes and creeks. Many animals lived there in and along the waters. This caused devastation for the animals living in and along the water, and greatly impacted the people in the area. My sister lives along the water there. Here's the initial video from a local website about the spill.

Diesel Fuels Spills Into New Jersey Lakes: MyFoxPHILLY.com

The spill is now contained according to the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). As of about 8 a.m. Friday, roughly 13,000 of the 26,000 gallons of diesel fuel believed to have leaked from the New Jersey Transit underground storage tanks had been collected, Gloucester Township Mayor David Mayer reported. The heavy odor of diesel fuel hung heavy in the air and over the water Friday as crews from Clean Venture Inc., a contracted environmental remediation firm, worked to clean up the spill for New Jersey Transit. Workers in protective suits installed 1,300 feet of yellow booms to stop the fuel’s spread. Water vacuums, skimmers and absorbent pads were all utilized during the cleanup. Residents should not enter the impacted waterways or fish in them or their tributaries until further notice, officials said. New Jersey Transit has installed signs around the area notifying the public of the ongoing cleanup efforts. Despite the heavy odor of diesel on the waterways, officials say there are no air safety concerns.

Good luck to all those people who live there and who are dealing with this. I don't know how the animals who used to live in and beside those waters, who depend on those waters to drink, can survive. Such a tragedy...

Artificial Light in Chicken Coop?

2012-01-08T12:21:00.000-05:00

Just thought I'd ask my online friends about artificial light in the coop. What do you think? Do you add light in the coop? There's so much passion among backyard farmers about it.

Here's my take. I do it. I have a light in the coop which stays on about 12 or 13 hours/day. I think it does help the hens to lay in the wintertime. Plus my coop just naturally gets dark, it's only got a small window to let in natural daylight. And that window doesn't face the sunny side at any time of the day.

We have 17 hens and are averaging about 9 to 11 eggs a day right now, in January in Maryland.

How many hens do you have?

Do you supplement with artificial light?

How many eggs do you get a day?

Here's today's photos. The coop always looks dirty - I cleaned it a week ago. This is the nest box scene at 11AM.

There were lots of birds hanging in the coop this morning.

These hens were in the nestboxes this morning:

Bella

Chloe. She's broody. She's starting to look bad. We are going to have to break her of her broodiness if she doesn't get over it soon. She's looking very dehydrated. Poor girl.

Zoner. Her name fits her. She's such a space cadet. I love her!

Cheryl

We also add plastic eggs in the nest boxes. The hens seem to like them, although they know they are not real. They are supposed to encourage the birds to lay. When the hens are in a bad mood they throw the fake eggs out of the nest boxes.

Here's the first egg today.

I'm looking forward to your comments!

Welcome, Bobby!

2012-01-07T09:23:00.003-05:00

It's come to my attention that I neglected to tell my blog friends about our kitty, Bobby, and his Christmas wish...

Bobby

Bobby WAS an outside feral cat. He did great work out there, taking care of the rodent population, and even taking care of any wild birds that ventured too close to him, too. He enjoyed working with the chickens and always kept me company at chore-time, although he HATED when he was locked in the chicken pen by mistake. He dealt with the guineas - he really didn't like them, but they allowed him to live outside, so he respected them and kept his distance when they came close.

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Bobby outside

But Bobby didn't understand why he had to stay outside in the cold when two other cats lived the good life inside.

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Jack and Shadow

And so, Bobby was granted his Christmas wish...

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Bobby

Bobby moved inside the house, and now lives the high life. He's still a teenager, he's full of spunk and plays 24/7. (In the picture above he removed the tail from the toy mouse.) He gets into everything, but he listens and wants to please. He watches the other two cats and imitates their actions. Bob is now a happy boy. My only problem is that he looks VERY similar to Shadow, and when he flies by at 10 MPH, or when I hear a crash and enter a room just in time to see a black tail disappearing around the corner, I never know if it's Bob or Shad. But most of the time it's Bobby who's causing the commotion these days.

He lived a few weeks locked in a bathroom, then moved into the kitchen, then after he kept escaping from the kitchen, we decided to let him have the run of the house. None of our cats get up on tables or counters or anything. They eat in the kitchen like respectable beings - their food bowls are in the corner all in a row. They come when called to eat. So far Bob hasn't learned to shake hands for treats, but he will. Shad and Jack both happily sit and shake hands and earn treats. Shad is funny because she's not good at sitting and shaking, she needs to lay down to give us her hand to shake. It's something about her balance, I think, and she's plump . Bob's just a little too hyper to sit down and shake hands right now. We worry that we didn't keep him locked up long enough when we first brought him in and he's too hyper now because of lack of restraint in the beginning, but I think he's hyper because he's young and he'll mellow out. He's very curious, and he learns by watching. He can meow, unlike Jack, but he's not loud. I've found that he needs toys. He'll play with the table legs or Jack's tail or whatever else is available if he doesn't have toys. Maybe I'll work on teaching Bob to fetch since he's so full of energy...

Happy New Year!!

Santa's Choice!

2011-12-16T08:21:00.000-05:00

The holiday baking has begun here at Razzberry Corner!

I know it's the holidays when the cookies start appearing!

I want Santa to know that this is the place where the cookies are!

Right here, Santa, your choice - whatever you want...

White chocolate macadamia nut cookies, double chocolate chip cookes, Rice Krispie Treats, Peppermint sugar cookies, lemon bon-bons with lemon icing

Gingersnaps up front

Lemon and Orange cupcakes with buttercreme icing

All ready to go for the reindeer and the elves!

Happy Holidays!

That Rainy Night!

2011-12-10T09:29:00.002-05:00

One day this past week it rained here for 12 hours straight. Pouring rain. Luckily it was actually warm that day. Warm as in, not freezing, but not warm as in, comfortable. Warm in the 50 degrees F range in the afternoon and 40's at night. After dark the weathermen predicted the rain to turn to snow, and I assumed all the water to turn to ice.

It really flooded that day. The ground was saturated and could take no more water. Streams overflowed, roads had standing water and parking lots flooded. It just so happens that I work during the day in a building directly on the bank of the Potomac River near Washington, DC. And of course, the massive river overflowed into the building's parking lot. I left the building around 6pm that night, had to swim through water higher than my knees, in my work clothes, just to get to my car. Luckily I keep a gym bag in my car, complete with a clean towel, gym clothes and sneakers. I dried off and changed in my car - it was dark anyway, no one could see.

And when I made the slow drive home, the winds picked up. Boy, did it get windy. When I pulled up to the farm, I found one of the guinea fowl down on the ground in the pitch darkness. It gets really dark here at nighttime. The guineas roost in the trees at night. But they don't sit on a solid branch when they roost - they sit on a tiny twiggy branch in the trees, which is right beside a strong branch. And then they fall when the wind blows the branches around. And they are so very blind after dark. And stupid. They just freeze up, and don't move.

Guineas in trees

So I ran up to the front door and literally bumped into a opossum on the front porch because I wasn't paying attention. It was the Little O. He had torn open a bag of aluminum cans which was ready for recycling and cans were all over the porch. He was waiting for food beside the cat, Bobby's, foodbowl, which was empty. Bobby was nowhere to be seen. I pushed the critter away with my foot. Damn opossum. He's almost as tame as Bobby.

I went inside, put on an old farm coat which I would never wear out in public in a million years, got a big spotlight flashlight, and went out to help the guineas roost. An umbrella wasn't possible, it would have scared the birds and with all the wind and branches, it just wasn't feasible. So I knew I was going to get soaked to the bone. I picked up the guinea on the ground, it was a grey male guinea, and tossed him up to the branches. He screamed and flapped his wings in my face (they have strong wings), but he would not grab onto a branch, he just came back down to the ground. I tossed him a bunch of times, but he flapped back down each time. All the other guineas were screaming at this time, and the chickens, who were safe and warm in their coop, could hear all the loud guineas noises, and I could hear all this noise coming from their coop. The roosters were crowing in there. I had guinea feathers in my mouth, that must have happened with the wings flapping in my face. My hair was all plastered wet to my head. Cold rain was running down my back under my coat.

More guineas in tees

I shone the flashlight up in the tree for a while and a few of the other guineas who didn't have good footing were smart enough to move to stronger branches -they could see a little with my spotlight. But this one boy guinea just wouldn't roost in the tree. Sitting on the ground is not an option for a guinea at night. He will be killed by fox, opossum, owl, or coons. Finally I decided he'd sleep with the chickens that night. My guineas have been known to be mean to the chickens these days, so I normally wouldn't want a guinea in with my beloved hens, but there was no other place for this bird.

I wrapped my arms around the soaking wet guinea (they are very strong) so he wouldn't get loose from me, and we marched into the chicken coop. We swung the door open and entered. The chickens were having a party. The heat lamp was on, and they can see with any kind of light, even though it's a red bulb and isn't supposed to produce light. And when they have a light on, the chickens like to party. Five or six were eating at the feeder (there's a feeder and waterer inside the coop). A couple were drinking. One rooster was crowing. The other was having sex with Zoner in the corner. A few hens were sitting in nestboxes. What was going on?! Everyone was excited to see me and came running and gathered around my feet when I walked in. They all wanted hugs and pets and treats. The guinea in my arms was terrified.

I chastised everyone for partying after bedtime, told them it was too late for hugs and pets and treats, and turned out the party light. The party's over! Everyone moaned little chicken moans and started rushing around bumping into each other trying to find their roost spots. I put the guinea on a roost beside Freckles (a hen). I got my tiny flashlight I keep in the coop and put everyone up on their roost spots, making sure to turn out the light quickly so they wouldn't jump down. I promised hugs and pets and treats another day, sung a quick lullaby to them (they love to be sung to, it calms them), and closed them up for the night. Freckles chatted briefly with the guinea - Freckles used to hate guineas, and when she was a young hen herself, she killed a guinea to protect her chicks at the time. But Freckles has gotten more understanding with age and she let the guinea sleep beside her that night. The guinea was terrified without his fellow guineas nearby and he was quiet and good all night.

Freckles chatting with Boy Guinea

Leggy, with Freckles and Boy Guinea chatting

I love Leggy

And such was the beginning of my night. I had to clean up the cans, called Bobby many times, but he never showed up for dinner, and this was back when Danni the hen was still alive, so I had to feed her and deal with the human's dinner and other household chores afterwards. I was concerned about Bobby, he was missing for a couple days. On a good note, the rain never turned to snow and ice that night, and it stopped raining by the next day. The Boy Guinea was released back to the guinea flock the next morning and he told his brothers and sisters about the horrible night he was forced to spend locked up in "The Coop" beside a convicted murderer and a monster-sized albino man.

By the next night the flooding in the parking lot at work was all gone and that rainy night was just a bad memory.

RIP Danni Hen

2011-12-09T05:17:00.000-05:00

This is how she carried her broken right leg

Yesterday Danni the Hen was put to death. She had previously broken her leg, but it appeared to be healing well. Then yesterday when I came home and ran into the infirmary coop to check on her, I found her sprauled oddly on the floor, cold to he touch, even though she was under a heat light, and moaning terribly in pain. She must have fallen on the leg and re-broken it. I think she was in shock. It was time.

I had been working with the chicken, bringing her in the house, feeding her treats every day. She'd have other friendly hens visit her inside her coop - Jade spent a lot of time with her. (But she had no visitors when she somehow re-hurt herself yesterday). She was able to get around by hopping. She wasn't in any obvious pain. She enjoyed tasting various foods. She taught me that chickens have a sense of taste. She'd taste every new food by licking it with her tounge, if she liked it she'd eat, if not, there was no way I could get it into her beak. She liked cooked spinach, surprisingly enough. She liked her grains - bread, cereal, oatmeal. She liked green beans and of course corn and brocolli. She didn't like tomatoes. She was moody - in certain moods her tastes varied. When she was happy she'd sing little soft songs. She wasn't a loud bird, she was a very gentle, quiet bird.

Danni loved to be rubbed under her wattle and she really loved a good back-of-the-neck massage. The stepstool was put beside her to help her balance. She learned to lean on the stepstool. The napkin is under her butt because she never pooped when she was sitting beside her stool eating or hanging with me. She's always jump up and run off to go poop. I quickly learned to put a napkin under her butt.

Danni had a hard life, with her broken toe, broken neck, then broken leg. She must have had weak bones. I think we may have a daughter of Danni's - we hatched our own eggs last year. Jade, Genny, Nutty or Cinnamon could be daughters of Danni. But none of them are as sweet as Danni. None of them have her exact personality. None of them ever broke any bones, either. Poor Danni Hen.

Rest in Peace, Danni Hen.

Oct 13, 2009 - Dec 8, 2011

Let the Guinea Games Begin!

2011-12-04T06:00:00.000-05:00

Girl guineas hanging together

Boy guinea on chicken pen roof

Our guinea flock has been feeling their oats lately. We used to have 4 Rhode Island Red roosters, which are large birds. We had to separate them from the chickens due to too many mating injuries with the bantam hens, and the only caged area when the boys could range didn't have a full roof or ceiling. The roosters couldn't fly out, but the free-ranging guineas could fly in. And those guineas didn't like those roosters one tiny bit.

Every day the guineas would be in the rooster pen fighting. The guineas always won, despite the fact that the roosters were larger. Even the guinea HENS would fight the roosters and win! Once I found all 4 roosters in the corner of the pen, tails up, heads down, huddled down hiding their faces, while the guineas attacked them and ripped out their tail feathers! I didn't know guineas were so mean. They seem to be territorial - if there's anyone new in the area, they want to chase him away. The guineas rule this farmyard!

Yesterday I heard alot of mad guinea screaming in the back yard and found the flock attacking a small buck. The buck didn't like the guineas one bit. He took off running while I tried to take photos of the guinea vs deer action. The guineas won the fight, the deer took off and the birds actually chased him away! I didn't get many good shots, but got a few that weren't too clear.

Earlier yesterday I watched the guineas chase a woodchuck out of the backyard.

Woodchucks should be sleeping underground anyway, it's cold out there!

Let the games begin...

Guineas 3

Everyone Else 0

The guinea games will continue every day around Razzberry Corner.

Flying guinea

Visitor In the Chicken Pen

2011-12-03T08:44:00.001-05:00

The other day Randy went out after dark (it gets dark here so early these days!) to check on Danni, the hen with the broken leg, who's in her own coop. It was cold so he decided to put up a board blocking her viewing window outside to the chicken pen, to keep the cold wind out of the infirmary coop. There's a heat lamp in the coop, but when the wind blows it still gets very cold in there.

And so he went out into the very secure chicken pen to put a board up across the outside of the window into Danni's coop. Now, remember how secure and safe this huge chicken pen is - it was built years ago and is impervious to all outside intruders. It has a wire roof, it has concrete and also rebar buried down even deeper underground around the fenceline so nothing can dig under. No way no how. And it's huge. We can walk around in there. The chickens can fly in there. There's hills and trees inside the chicken pen.

And as he walks by the chicken feeder in the pen, he notices something odd.  He walks on by, there's no way THAT could be inside the chicken pen. Then he stops, turns around and goes back to the feeder. There, eating from the feeder, is our resident teenage farm opossum.

We have acquired this young farm opossum. He was raised in his mama's pouch and then on his mama's back last summer. Mama used to eat from the outside cat bowls. And now the baby is always eating from Bobby cat's food bowls. Bobby and him are BFFs. We chase him away every night from the food bowls. Chase meaning, we walk up and tap him on the back with our foot, and he ambles away. I don't like opossums, I think they're mean and ugly animals, but this one is sorta cute, if a opossum can be cute. I haven't seen his mama in a very long time. The photo here is not of our opossum, I found it online. But it's cute like our Little Opossum.

Randy picked the varmint in the chicken pen up by his tail and carried him way deep into the woods before tossing him down.  I was surprised Randy didn't "take care of him", but we usually don't kill animals that pose no threat to the farm. This opossum had a choice to enter into the coop where all the chickens were sleeping in the dark and have chicken dinner, or eat the chicken food outside. He chose the grain.

Now, how did that guy get into the chicken pen??? There's no holes in or under the fence. All we can figure is that he squeezed through a very small area around the gate, because he's a very small opossum. He would have had to work at the squeeze part. But if he can squeeze in, then skunks, small fox, weasels, little owls, young raccoons, who knows what else can all be partying in the chicken pen. And in the 3 years that we've had chickens nothing else ever was found in the chicken pen.   If Little Opossum went into the pen during daylight, I think Muffin, the lead rooster, would win the inevitable varmint-rooster battle. Muffin can kick some butt if he wants. I know from being on the losing end of that battle. We always leave the chicken door open so the chickens can put themselves to bed in the eve in their coop and they can go outside in the pen at will in the morning. If any critters make their way into the pen, they can walk right into the coop when all the chickens are sleeping and are easy targets.

So, the last few nights, we've been closing the little chicken door and opening it in the mornings. Little Opossum was caught eating Bobby's food again last night, but he hasn't been seen in the chicken pen again. However, this little guy will have to be relocated soon. We just don't have time to open and close the chicken door every eve/morning. If he got in there once, I can't trust that he won't do his magic act again, and maybe that night he will not be full of Bobby food already and will decide on chicken dinner. Sorry, Little O, you will be losing your farm privileges. You're lucky to not have lost your life.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T21:26:00.002-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving from Razzberry Corner!

Muffin

Freckles

Bobby

Cinnamon

Danni

Guinea Hen

Jack and Shadow

Jerry

Guineas

Bad Rhode Island Red Rooster

Guineas

Shadow

Guinea flock

These photos don't include everyone around here, just some of the critters that slowed down enough to get their pictures taken in the past few weeks. I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

Zoner is doing great in the chicken infirmary. She just has a sore behind her left eye, which is healing fine. Her comb is all healed now. She has taken to sitting in a nest box in the infirmary coop - I hope she's not getting broody!

Danni is doing ok, also. As ok as can be expected for a chicken with a broken leg! She happily drank her aspirin water tonight. She ate well tonight - she likes cranberry sauce and cooked celery! She especially likes to be hand fed. Spoiled bird!

The 4 large Rhode Island Red roosters got themselves in trouble with me tonight - I found them viciously attacking the hens - they grab the hens necks/heads and don't leg go. It's an attempt for sex, but the hens fight and run and end up being hurt. I found a lot of blood in the chicken pen tonight, so all birds were inspected thoroughly for wounds. It was odd that I found no wounds on anyone. I did not look at the 4 RIR roosters themselves. Maybe they were fighting each other? They looked fine from a distance.

While I was handling all the chickens, I sprayed all their legs for leg mites. I try to do leg mite spray and poultry body mite powder every now and then to keep the birds safe from these parasites. I locked the 4 RIR roos out of the coop until well after dark because they were very randy in the coop while everyone was choosing their roosting spot. Those roosters are too large and wild for our bantam hen flock; soon all the hens are going to be in the infirmary with rooster injuries. The RIR boys were allowed back into the coop after it was dark, so they would go straight to sleep. I'm sorry to say, their days are numbered in my chicken flock.

Bobby the outside cat is doing great. He's gotten all shots, has been de-flead/de-ticked, and de-wormed. And he's still friendly after all that! He still prefers the outside to the inside of the house, but that will change when the weather gets cold again, I'm sure!

Happy Holidays from Razzberry Corner!

Visit Verde Farm for Farm Friend Friday!

Chicken Emergency!

2011-11-23T20:39:00.000-05:00

Warning - Gross and bloody photos below. Stop now iof you don't want to see. The chicken is fine now, it's not THAT bad...

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Tonight there was a chicken emergency. I went outside to the chicken coop while making dinner to bring Danni the Hen in for her evening snack in the kitchen while I cooked. When I got to the coop I checked on all the other birds who were roosting for the night.

And to my horror I found Zoner the hen with a bloody head and the hen standing beside Zoner (Charlotte) was pecking Zoner in her bloody head! I scooped Zoner off the roost and away from Charlotte as fast as I could. I checked on Danni in her infirmary coop, she was ok, and I brought Zoner into the house.

It appears Zoner's V-comb was torn partway off in the back and it bled a lot on both sides of her head. I blame those 4 extra Rhode Island Red roosters. They are very big and rough with our small hens. They are just starting to mate the hens and are mean to the ladies. Then the other hens starting pecking Zoner in the head while roosting because it was red with blood, and she's a white bird. Luckily they had not been roosting long. Zoner wouldn't have lived till morning.

I started cleaning and inspecting Zone's head when Randy came home and he took a few pictures of Zone. These photos were taken after I cleaned her up quite a bit. It looked worse before. Eventually I ended up giving her a bath and a blow-dry to get all the blood off her.

After the spa treatment, I put sugar on the comb to make it stop bleeding. Zone has a sore behind her left eye. She was put in with Danni in the infirmary coop, where she will stay for a few days till she heals up. Luckily we have that infirmary coop!

Such is life on the farm...

Danni Hen Update

2011-11-21T08:49:00.000-05:00

Danni, the chicken with the broken leg, again, has been diagnosed. Her right tibia bone has a compound fracture right at the joint where it joins into the hip. You can feel a sharp edge of the broken tibia bone through the skin. It makes use of her right leg impossible. After studying her and listening to her, and spending A LOT of time with her, it was determined she is in a lot of pain. She doesn't show pain much. She may make a slight little noise when she hurts. But you mostly notice pain in her eyes. And she will not eat or drink when she's hurting.

She has been put on aspirin water for the pain. Physical therapy has stopped for now.

Here she was this morning. She was hurting this morning and didn't want to eat much. You can see from her eyes that she doesn't look happy. And she's staying all balled up.

She enjoys being around the other chickens, so I propped her up in front of the window in her coop so she could see the other birds.

This chart shows the location where her leg is broken.

Here a friend is visiting through the screen. The friend is a white with black spots Araucana mix pullet. Actually, this bird is a grand-daughter of our primary rooster, Muffin. We haven't yet named her.

Here Lucy is visiting poor Danni. Danni's not really interested in visitors today.

Here was Danni's standard food: chicken food, wheat, and scratch corn.

And here was Danni's breakfast treats this morning: corn, broccoli, spinach, peas, and oatmeal. She ate a little bit of each, but not much.

Poor Danni hen.

Help With Chicken Thoughts, Please?

2011-11-20T07:46:00.001-05:00

Danni the hen with the bad leg is still hanging in there. I keep her separate from the other birds, in the infirmary coop. I feed her plenty of treats - veggies and fruits and grains and oatmeal - basically, she gets whatever she wants. Plus she gets enough chicken feed to feed the entire flock. During the day, if I'm home, I take her out for "walks" - I call it physical therapy for her. I attempt to force her to use her bad leg a little. She doesn't do well with walking or standing and prefers to sit. She comes into the house every night and hangs with me in the kitchen while I prepare her dinner and the family dinner. After we all eat, she goes back into her coop for the night, where she has her own heat lamp. Every night another hen named Jade spends the night with her, and they talk all night about girl things. Jade fills her in on what happened that day with the flock. Danni tells Jade about her adventures in the house.

Last night Danni actually hobbled across my kitchen floor on her own. She really doesn't use her right leg much, she sticks it out in front of her mostly. She balances on her left leg with both wings sticking out. To walk she sometimes ambles awkwardly on the right leg, but it still sticks out straight. Mostly she moves by using her wings to make her fly along the ground. Last night in the coop with Jade, Danni actually stood for a while on her good leg, right leg sticking straight out. But after a few minutes her good leg gets tired of balancing her, and she sits again.

I don't know how long this can go on. I have gotten very attached to Danni and it would break my heart to put her down. She cannot go back out in the flock with a bad leg. She would freeze just laying on the ground, as she can't walk. The roosters would hurt her trying to mount her. The other hens would pick on her. Randy tells me if she's not attempting to use the bad leg, then, well, it's time... She did make an attempt yesterday to use the leg, but she doesn't hold it properly. I always position the right leg back where it belongs underneath her during our therapy sessions, but if she controls the leg, it's sticking straight out in front.

So, what are your thoughts on this? I'm struggling. Is she going to get better? This week it will be 2 weeks since whatever happened to Danni to make her right leg stick straight out. She is eating fine, her spirits are good, the leg is not cold, so it's still getting blood to it. I just don't know... My brain tells me we can't keep a bird like this, but my heart tells me to give her more time.

New Eggs and Time to Say GoodNight Mister!

2011-11-19T07:43:00.000-05:00

First of all, just wanted to share a dozen eggs.

Aren't they pretty? I'm so proud of them! The two Cuckoo Maran pullets just started laying little dark brown eggs. We are almost positive all 4 Rhode Island Reds that we chose as chicks this summer are now young roosters. No eggs from them! :( They are submissive roosters so far, they haven't been hurting any hens nor fighting with the primary 2 flock roosters. All it takes is a peck from one of our smallest bantam hens and those giant RIR boys go running and screaming away.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And look - who's this???

This is one of our woodchuck boys. He's grabbing a last-minute snack!

I don't know why we always have male woodchucks living around our house. No females. Which is fine with us - no babies! The woodchucks enjoy eating every flower I ever plant and love to eat my garden before it grows.

I took these pictures on Nov 13, 2011 - he was in my backyard.

By now this little boy is fast asleep down underground in his home.

Stay warm down there, Little Chuck

Poor Danni with a Broken Leg - Again!

2011-11-12T10:36:00.002-05:00

Our first chickens were born on October 13, 2009. Happy birthday to them - they recently turned 2 years old! Since then we've hatched some eggs and watched them grow up and we've gotten 2 new adult birds to mix it up a bit. Also we gave away quite a few roosters. In the past 2 years we've had many chicken injuries, accidents, and illnesses, and quite a few birds didn't survive. All who passed were buried. I love my chickens and name all the hens, as you know if you've been around Razzberry Corner.

This sad post is about a strong hen named Danni. Danni has had the toughest life of all other chickens here. Things haven't been easy for sweet Danni hen.

Danni in Jan 2010

Back on January 15, 2010, Danni broke her big toe on her left leg on the feeder out in the chicken pen. Since Danni was only 3 months old, we had not yet named her because we were not sure if she was a pullet or a cockerel. Danni from Critter Farm provided awesome, timely, perfect guidance during this time, and in appreciation of her help I named the bird Danni after her.

Now, looking back, at the same time that Danni broke her toe, I believe she broke her neck. Her neck now has a kink in it. Back then I didn't realize her neck was broken because I was focusing so much on splinting her toe and getting her walking again. No wonder the bird had so many issues back then.

Danni in front, Chloe behind her, Feb 2010

Danni lived in our living room and bathroom for weeks. She had to be hand fed. I kept music and TV playing for her and gave her a heating pad to sleep on to keep her cozy while she healed. I splinted the toe, and trained her how to walk. I brought in other birds to keep her company when she was lonely. And she healed up just fine, although the toe curled off to the side.

Danni in Aug 2010 - notice the bent toe

Danni has been doing great since January 2010. She's lived a good life, has given us hundreds of eggs, and was able to walk and scratch and and get around fine with her curled-in toe and kinked neck. And now, this week, somehow, poor Danni appears to have broken her other leg. Her right leg - the good leg. The leg without the broken toe. We aren't sure if the leg is broken up close to the body or just out of joint and not broken. We assume it was caused by one of those 2 large Cuckoo Maran roosters trying to mount her and have his way with her. We immediately got rid of those 2 big roosters, they were too big for our little bantam hens like Danni.

Poor Danni has been moved into the infirmary coop this week. In the past 2 years we built a coop especially for injured birds or babies, so they don't have to live in our living room! Danni has her own heat lamp - just like a personal spa. There's a door in her coop looking out into the chicken pen, and it has wire across so she can look out and other birds can look in, but no one can come in. There's nest boxes in this coop - these were used last summer during the birth of the guinea keets and chicks. However, Danni has no need for nest boxes right now.

Danni now, Nov 2011

Danni is not able to walk - she can't put any weight on her right leg. She wants to hold the bad leg straight out in front of her. And for a few days she lost the desire to eat. She's been force fed and watered from a dropper. We started her on aspirin water in case she's in pain. Yesterday she started eating on her own again - she likes green beans. She's such a sweet bird; she's always been one of my favorite chickens because she's so sweet and has had such a tough life. I really hope she pulls through this time. She's been my miracle bird. Come on, Danni hen, keep your spirits up!

Chicken Update

2011-11-10T05:00:00.002-05:00

Our chickens are mostly all doing fine. Many of them are finishing up molting now, and egg production is way down. It's getting very cold here, I don't know why chickens molt at this time of the year. If I was a chicken I'd want to molt in the heat of summer.

Here's Freckles - she was the first adult hen that we bought who came with a batch of chicks. She was a great mother to those babies, she taught us alot, and she never went broody since we have had her. We would have let her raise more chicks if she wanted. We thought she was old when we got her, but she's still doing fine. She's the wildest of all our chickens, since we didn't raise her. Freckles has a special place in my heart; she's the old wise woman in our flock.

Freckles, our original hen

Here's Bella, one of Freckles' chicks. Bella goes broody all the time and has always raised our guinea keets for us.

Bella

Muffin is the best rooster I've ever known. He's a hard working man. He feeds his hens, he protects them when needed, and generally does everything he can for the flock, taking care of himself last. He doesn't like other roosters, but tolerates Leggy, his assistant. The other (new) roosters are enemies. In the springtime Muffin likes to push me around, but I've learned how to manage him and we both really love each other deep down inside (even in the springtime when it appears he wants to fight and kill me and I'm taking the broom to him). I like to hold Muffin in the evening inside the coop to keep him tame. He always tries to peck my eyes out; I've learned to keep a hand on his head when he's being held.

Muffin, the lead rooster

This summer we got 4 Cuckoo Maran and 4 Rhode Island Red chicks. We didn't know the sexes of the chicks- we picked them out of a big box at the local farmer's market. We ended up with 2 Cuckoo Maran roosters and 4 Rhode Island Red roosters!!! The Cuckoo Maran roosters have just started crowing. So far we haven't seen the Red roosters crow yet. One of the 2 Cuckoo Maran hens has laid an egg this week - our first dark brown egg! But it was broken open and made a mess in the nestbox. This week we gave the 2 Cuckoo Maran roosters to a friend, and once we prove to ourselves that the 4 Reds are roosters, they too, will have to go...

Cuckoo Maran rooster

Rhode Island Red rooster

Cuckoo Maran egg in upper left of basket broke in nestbox - first Cuckoo egg!!

I always take my favorite hen, Lucy, out to scratch for worms outside the chicken pen. Lucy is so sweet and works so well with me when we look for worms, and she comes to me when called, she never runs. If I don't watch her, Lucy tends to sneak out of the chicken pen when I leave the gate open. She'll push the gate open if it's pulled closed but not locked. But she doesn't run away, she just walks a couple feet and stops and scratches for worms. She would be fine living separate from all the other chickens, she's very independent.

And that's all from the chickens today!

Have a nice day!

It's a Camel Cricket Leg!

2011-11-09T05:00:00.002-05:00

So, did you guess what this was?

This is a camel cricket leg.

To me camel crickets look like a cross between a cricket and a spider.

Here's a website about camel crickets:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhaphidophoridae

As the weather gets colder, we get camel crickets in the house. Not a lot, but usually we have at least one camel cricket a day somewhere in the house.

The horrible thing is that the cats love to eat them, but the cats always pull off the back legs and leave them laying on the floor. I've watched the cats work at pulling off the cricket's hind legs with their teeth, while they hold the cricket body with their paws. I guess the legs get stuck in the cat's throat. All we find are the legs, and we know the cats ate the cricket body! I certainly would prefer the cats didn't eat crickets at all, that's for sure. And yes, the chickens love them, too!

I call these crickets "George". As in, "I found a pair of George legs on the bathroom floor today."

The first time I saw a camel cricket, I had no idea what it was, and after I ran screaming out of the room, I named it George, and eventually captured George and took George outside. I assumed George was some kind of freak of nature, a one-of-a kind creature that shouldn't be killed.
And then more and more George's came to visit, and I realized George's are a normal pest around here.

George, stay away or you may lose your legs!

What is this?

2011-11-08T05:10:00.000-05:00

Does anyone know exactly what this is?

What is it?

I know what it is...

If you do know what it is, I feel for you!

I'll publish the answer tomorrow...

Orange Chiffon Cake with an Orange Glaze

2011-11-07T05:00:00.000-05:00

Today's special is a orange chiffon cake with an orange glaze.

Chiffon cakes are lighter and more fluffy than traditional cakes.

This one is my very first chiffon cake. Come on over for a piece!

Bobby Cat

2011-11-06T05:10:00.000-05:00

Meet Bobby.

If you've been around Razzberry Corner much, you already know Bobby.

Bobby is a stray cat that showed up outside and never left the porch. We, of course, feed all hungry souls, and Bobby became a part of life here. Bobby is a working class cat. He takes care of the outside. He catches any birds that are brave enough to land on the ground. He is friends with all other critters, including Jerry, the woodchucks, opossums, and raccoons. he knows to let them be and they don't bother him. Bobby really dislikes the guineas, but he puts up with them. He doesn't like being locked in the chicken pen, but really doesn't mind the chickens from a distance. Bobby assisted when a night monster, what we believe was a great horned owl, was killing the guineas and Randy spent many nights outside hunting. Bobby was by his side all those nights, happy to assist with guard duty.

The only thing is, Bobby doesn't understand why he lives outside and we have 2 other cats who live strictly inside. It's getting cold outside. Poor Bobby.

Here are Shadow and Jack. Shadow was a stray who lived outside here at this house, and Jack was a stray from a former house. Both cats melted my heart, moved inside, have been fixed and get all yearly shots and exams. They now live the good life.

Yes - Shad looks just like Bob. She looks like she could be his mother or sister. She doesn't have the same personality as him at all, though.

Bob, Shad and Jack are all friends through the glass. We have been very careful to never let anyone smell noses, as we didn't know if Bobby had FELV (feline leukemia), a deadly and infectious cat disease.

And the good news is that this week we got Bob tested and he does NOT have FELV! He got his FELV immunization and all his shots this week, and got de-flead and de-ticked. Next we have to get the Bobster de-wormed, and then he will be ready to go! We already let all the cats smell noses, and we've been carrying Bobby around the house in our arms, so he sees that there's life inside. Right now he seems to prefer being outside, but that's just because he's scared inside still.

This means that Bobby doesn't have to brave another cold winter outside by himself.

Yeah, Bobby!

Update

2011-11-05T08:55:00.001-04:00

Well, hello there my friends. I haven't been posting lately. I just have been busy, and when I have a few spare moments I consider all the work that must be done, and decide it's more important than sharing my world via the blog. I have really missed my communications and support from my online friends. It's awesome how blogging builds friendships between people with the same interests.

And so, I will probably keep my blog posts short and targeted, but I will try to continue the blog through the winter here at Razzberry Corner. Winters are cold and rough times, but many holidays all fall in during wintertime. I guess we need to find something to keep us happy when we are working extra hard to keep everyone warm, and so we have holidays!

So here's a quick update on the happenings here at our farm...

White Boy Guinea

White Girl Guinea over on the right

The guineas are all doing fine. I am so surprised that even the "slow" white female guinea is doing great. She is my favorite now. She had an issue after birth, when she was an infant, and her developing slowed down. She did weird things, like walk backwards instead of forwards. She didn't make good decisions and was brushed aside by the other guineas, often missing out on treats because she wasn't fast enough. She got very sick at one point and couldn't stand on her own. We considered putting her down many times. She quickly was put on antibiotics and vitamins and miraculously she recovered, but she never recovered all the way back to normal. When they got bigger, the other guineas made her an outcast. She appears to be blind in one eye still. But she's a fighter - she wandered alone, and eventually a pair of other shy females who were ousted by the guinea flock joined her and she became the leader of her own little flock of ladies where everyone was accepted. I always make sure to feed the separate little flock treats, and most times now the 2 flocks join together and just separate during treat feeding times. The white female guinea is the only pure white child from our white male guinea papa. He was one of the last 2 guineas to survive from last year's flock.

The young guineas, who were born this year, started laying eggs this autumn before it got too cold. If I searched I could find their eggs out in the bushes. Next year we will raise more guineas from our own eggs to maintain the flock.

Below is a picture of a typical dozen of our chicken eggs, plus the two little guinea eggs. we only have light brown and green eggs right now, despite the fact that we got 4 Rhode Island Red and 4 Cuckoo Maran chicks this summer. Both of these breeds lay dark brown eggs. Those chicks have now all grown up into beautiful LARGE birds, much bigger than all our other bantam birds. However, we think that all 4 Reds are roosters, and 2 of the Cuckoos are roosters! We had a "great" system for picking the chicks from a mixed batch that was being sold at the local farmers market. We read online how to tell the differences between the sexes of the chicks for these 2 breeds. Evidently, we did it exactly wrong for the Reds. Well, hey, we know how to pick Rhode Island Red roosters from a batch of chicks now! The 2 female cuckoos haven't laid yet, although they are adults. Possibly we're wrong and they are roosters, too, who knows? I'll post some chicken pics next post, and will give you more chicken news. There's always drama in the coop, you know.

Stay tuned, I do have some GOOD, no GREAT, news about Bobby the outside cat... But you're going to have to wait for it!

Shadow

Autumn Photos

2011-10-12T19:15:00.000-04:00

Autumn has hit us here at Razzberry Corner. It sometimes feels more like winter!

Here are some photos and a video I took last weekend.

This is an old, tired tree at sunset. To me it has such character.

Look for the historic brick column in the photo below. It lines our drive.

Walking to the front fields, through the trees and bushes...

Fall colors are just starting to show.

You can hear the guineas welcoming you in the below video!

The video is a panoramic of the front fields.

Have a good evening!

Guinea Update

2011-10-11T06:00:00.003-04:00

We have 12 guinea fowl. 2 are adult males, born last year. 10 were born this May from eggs we collected and hatched. And so we enter into autumn with a dozen guinea fowl. I hope they all survive to next spring. Last year was a tough year, our guinea flock dwindled down to 2 males. Luckily in the springtime we collected quite a few eggs from nests we found in the woods before all the females were killed. Every year I guess we will hatch eggs to keep the flock going strong.

My guineas. They are so sweet. And funny. And noisy.

They come to me to be hand fed, although they keep about 10 feet away at all times. They chase each other all around the house. They entertain everyone who sees them. They eat bugs around the house. This young flock doesn't wander too far around the property, they stay pretty close. The previous flock used to wander far and wide.

Running Guineas!

Today I found 2 guinea eggs in the woods ~ these are the first eggs I've found from the hens hatched in May. The guinea eggs are the 2 top ones in the below photo. The others are chicken eggs.

Eggs ~ Chicken and Guinea

The news eggs are so small, as they are starter eggs. Guinea eggs are smaller than chicken eggs, anyway, but these are exceptionally small. The right egg is dirty - I didn't wipe off the dirt from the nest. The guinea eggs do have little brown spots on them, but that one has brown mud, too!

Guinea Eggs

Thank you, guinea girls!

Breakfast

2011-10-10T06:00:00.001-04:00

Breakfast is an important time here at Razzberry Corner!

Jerry and Bobby, the outside cats, take breakfast seriously!

Jerry

Bobby

"Leave us alone!" they say.

Both cats are getting their thick winter coats, as it's getting cold out. Jerry has been here since we moved into this house. We still are not able to get too close to Jerry. We will never be able to pet him. Bobby, however, is a lovebug and loves to be pet. Bobby loves attention. We wondered if Jerry would get more friendly after seeing Bobby receive attention (pets) from us and actually not being killed by us. Jerry acts like if he gets too close to us we'd kill him! Jerry just watches from a distance when we pet Bob.

Both cats are well-fed, at least!

Good morning from Razzberry Corner!

Cardinal Boy

2011-10-09T08:05:00.000-04:00

The other day I happened to be hanging around the house, which is rare, and heard a loud "thud". Prior to the thud I heard a lot of cardinal twitters outside my dining room windows .

Let me say that we have many cardinals around here, and cardinals have multiple nests/families throughout the year. That morning I noticed the adult cardinals feeding the grown babies suet from our suet feeder. The grown babies always love to be fed, even though they are adults themselves, and they tweet like little babies.

After the "thud" I found this grown male baby cardinal laying on the windowsill. Evidently he flew into the window. Hard. He was shaking, his eyes wouldn't focus, his toes were curled up into a fist. I didn't think he was going to make it.

The little cardinal laid out on the window sill for quite a few hours. I checked on him about every 30 minutes and could see him breathing. I made sure my inside cats didn't notice him out there so they wouldn't torment him by staring at him through the window. The outside cats weren't around, either.

When it started to get dark out, I figured the little guy had to be checked out. He couldn't stay out there all night, the night animals would find him, and he'd be blind in the dark and couldn't attempt to fly to safety. If he could even fly.

He was still breathing. I tapped on the window, and to my surprise he was able to focus his eyes on me then! He was coming around! He still didn't fly away, but it appeared he was waking up, coming out of his stupor. He looked all around, confused as to why he was laying on the windowsill. After a few minutes he still laid there, and the sun was setting fast. If he could fly, he had to attempt it immediately before it got too dark out. Darkness comes upon us fast when the sun sets.

And so I started opening the window. I was going to put him in a little cage or something where he could get some rehab until he was able to fly and go free. By all means, I certainly didn't want to have a cardinal in the house, but I couldn't let the little guy just lay there and be eaten by an owl overnight.

The little cardinal wanted nothing to do with me! As I opened the window, he immediately looked around, and with a loud baby cardinal twitter, he flew to the tree where the cardinals live! He was better! He didn't fly in a straight line, but he flew well enough to make it. He left behind a huge poop on the windowsill.

The little cardinal boy lived to see another day! I bet he had a headache!

Key West Gypsy Chickens and More

2011-10-01T10:30:00.000-04:00

I was missing from the Razzberry Corner blog for the month of September dealing with no internet connectivity. And then finally I got the internet back, only to have to go away on travel for my day job. And, to make it even more interesting, while I was gone, there was a surprise surge and outage at our house which finally killed our old office computer. That's the computer I use to blog and which has all my photos. The computer's motherboard died. It was an old computer anyway. I didn't upgrade already because it was still running, although it was old and slow and tired.

And so I was gone another week on travel, and then home a week without a primary computer.

Yeah, I have other computers in the house, but the home office computer is the one that I always use on the blog. And honestly, as busy as I am these days, I don't mess around on a computer when I get home. That's what I've realized about having an old farm - there's always so much work to do around the house and property or dealing with the animals, that there's no free time to play on the computer. Maybe I just don't want to deal with the computer when I get home, I do that enough at work.

I'm not complaining, just stating facts.

And so, this week, I got a new computer! Yeah! It's all shiny and fast and has cool features and I'm excited! I'll have to setup my old hard drive in this machine so I can access my old files. But right now, the new one is clean and empty and fast.

I'm posting some photos that I took with my cell phone while I was on the trip last week to

Key West, FL.

I absolutely loved Key West!

It was a warm, tropical, happy place.

I saw this big, old iguana on the side of the road and HAD to get some photos.

I saw lots of smaller iguanas, but this one was huge! He was approximately 10 feet long with the tail.

He probably could have chopped off my head with one swing of that tail. I know their tails are very sharp and can cut you if they swing at you. He looked like a hundred years old, I was so lucky to see such a big boy.

The biggest surprise for me in Key West was the chickens! There were wild chickens all over the streets of Key West! The locals said they were protected animals and were not allowed to be killed. They are called Key West Gypsy Chickens.

It so amazed me to see chickens in the downtown area of Key West. It made me feel right at home!

Here's a link to a webpage about the chickens:

http://sarah-goodwin-nguyen.suite101.com/key-west-gypsy-chickens-a100879

Once last week in Key West I was in the car in a busy intersection. A big rooster and a number of pedestrian people were standing by the intersection waiting for the light to change so they could cross the road. The people were talking, not paying attention, didn't even care a rooster was standing amongst them! When the walk light came on and the traffic stopped, the rooster started walking big as day right across the crosswalk to cross the road. The people noticed he was walking and followed along behind him and crossed the road. I was speechless. He lifted his legs high and proud and crossed the road. I didn't get a pic of him because I was too amazed to move.

In the evenings the chickens roosted in the palm trees. I looked around for eggs on the ground, didn't see any. I was the only person amazing by so many chickens in a downtown area. There were different colors of chickens; I seem to have only taken photos of brown roosters because brown was the most common color. I noticed more roosters than hens; the hens were very small. I watched the roosters having cockfights on a downtown pier one afternoon. No one else seemed to notice. I watched them walk amongst the people; no one else looked twice. I did not see any chicken/car accidents or any dead chickens on the road, although I did see a human bicyclist get hit by a car and I did see a man laying drunk out by the side of the road.

It was an interesting place!

The Key West sunset was gorgeous. As the weather is getting chilly at home, it was nice to get away to the tropics for a quick break.

Can't you just feel the warmth in the below photo? (I was in my bathing suit when I took it!)

Alas, I am now back at Razzberry Corner.

Hopefully I will start back up the Razzberry Corner blog about all the going's on here at the farm! Lots is going on!

Stay tuned!

Scaly Leg Mite Nightmare!

2011-09-19T04:00:00.002-04:00

While I was offline for the past month, life went on at full force here at Razzberry Corner. I have so much to blog about from the past month, such as the earthquake that hit Washington DC, then the hurricane that hit us, how it rained for an entire month, all the flooding that occurred, how we didn't have power or water or phones, the list of potential blog posts is huge! And I haven't even begun to talk about the guineas or the chickens yet! I'd love to share it all with you!

But, you know, life does not stand still.

Saturday I was touched by the baby deer story and had to share that on Sunday, despite the fact that it was a current event and not something that I had saved up in my mind to share.

And Monday's post is yet another breaking news story.

Meet Lilly.

Lilly is a bantam hen, part Americana. She's the daughter of Lucy, I made sure to hatch a Lucy egg one year because Lucy is a sweetheart. And so Lilly was born. I've raised sweet Lilly from an egg. Lilly is even sweeter than Lucy, if that's possible. They both have the same personality.

Stay with me here, here comes some details...

Somehow our chicken got scaly leg mites in the past year. Scaly leg mites live under the scales on the feet and legs, spending their entire life cycle on the birds feet. They spread by direct contact with other birds. The scaly leg mites bury under the scales and it is the irritation of the skin that causes the thickening of the scales. The legs and feet may become swollen, tender and have a discharge or exudate forming under the scales.

They can be brought in via wild birds, such as starlings, sparrows, crows, swallows, etc. They can be picked up at poultry shows, sales, auctions, anywhere there is contact with other avian life. They can be carried in with rodents who enter the coops or pens in search of food. Early intervention is necessary to prevent debilitation in the flock.

We saw that we had a mild scaly leg mite issue many months ago and started treating the birds immediately. We use Adams Plus Pyrethrin Dip. This is used for ticks and fleas on cats and dogs. We just make a warm bath and dip just the chickens feet and legs in the bath for a couple minutes each. We repeat every night, or once a week or as often as we think it's needed. We do it at night time. It gets rid of the scaly leg mites, no problem.

I read online to try Vaseline on the chicken's feet for leg mites, and so I tried it, but it makes a gooey mess. It didn't get rid of the mites, but the next morning the birds had softer feet. However, they ran outside and everything stuck to their sticky feet, and then they were covered in dirt and mud. Maybe I applied too much Vaseline, I don't know.

But anyway, the dip works well for us.

During the past month, I'm sad to say that there was alot going on, with the earthquake, hurricane, constant daily rains, flooding, possible tornadoes, roads all over the area closed making driving to/from work near impossible, power, water, internet and phone outages at our house, with Randy starting a new job, and me going away to training for 2 weeks, with Bob the outside cat getting lost, two guineas being murdered, and horribly, to top it all off, somehow the scaly leg mites returned with a vengeance to our chickens!

And we were too involved to catch the leg mites immediately, and so it got worse.

I noticed on my first full day back at the house on Saturday that Lilly was limping. Badly. I inspected her and saw scaly leg mites, a really bad case of them. I covered her feet and legs with Vaseline, as they were obviously paining her and I didn't want to make the pain worse by putting the Adams dip on her sores. I let her loose in the chicken pen and she looked to be limping less by evening. Saturday night all chickens were dipped, except for sweet Lilly. She got more Vaseline.

Sunday morning I inspected Lilly again. Blood was running down her legs. Scales on her legs had become softened by the Vaseline and possibly she or another bird picked at them, making sores on her legs. She was horribly limping.

And so Lilly came inside. She sweetly stretched out her legs and let me put more Vaseline on her feet and legs, and I put gauze over the Vaseline, and wrapped each leg and foot in vet wrap bandaging tape. So now she cannot even walk. I fed her some peas, put her in a dark bathroom on some towels, turned out the lights, and put a towel over the crack of the door trying to keep it really dark for her. I've checked on her every few hours, turning on the light, offering her broccoli or peas as snacks, she prefers peas. She seems to be resting peacefully and doesn't even attempt to stand when I come in with food.

I don't know how long it'll take for her legs to heal, but if no one is picking at them I'd think they'd heal quickly. I hope the mites aren't too bad. Once the sores heal I'll dip her. Maybe next time I check her legs and re-wrap them, her feet can stay unbandaged, so she can walk some.

Poor Lilly.

Who knew mites could do this to a hen?

Signs were made and put up down the hall going to Lilly's bathroom...

Lilly hates the cats, although they love her.

Good Luck, Lilly-girl!

Get well soon!

Babysitting a Fawn

2011-09-18T06:00:00.002-04:00

Yesterday a mama whitetail deer left her fawn for me to babysit all day. Often mama deer leave their babies in my backyard. The mamas know the babies are safe here. The babies just hang out, bored, waiting for their mom to return. Sometimes I have twins, yesterday I babysat a single baby deer.

I don't know what the mama deer have to do that's so important that they leave their babies all day, but this is a normal occurrence in this neck of the woods. Maybe the mamas go shopping for cool new winter coats, or maybe they're getting a pedicure and paint job on their hooves, who knows?

And so the babies are left alone in my yard.

I went out at noontime and offered the baby a couple apples that were starting to go bad. He ran and hid behind this tree, thinking I couldn't see him. I just put the apples down for him.
His mama obviously taught him about stranger danger.

It seems my voice really scares deer, so I have learned to be quiet around them, and they are less afraid of me. If I talk to them, they literally scream and gallop away. I have heard many deer scream just because I talked to them.

I guess deer like people to be quiet like them.

...Or maybe it's just my voice?

Although this little boy is getting big and fat, he still has his baby spots.

He's looking around here, wondering when in the world his mama is going to come pick him up!
"Hurry up, already! I'm bored!!"

Strangely enough, the baby deer was left ALL NIGHT LONG in my backyard. I was really worried thinking now I had a permanent fawn, thinking that maybe the mama was killed when she was crossing the road in front of her hoof salon. The baby waited until it got dark, constantly looking around for his mama, then he curled up in the bushes and slept. In the morning he walked around, looking, wondering, aimlessly.

At about 8AM this morning, Sunday, two female deer showed up in the backyard. I watched with bated breath, hoping to no end that one was the missing mama. One of the two deer put her tail up in an odd position, I have no idea why, and walked slowly around to where I knew the baby was hiding in the bushes.

And then the baby came bounding out, all long legs jumping around his mama. His tail was wagging a thousand miles an hour, just like a happy dog wags his tail! He bounded around his mama a couple times, they smelled noses, then he dove under her and drank her milk for a long time. His tail continued to wag. She stayed still and let him drink for at least five minutes.

The other female deer stood nearby, grazing on brush. Possibly she was last years baby? Often the yearling baby females return to stay with their mother after the next baby/babies are born. The yearling baby boys go off with the bucks to learn to be men.

The mama deer wouldn't let her female companion deer too close to her baby, and the baby had no intention of leaving his mama's side as the three of them walked away into the deep woods.

And so life goes on here at Razzberry Corner.

Red Velvet and Cream Cheese Heaven

2011-09-17T12:08:00.000-04:00

I don't even know where to begin in my first real blog post after a month of no internet. So very much has happened. I don't even remember where I left off....

So I started by looking at photos I had left in my camera that I didn't transfer over to the computer...

Ah ha!!!

I remember now!

Those cupcakes.... Those beautiful, wonderful, delish cupcakes....

I made red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. I had never made red velvet nor never made cream cheese frosting. I was hesitant, but did it for a friend. I like my buttercream icing, why try something else? And I'm not too keen on chocolate, either... isn't red velvet a relative of chocolate?

Ha, now I'll never ask that again.

Those cupcakes were my very favorite cupcakes ever. I loved the cream cheese icing. I put red sugar on top to decorate them.

I just downloaded the recipe online. Who knew there were such secrets like these recipes just lurking out on the internet, waiting to be downloaded and tried?

Now I can't wait to try all sorts of other baking ideas! My horizon has been expanded!

I'm Baaaaack!!

2011-09-16T20:58:00.001-04:00

Well, hello there!!!
I'm back!
My Internet in my home has been out for the past month, but now it's fixed!
You all have missed so much in this past month!

Oh, my, I don't even know where to start!

However, you'll have to wait till tomorrow!

Sorry!

This post is just a tease!

I cannot take the time right now to post properly, but I want you to know I'm excited to be online again. I've missed my online personality, it's a part of me, and mostly I've missed all my online friends.

I did find time to do other things instead of being online, like working out, and working in the office, taking a computer class. So I have stayed busy; and time never stops here at Razzberry Corner! You know how it is on a farm, there's always something going on!

Stayed tuned to hear all about the past month's adventures!

And current activities, too!

King of the Coop

NYC Visit

2011-08-14T06:00:00.035-04:00

Last week Randy and I visited New York City. I had a blast and thought I'd share some of the photos I took. I totally was a tourist, snapping photos everywhere. I may live in the country, but I love the city, any city, every city. We parked in Times Square and took to the street on foot.

I thought the building below was very pretty. Don't know what it was.

The billboards were amazing! There are no billboards allowed in Washington DC, so I'm not used to them.

The people...there were so many people!

I call this man "Metal Man". He was painted silver and looked like a statue. He was great! But he wasn't too happy when anyone snapped a photo and didn't put some money in his pail!

7th Ave. M & M world

Here's a street band. They were great!

Gotta love NYPD!

Hhere's a hot dog vendor. I wanted a hot dog, even though I wasn't hungry, just to have a hot dog from the streets of NY!

I'm such a tourist!

Guinea Keets Go Free

2011-08-13T11:17:00.000-04:00

Today is the day!!! Are we ready?

Today is the day that the 12 teenage guinea keets go free to be adult guineas.

We have a rather large chicken pen, and the keets were raised by the chickens in the chicken pen and in the chicken coops. The 3 adult guineas, the parents and aunt and uncles of the keets, live free and wild. And now the keets will be free, too, to live as guineas.

Of course the keets don't understand.

They want to be chickens, living in the confines of the chicken pen and coops. They have to be shown what it's like to be a free guinea, roaming free over the fields, eating bugs, sleeping in the pine tree. They have so much to learn, so much a head of them. And their future begins today. With one small step out of the chicken pen.

Here we go...

First we had to round up all the guinea keets. The easiest way to do that was to confine them in the coop.

They didn't like being captured in the coop. They knew something was up.

We rounded up the adult guineas - we wanted them to see the keets going free, to guide them, to show them what it's like to be a guinea.

We had to find the adult guineas. There they are, way out in the field.

We rounded them up to the chicken pen area. Of course it rained this morning and the grass was all wet. Today was supposed to be mowing day, so the grass is tall, too.

And then we let the small guineas out of the coop into the chicken pen that we used as a mama and baby chicken pen. It's separate from the main chicken pen. The keets were cautious about this new area.
The chickens watch the keets intently from their side of the fence.

The adult guineas on the outside (left) watch the keets inside the pen.

And then we let the keets loose to be with the adult guineas. Of course the keets wanted only to return to the safety of the chicken pen. The chickens gathered on the inside of the fence, worried about their comrades on the outside.

Hopefully everyone does well as the keets transition to being adult guineas.

In these videos the keets are only thinking of returning to the chicken pen. It should be an interesting day today!

Hopefully soon the guinea keets realize they are not chickens, and they start enjoying their freedom.

Today starts a whole new life for our keets!

Black Vulture Baby Update

2011-08-02T07:44:00.000-04:00

The other week we went and visited the black vulture baby. His parents and him live in a little old fallen apart house beside our big old fallen down tobacco barn. We have several old structures on the property is disrepair. The vultures love these old buildings. I like having vultures around, as they assist us in cleaning up the property. I find it absolutely amazing that vultures make no noise except a hiss and a grunt. The opposite of the guinea fowl. The guineas and the vultures all get along nicely, too.

Ok, just to recap - this is what the vulture baby looked like one month before ~ he was tiny (about the size of our hand) and off-white and puffy. Very fragile-looking.

And here he is now! He's a big boy. He's almost the size of an adult vulture. But he certainly looks weird. He is getting some black feathers in, thank goodness. He still has that off-white puff all over him. He doesn't fly yet. The parents still feed him.

Both parent vultures were with the baby when we visited. They both flew away from the home, and they were not happy with our intrusion into their home. One of the parents flew overhead, watching us closely while we visited their son, and the other took off.

In a couple minutes the second vulture was back.

And he brought re-inforcements. Another pair of vultures came to assist. I thought it was amazing the one parent took off and got help from another vulture family. How sweet is that? We think the other vulture family lives in another old house on our property. They probably have their babies there.

To me it is interesting how vultures live in family units, one male and female raises a family. They seem to be smart, they run to neighbors when help is needed. The neighbors immediately come to help. They are quiet, aren't able to yell at would-be attackers. All they can do is fly around above. Silent, beautiful birds.

I hope we have many more vulture babies in the upcoming years.

No More Guinea Eggs

2011-08-01T11:58:00.000-04:00

It is with a heavy heart that I say that all Guinea Girl's eggs were killed and eaten a few days ago.

Guinea Girl was sitting on a nest with 15 eggs. She was quite proud of her soon-to-be babies. She rarely left her nest. She would have been a great mother, I believe. In the beginning of her broodiness, we tried to remove her from her nest, but she fought and fought us to stay on her nest of eggs. She was willing to risk her life by staying on the nest overnight, despite all the dangers of sitting on the ground overnight. She didn't care, she was a mama, and that's what mamas do. They take care of their babies. Even if their babies are still eggs. Our guineas know about dangers and monsters at nighttime. These are the 3 last ones that survived a terrible month of attacks every night. I believe all 3 of these last guineas were attacked during the month long war on the guineas, but they survived. I believe this because their feathers were all torn up and they were terrified during the days. But they are the survivors.

And Guinea Girl was willing to risk it all again for her babies.

Guinea Girl

We had decided to take Guinea Girl's eggs away from her, even though she was a great mama guinea. We were going to give them to our broody chicken hens. We now have 2 broody hens, Charlotte and Bella ~ they are the same 2 hens that raised all our guinea keets from eggs earlier this year. Those keets are now teenagers/young adults. And here the same 2 hens are broody again. It was a sign, and so we were going to take Guinea Girl's eggs away because we didn't think it was safe for her to sit on the ground all night. Guineas are blind in the dark, and it is very dark in our woods at night. We were going to take the eggs away last weekend and give them to the hens in the chicken coop. The hens are safe in the coop - no monsters can get to the chickens.

Guinea Girl following the white Guinea Boy, her mate

And then one evening last week, before the weekend came, the grey Guinea Boy didn't come home to sleep in the pine tree. We were worried about him, thinking he may have been attacked during the day. We searched for him, didn't find him or any signs of an attack. Girl Guinea was sitting on her nest that evening.

And then, the next morning, Guinea Girl was eating breakfast with the 2 Guinea Boys up at the house. What??? Why wasn't she on her eggs? Where did grey Guinea Boy come from?

We immediately ran outside, crossed the fields and went into the woods where the nest was.

And the eggs were all broken and scrattered about. None was left alive.

We were happy Guinea Girl survived whatever attacked her overnight. She easily could have been killed.

But Poor Guinea Girl lost her 15 babies.

I don't know why the male guinea stayed out all night the night of the attack, or if that even has anything to do with Guinea Girl losing her eggs. But it was just weird. Our guineas are creatures of habit, and he broke his habit for some reason.

Now we know, eggs cannot make it in our woods. We will never let this happen again. I am very sad because I know those eggs were forming into keets, and I know how adorable keets are. I expected at least 7 of those 15 eggs would have hatched ~ our success rate with eggs is about 50%. Sadly, not anymore.

The grey Guinea Boy

Hello, Deer Boys!

2011-07-30T09:02:00.000-04:00

The other morning a herd of big boy deer came to visit us!

I apologize for the bad quality of these photos. They were shot through my kitchen window. I had the best view of the deer from the kitchen - there were things blocking the view from the other windows.

How many deer do you see in the below photo?

There's 3 - one is walking behind the fence on the lower right.

The boy in the center of the photo appeared to be the herd leader.

Well, Hello! The buck that was walking along the fenceline put his head up. He's a good-looking buck.

Leader buck is looking around to his left, always on alert, listening, watching.

I was so lucky to have seen all these bucks. They were gorgeous.

While I watched they tossed their heads around, playing with each other. It must be strange to grow these heavy horns on your head. The antlers certainly look heavy all done up in velvet.

Leader buck is looking in my direction. He wasn't playing with the others, just standing guard.

There were a couple first year bucks with little spikes of antlers, too ~ I don't know how I didn't get a photo of them. They were running and playing and tossing their little heads around. They were proud of their little horns.

Leader buck is really looking around now.

Oh, hello there. Another buck has appeared on the left. That's what the leader was looking at.

I caught a picture as the boy up front was tossing his head around. His eyes are closed. He looks so peaceful. Is he smiling?

Everyone is slowly starting to walk away. We counted over ten male deer in this buck herd. I didn't get photos of them all, as some were behind bushes, and some were running and the photos came out fuzzy.

Right now the female deer are off raising their adorable little fawns, and the males separate off to form their own herds. We don't see many buck herds, but we see the groups of females and babies every day now.

I know, the blackberry bushes are growing wild on the fences. That's another task for another day...

Happy Saturday!

Guinea Update

2011-07-23T12:01:00.000-04:00

Our guinea keets that we hatched from eggs are turning into teenage guineas. They've been integrated with the chicken flock for a while now. The mama chicken hens no longer are mothers to them. Just recently we've encouraged them to start sleeping outside the chicken coop in the tree that's inside the chicken pen, so they are still protected from night monsters. They are starting to make guinea sounds, too, and are losing their baby voices. Raising keets from eggs has been a great experience for me since I raised their parents, too.

We appear to have 7 lavender (gray colored with white dots), 4 pearl gray (the dark ones), and 1 all white keet. The dark ones are changing from brown feathers to dark grey, and they are looking rough right now. They will be beautuful they they are adults. Right now we don't have any adult pearl gray guineas - I'm so happy we got some eggs that belonged to our pearl gray guineas before they were killed.

I love the light blue eyes!

Yesterday it was over 100 degrees F outside. Randy was feeding the birds frozen corn. We appear to have quite a few birds right now, but most of them are teenage keets and chicks.

I love how the rooster stands back on the right and lets everyone else eat.

Here are the 2 adult boy guineas. They are very lonely now. The White Boy is the leader, but there's not much of a flock, with just 2 of them. They finally have become friends.

And here's our 1 female adult guinea. She's broody. She's sitting on a clutch of 15 eggs. We've decided to let her hatch out her own keets. We'll see if she makes it. It's dangerous for her to sleep alone out in the woods overnight, sitting on the ground, blind. Guineas are very blind in the dark. Sometimes we discuss taking half her eggs and giving them to a broody chicken hen, so we know at least half of them may live. We have heard it's tough for keets and mama guineas in the wild, with fox and owl and coons out there in the woods.

Bella the chicken hen is broody again. She was the mama to half the guinea keets which are now teenagers. Bella's always broody. I guess she likes being a mommy. She's very hormonal right now. She would be the bird that we give the guinea eggs to hatch, if we give guinea eggs to anyone.

So we'll see what we decide to do with the additional guinea keets, if they live.

We're taking it one day at a time in this summer heat...

Come Take a Walk in the Woods

2011-07-17T14:04:00.000-04:00

Happy Sunday!!

Today is a relaxing Sunday around the house.

We decided, after seeing fat Jack lounging, to take a walk in the woods. We all could use some exercise.

Jack didn't join us, though. He preferred to nap.

See you later, Jack!

Bobby, the outside cat, had a bad night last night. He got locked in the garage. He was not a happy cat this morning when I found him at 5:30AM.

Bobby started the walk with us, but stopped at the entryway to the house.

He only goes so far into the deep woods.

He knows there's foxes and other monsters out there in the deep forest.

He's a smart cat, that Bobby.

And so it was Just Randy and I on the walk.

We found the 3 adult guineas out in the field. The Girl Guinea is broody. She wants babies and is sitting on eggs. I call her "pregnant", even though birds don't get pregnant, just broody. But to me it's the equivalent. So far Girl Guinea leaves her eggs and returns to our house every night with her 2 men to roost in the pine tree.

The male guineas don't know what to do now that their woman sits all day. They are actually getting along with each other, since they only have each other for company.

Soon enough all the baby guineas will be released and there will be lots of guinea drama. We have 12 baby guineas - I can't wait till they get to be free with their parents!

Can you make out Girl Guinea sitting behind all the leaves. I wonder how many eggs she has under her. She will be sitting for about a month. This "pregnancy" wasn't in my grand guinea plan. I planned on releasing all the teenage babies in a few weeks, but if Girl Guinea wont be a part of the festivities, I don't know what to do. Plus, with the addition of all the young guineas, the 2 adult males may stop protecting Girl Guinea, and she needs their protection while she sits. She's easy fox prey right now. Plus, I planned on her teaching the female teenage guineas how to be adult female guineas. But now she will be busy with her own babies, who will be newborns. Her "pregnancy" totally wasn't planned and it stresses me out.

Look at the below picture ~ what do you see????

Yeah, lots of high grass. But in that grass is my green wine bottle collection! Remember that? The grass has taken over. Everything looks different here in the summertime, the grass and weeds, the trees and vines, they totally take over.

Behind all the trees in the picture below is the old fallen over barn. In the small house (that you cannot see anymore in the trees) is the baby vulture nest!

Yes, we visited the baby vulture today. I will post photos of him in my next blog post.

(PS - He's adorable!!!)

Below is one of the fields. Trees have taken over. A couple years ago there were NO trees in that field.

And this concludes the photos of our walk today.

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday!

Meet Maggie

2011-07-16T22:00:00.000-04:00

Hello.

My name is Maggie.

I'm a mama coon.

I’m just hanging out here.

On the AC unit.

This is where raccoons normally hang out when they’re not doing anything.

Hmmm Hmmm.

Really, this is where the cool coons hang.

At least, the smart ones.

If I lean this way, I can look in the dining room window, and I can see the humans walking around inside.

Sometimes, they carry food, those humans.

I can also can see the back door over there on the left from my AC unit chair.

The humans bring food out the back door for Bobby, the cat, and put it on the porch.

Bobby likes to share.

If you need me, I'll be here.

If you'd like to share some food, that would be even better.

I'm not above begging.

Thank you!

Cupcakes & Deer Tales

2011-07-14T05:43:00.001-04:00

It's cupcake Thursday. What better way to celebrate the almost weekend?

These ones are lemon with vanilla buttercream icing.

The whitetail deer does that have been hanging in my backyard are all having their babies. The fawns are so adorable. And so small.

These twins didn't belong to the doe right behind them - their mama was a little behind them in the further field. There's an old barbed wire fence behind the doe pictured here and the other mother is behind that.

There's their mama on the left in the photo below. There's the fence between the two female deer.

When the twins decided to return to their mama, one of them got all hyper and started bouncing around the adult deer like a goofball. But she went to the wrong mama deer. Her fellow twin happy followed her to the wrong mama. The wrong mama deer didn't want to put up with the playful babies are started kicking out at them.

The playful baby quickly realized her mama was on the other side of the old barbed wire fence, so to get away from the crazy kicking doe quickly, the baby jumped through the barbed wire fence!!

Not a good idea.

Of course her back legs both got caught in the fence - her upper body made it through. And then she was hanging in the fence, kicking like crazy.

Oh, no!

I quickly put down the camera, opened the back door, and ran to the back porch.

Luckily I didn't have to intervene - the baby pulled free from the fence. I hope it's not too hurt from the barbed wire. The other baby walked around to the gate in the barbed wire fence and joined her mama like a civilized fawn.

Just another day in the life of a deer...

Sorry for the bad quality of the deer photos!

Happy almost weekend!

Hard Working Farm Cat

2011-07-11T08:11:00.000-04:00

Bobby the farm cat has become a standard fixture around here. He's always outside, nearby, waiting for a pet, offering a helping hand. Well, he would help if he could. We feed the chickens, he's right there watching. We work out in the fields, we hear his little voice talking to us from under the bushes nearby.

When Randy was spending nights outside hunting the guinea killer, Bobby was by his side all night.

The guineas are so used to him they ignore him now. And he's not afraid of them, either.

Here's Bobby lounging by the front door. You can see my new boots I just put on for my photo shoot for yesterday's post in the reflection! He wasn't impressed with the boots.

Bobby's getting fat - he's got a white spot of fur on his fat tummy. The white spot is growing as his tummy is growing. Maybe I'm overfeeding him - just a little...

The raccoons and Bobby are friends, although it doesn't look like it in this picture! I often see the coons and Bobby all sitting side-by-side on the front porch, begging for food from me. The coon in the photo below was wanting to eat Bobby's leftover cat food that he didn't finish, but I had just chased her off the porch. She was begging me for the food, trying to sneak on the porch when she thought I wasn't looking.

But Bobby wouldn't let her past him -he wasn't moving out of her way.

Bobby's eyes glow light blue at nighttime. Often at night we look outside and see 2 little blue glowing lights in the bushes; we know it's Bobby watching over the property. I haven't seen any other animal who's eyes glow blue like Bobby's. The other cats' eyes glow yellow (Jack) and green (Shadow) in the dark. It's funny how different animals have different colored eyes in the dark.

I didn't want another farm cat, but this one's a keeper now.

New Work Boots!!!

2011-07-10T16:36:00.000-04:00

I've been wanting a good pair of work boots for years now. Boots that can go outside and slosh around in the mud. Boots that I wear when I clean the chicken coop and work outside. Boots that could be worn in winter or summer. Durable and hard working. Yet I still wanted boots that were fashionable and show my feminine side. I wanted boots that can handle the farm work, and still look cute. Previously I was wearing an old pair of sneakers outside to work, and when I'd come in I'd take them off because they would be trashed. But sneakers absorb water and dirt- I was looking for something more waterproof/dirt-proof.

And so I kept my eyes open, waiting for the perfect work boots to enter my world.

Today I found them!

What do you think?

I luv them!

I found them on sale at DSW - one of my favorite places.

They are Bogs Classic High boots. They are cold tested down to -40°F. They have a non-slip sole that kicks away dirt so that you always have a sure step. Breathable, perforated insole provides shock absorption and vapor reduction.

I am a happy girl today.

PS - I also bought a new pair of sandals on sale!

Happy 4th of July

2011-07-04T20:40:00.000-04:00

We don't know how to take a break around here.

A holiday from work means we have more time to work around the farm. Yeah!

This weekend we spent alot of time outside.

Not at the beach, but in the fields.

Trees grow like weeds here - it's hard to keep them down. Many trees grow that really aren't that valuable trees, and they kill off more valuable trees. By pruning and cutting back trees we don't want to take over, we are able to make more room for growth of good trees.

Randy cut back trees and I mowed the fields with the riding mower. I love to mow with the riding mower - it's relaxing to me. And I get to listen to my iPod and have some "quiet time". These photos were taken before I mowed.

Recently 2 pregnant whitetail deer have been living in our backyard near the old barn. They know it's a safe place, and have been waiting for their babies to be born. There's plenty of grass and trees to to eat, and we don't disturb them there.

The other day last week I was baking carrot cake cupcakes for a co-worker, and I looked out the kitchen window and saw one of the deer had twin fawns with her!!!

One of the deer had her babies! They were staying very close to their mama. They had long gangly legs and plenty of white spots all over them. As I was appreciating them, before I got the camera, I heard a loud screaming noise. It sounded like a bird was being killed. I thought maybe that Bobby, the outside cat, caught a bird in the backyard. It was very close to the house. I looked out the window as close as I could to the house, but didn't see any cat or bird or anything.

Then suddenly, the oven timer went off. I rushed to get the cupcakes out of the oven and get them out of the muffin tins. I was really distracted by all the screaming outside, which was growing louder. As soon as I could I rushed to the back door, threw it open, and started to run outside and around to the kitchen area where the noise was still coming from.

Then, to my absolute surprise, I looked down and saw a mama raccoon and one infant raccoon standing by my feet eating from the cat food bowl. The baby coon was all head and feet. It was beautiful. I looked around and realized the screaming was coming from the edge of the woods where another infant raccoon couldn't climb over the fence and enter the backyard. He was screaming because his mama and sister left him. I stood there for a minute, just looking at the baby, realizing how amazing it was to see the deer and coon babies all in the same few minutes. At that moment I loved where I live.

Then, suddenly, I remember how just the day before I chased a large red fox out of the backyard right near where the baby coon was stuck outside the fence. An infant coon would be a great snack for that fox. The coon was making such noise, I would have been surprised if any wild animals in the woods didn't come to investigate. And it had been alone for a while now, for at least 10 minutes. I worried for the little baby, and so I chased the mama coon off to her lost child. She quickly scampered away and disappeared over the fence and into the woods, and she left her other baby with me on the back porch!!!

The coon baby stood up on her hind legs, looked at me in terror, looked around to where mama used to be, and then she started screaming! Her screams where just as loud as her brother's screams used to be. Coons make such a unique noise. I could have reached down and picked up the baby, she was so close. I pointed to where mama coon went. The baby coon looked, and timidly started off. She got confused a few times, but finally heard her mama in the woods. She climbed over the fence with a little trouble, falling on her butt a few times, but eventually made it, and disappeared into the woods. That is the last time the mama coon brought her babies to my door.

Jack the cat made the most of the holiday. He got lots of sleep. Oh, wait, he always gets lots of sleep...
I love to see his pink toes and nose and ears in the photo below. He's so cute I just want to hug him. Jack loves hugs and snuggles - I've never known a cat who loved to be held like Jack. And to think, he was once a wild stray. Now he's spoiled.

Jack has the biggest smile that I've ever seen on a cat.

It wouldn't be a holiday without something from the oven, so I made blueberry muffins to celebrate. Yeah!

Happy 4th of July!!

Chick & Keet & Guinea Update

2011-07-02T22:14:00.000-04:00

I hope you don't mind lots of chicken and guinea pictures, because this post is going to be chock full of photos!

Are you ready???

Here we go...

The Rhode Island Red chicks are finally getting bigger. Three of the 4 RIRs are mixed brown and white colors like the photo above and they have no tail. One of the RIRs - the one on the right in the photo below, has an all brown body and has a tail.

Could some of them not be RIRs?

The 4 RIRs/whatever they are, are still the most friendly chicks we have. They are darlings, they come right up to us to be held.

The RIR chicks and their mother hen still have not been fully integrated into the chicken/guinea flock. The mama hen is a fighter and we're taking our time getting her mixed in with everyone. They have made visits to the flock, but we always separate them back out again into their own pen.

The Cuckoo Marans are totally mixed in with the chicken/guinea flock. They are so big now! They are very inquisitive birds, and seem to get along with all the other birds very well. The babies have learned to listen to their mama hen and like to stay by her side, even though they are just as big as the guinea keets. We think we have 2 females and 2 males here, based on their combs and personalities.

Mama hen is in the nest box and is calling her babies to bed in the photo below.

I got a photo of one of the Cuckoo Marans flying into the nest box! He's showing his pretty wing stripes.

The guinea keets are totally integrated into the chicken flock. Bella, the white mama hen to the guineas, is paying attention to the keets less and less. The keets sometimes listen to their mama hens, and sometimes they go off by themselves and do their own thing. They are more independent birds than chicks at the same age.

I am happy to announce that the white guinea keet is still alive. When he was born he was normal, but something happened to him a few days after birth. We think it was some kind of vitamin deficiency. He stopped growing and starting acting very "slow"/not right. He stopped eating and drinking, too. He would walk backwards, couldn't keep up with the other guineas, and bumped into things, appearing to be blind. he couldn't fly when the others all could fly. He had bad balance. We read that keets sometimes have a vitamin E deficiency, so we started giving him a drop of vitamin E from a vitamin E capsule twice a day, and also gave him antibiotic water and mealworms. We hoped he would live as he was the only all white keet.

Little white keet has greatly improved and now there is no concern that he is slow or blind or may have to be put down. He eats fine now and he's able to fly fine. He's still a follower and pays attention to what the other keets do and imitates it. He's still the smallest keet, but sometimes he even fights for a treat and wins it because he's fast and small. He does like to be with his mama hen, Bella - he's sitting beside her on the roost in the photo above.

All the adults birds have adjusted to babies in the chicken pen. Below are the 2 roosters, the guinea keets, and the cuckoo maran chicks. We have a mixed flock. The guinea keets sing their beautiful guinea songs. the chicks peep like chicks do, and the hens cluck. Everyone is bilingual - they all speak guinea and chicken languages.

One of the hens, Genny (named after my friend Genny from Downeast blog), even has started sounding like a rooster. The roosters warn the flock when a hawk or other danger is near, making a rooster hawk cry. Genny is now working with the roosters, making the rooster hawk cry, standing out in the open when danger is near beside the roosters, while all the other birds take cover and hide in the bushes. Genny hasn't started crowing or anything, but I'm keeping an eye on her. She's a brave hen.

The guinea-killing monster is officially gone. We have not lost any guineas in a long, long time. We stopped bringing out the scarecrow, Andy, but we still do keep a radio on every night outside near where the guineas roost. Thank goodness that horror has passed.

We have 3 adult guineas, 2 males and 1 female. The lone grey male is not happy because he doesn't not have a mate. The white male has claimed the only female.

The below photo shows the mated pair of guineas eating a treat of chicken food. I sometimes give them treats right before they fly up to sleep in the pine tree. They love chicken food. The left one is the white male, the father of the white keet. He's the lead guinea now. I like the white male, he seems very smart. I think he's a good leader. The female is on the right eating.

Here's the grey boy guinea looking down at me from on top of the chicken coop.

He looks like a dinosaur bird.

Have a nice Sunday and a great holiday, from everyone here at Razzberry Corner!

Help with Bug ID Please!

2011-07-01T19:20:00.000-04:00

Help me identify this ant! Or maybe it's not an ant?

It has a strange skinny midsection and a large rear-end.

It's the size of a normal large black ant, but it really doesn't look like a normal black ant.

It reminds me of a small wasp, but it doesn't have wings.

We have suddenly got lots of these little buggers appearing inside and outside.

It's got some serious pinchers that you can see in the second photo below. I wouldn't want it to bite me.

Thank you for your help! I want these little guys gone!

CupCake Thursday

2011-06-30T06:26:00.000-04:00

Today's flavor is carrot cake!

Perfect way to start the weekend early!

Fortune Cookie

2011-06-26T20:33:00.000-04:00

Girly Coon

2011-06-25T09:05:00.000-04:00

We now have a friendly little mama raccoon who comes up to eat the outside cat's food every afternoon. We used to call her the "Afternoon Coon". She has learned that during the day there's cat food outside and it gets picked up in the evening before it gets dark. So she adjusted her schedule to arrive to dinner when it's still daylight. She's actually quite friendly, barely runs when we go outside. She has never been hurt by a human. Probably never saw another human before. I could probably reach down and pet her if I dared. But I don't dare. I would fall in love with her then.

I always feel guilty taking away the cat food. When there is no cat food she looks in the windows, waiting impatiently. Sometimes she peeps in the backdoor, sometimes she perches in one of the windows on the outside ledge, just to look in.

Bobby the outside cat has befriended the coony girl. She eats his food, and he stands beside her and watches. Then I go running outside and attempt to chase her away, but she just stands there and looks at me like I'm a meany. Finally I shoo her off, and she stands about 20 feet away looking at me, asking why Bobby gets to eat and she doesn't.

Of course I explain to the girly coon that the cat is a domesticated animal, and she's a wild animal. She has teeth and claws and is able to find her own food to eat out in the wild. She always tells me she's very hungry, her babies are sapping the life out of her, still nursing even though they're getting big, she's exhausted, and there's nothing good to eat out in the wild. Why can't she just share Bobby's food? she asks.

I know one day soon she will bring her babies to our door. And then before we know it there will be too many coons at our back door. We figured when her babies start showing up we'll have to move them all to another location on the property.

Guinea Keet and Chick Update

2011-06-24T06:00:00.004-04:00

All the babies are growing up.

The guinea keets have all been fully integrated into the chicken flock. The two mother chicken hens still look after them, but the keets are very independent and don't always listen to the mother hens anymore. The other chickens in the flock don't bother with the babies. The keets can fly very well. It's so cute to enter the chicken pen and see all the chickens running to me and all the keets flying to me.

At nighttime the two mama hens take their keets into the nest boxes to sleep - where the chickens lay eggs. We make sure to have all the eggs picked up before the nestboxes become a playpen for the keets. The mama hens start putting the keets to bed well before dark, like around 5 pm. The mothers and keets enter the chicken coop. Any other chicken gets chased out. Then the keets fly all over the chicken coop. The chickens hens can't fly, they just settle down into a nestbox. The keets fly up onto the chicken roosts, and fly over and finally settle down into the nest boxes. Some of the keets sleep in their own nestbox, some still sleep with their mama hen.

We have one chick (a chicken) who's half white leghorn, half amercauna. He has a large tail and is always strutting his stuff with his tail feathers straight up. However, he has no sign of a comb. He is the grandson of our lead rooster, Muffin. Maybe it's a girl, we'll see!

The Rhode Island Red chicks are by far the friendliest chicks we have. They are always underfoot and love to be held. They are very small still, although they eat well.

The Cuckoo Maran chicks are twice as big as the Red chicks. Sadly, I think we have a couple Cuckoo Maran roosters developing. At least 2 of them are getting little combs and often are bumping chests already. Time will tell...

I could watch the babies all day!

Our next goal is to get the (chicken) chicks and their 2 mother hens integrated into the entire chicken/guinea flock.

Happy Friday!

Eastern Kingsnake

2011-06-23T06:00:00.003-04:00

On Tuesday Randy found an Eastern Kingsnake attempting to come in our front door. Jack the cat, who was inside, was very interested. Randy caught it and put it in an empty old aquarium until he identified it and I got some photos of it. When the former feral cat Shadow saw it, she attacked it, attempting to kill it. She evidently had a run in with a snake when she was wild and knew not to play with snakes, but to take them seriously.

The snake was nasty. It rattled it's tail when we came near, it attempted to viciously attack and bite us, and it stunk to high heaven. I'm sure it was scared to death when Randy caught it.

Kingsnakes are not venomous, they produce a very foul smelling musk when scared, and they eat other snakes. They are immune to the venom of other local snakes. Really they are a good snake, as good as snakes can be. Here's the Wiki page on Kingsnakes: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingsnake. Our chickens and their eggs are well protected, but the guineas lay eggs in the woods that can attract snakes and other animals. This snake didn't appear to have any eggs in it's belly. Randy let it loose a distance from our house by the wood splitting area. Please don't come back, nasty, smelly snake. I don't hate snakes, and certainly don't think people should kill them for no reason, but I don't invite them into my front door, either!

Cupcake of the Day

2011-06-22T05:20:00.000-04:00

Yesterday's cupcake flavor was chocolate with mint icing.

Like a peppermint patty.

Refreshing.

Lilly Time

2011-06-21T06:00:00.001-04:00

Easter Lilly

Everything has a season. Now is the time for lillies to bloom.

Funny how the Easter Lilly blooms the first year you buy it at Eastertime. Then you plant it outside, and the next year it blooms in mid-June.

We have a lot of orange Tiger Lillies growing wild around the house, too.
I love lillies whenever they're blooming.

Caught in a Thunderstorm!

2011-06-20T06:00:00.001-04:00

We have a little raccoon that come up in the afternoons to check the cat food bowl for leftover food. She's a young mama coon. So far she keeps her babies hidden out in the woods. I can't help but smile at her. She smiles back at me as she chatters at me.

Friday afternoon we had a sudden thunderstorm that drenched everything, including the little coonie girl.

Is there any more food?

Ha, I found a piece of catfood!

Jack the cat watches the coon girl through the window from inside the safety of the house. Jack thought it was quite funny to see the raccoon all wet! He was smiling his cheshire cat smile. Life is good for Jack.

Swedish Butter Cookies

2011-06-19T06:00:00.005-04:00

Saturday I made Swedish Butter Cookies for a friend and neighbor.
This is one of my fav recipes because it's so very quick and simple. And yummy!
Cookies don't have to be only for the holidays!

Here's the recipe ~ It's from the Taste of Home Contest Winning Cookbook~ http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/Swedish-Butter-Cookies
Give it a try and let me know if you like it as much as I do!

Baby Black Vulture

2011-06-18T09:13:00.001-04:00

Back in April, I noticed a black vulture family seemed to be nesting on our property. And now it's confirmed! We have a Black Vulture couple raising a single baby in an old building on our property. I love vultures because they help us clean up the property. They are always flying overhead, scanning for food, and they sun themselves by sitting with their wings open. They don't bother the guineas at all. They're not noisy, and they don't seem to socialize with owls or other bad birds that may kill my flock, so I'm cool with them. Black vultures are good birds.

From Wikipedia: The Black Vulture inhabits relatively open areas which provide scattered forests or shrublands. With a wingspan of 1.5 m (5 ft) the Black Vulture is a large bird though relatively small for a vulture. It has black plumage, a featherless, grayish-black head and neck, and a short, hooked beak. it's a scavenger and feeds on carrion. It finds its meals either by using its keen eyesight or by following other vultures, which possess a keen sense of smell. Lacking a syrinx—the vocal organ of birds—its only vocalizations are grunts or low hisses. It lays its eggs in caves or hollow trees or on the bare ground, and generally raises two chicks each year, which it feeds by regurgitation.

These are not my vulture babies! For reference only!

This first picture was downloaded off the web and shows what the babies are supposed to look like. It shows a pair of babies. For some reason, our vultures only have one baby.

The photos of my baby vulture were taken with a cell phone camera, so they're not the best pictures! We weren't prepared to take photos, but were in the area where we knew the vultures lived, and then we found a baby! The baby is in an old fallen down house beside the old barn on our property. There's a big piece of tin roofing leaning up against the wall, and the baby is tucked up behind the tin. The first time we saw the baby he was tiny and puffy and very fragile-looking! The parents stayed close-by and were not happy with us looking at their baby.

Baby Black Vulture

About 2 weeks later we went and visited the baby again. He had gotten bigger, although he's still a white puff-ball. One of the parents stayed with him when we first got there.

Baby Black Vulture

Then, to our horror, the parent vulture threw up! Boy, did it smell!!!

Parent vulture throwing up!

Shortly after barfing, the parent flew up directly overhead us the the baby and kept watch from up there! I guess she didn't like the smell of her vomit, either! The smell was just too bad and we quickly left the area before we vomited, too!

After I returned home, I researched why vultures vomit. I read that if they are scared, they will vomit to make their bodies lighter for quick flight. I also read that vultures vomit toward a perceived threat and the foul smelling vomit deters most predators, as it did me!

I'll keep an eye on the little vulture baby growing up on Razzberry Corner and will bring my camera to get better photos to share next time!

Have a Nice Weekend!

Cupcake Friday

2011-06-17T10:16:00.000-04:00

Today's cupcakes were apple cinnamon with a touch of nutmeg, with vanilla buttercream icing.

I attempted to make some brown sugar buttercream icing from a recipe I downloaded off the web, but I wasn't happy with it after I made it. It wasn't fluffy enough. Then I attempted to add some brown sugar into some of my standard buttercream icing, but it turned out gritty. The brown sugar needs to be cooked so it's melted before putting it in icing. And that was just too complicated for me at 5AM this morning before work, so the standard vanilla buttercream icing had to do!

I'll have to experiment with different icings when I have more time!

Hello Giant Leopard Moths!

2011-06-15T19:05:00.000-04:00

We suddenly have many Giant Leopard Moths hanging out on our back porch. We never had them around in the previous years we lived here. They are nocturnal, only flying at nighttime. They just sleep there on the back porch during the day. They are very pretty.

From Wikipedia:

The Giant Leopard Moth or Eyed Tiger Moth (Hypercompe scribonia) is a moth of the family Arctiidae. It is distributed throughout the Southern and Eastern United States from New England to Mexico. The obsolete name Ecpantheria scribonia is still occasionally encountered.

This species has a wingspan of 3 inches (nearly 8 cm). The wings of this moth are bright white with a pattern of neat black blotches, some solid and some hollow. The abdomen is dark blue with orange markings, the male has a narrow yellow line on the sides. Its legs have black and white bands. Adult moths are strictly nocturnal and do not generally fly before nightfall (Fullard & Napoleone 2001).

The caterpillar is of the "Woolly Bear" kind, with a thick coat of black bristles (setae) and red or orange colored bands between its segments which become conspicuous when caterpillar rolls into a ball for defense.

Weekly Update - Monster Update

2011-06-12T10:54:00.000-04:00

This past week has been busy here at Razzberry Corner, as always. Lots is going on...

The chicks and keets are growing fast, as babies do. The mama hens still DO NOT like other mama hens or their babies near their own babies. The mama hens don't mind other birds around their babies, only other mother hens or babies are an issue. Which is making it very difficult to integrate the 4 sets of mama hens and babies into the flock.

I didn't get a picture of Jade and her 4 Rhode Island Red and 1 White Leghorn chick this week. They are all doing fine. The leghorn chick is much bigger than the Rhode Island Reds and I'm concerned it may be a boy. I don't need another leghorn rooster!

Cheryl is very defensive and likes to fight, and has taught Jade to fight because their pens are side-by-side. Now Jade has become a fighter - Jade is a follower, she's just a pullet and is not dominant. This week I had Jade and Cheryl and all their respective chicks loose in the big chicken pen together and they bother started fighting. The fight only lasted a minute - I had to separate the 2 hens as they were holding each other's heads in their mouths biting each other and flapping all around at the end of the fight. When I separated all the chicks, I realized one of the black Cuckoo Maran chicks was all bloody. Part of it's wing was gone, it had a wound on it's neck, and a huge hole in it's chest. Yellow organs were coming out of the chest. It's chest was oozing. I pushed the insides back into the chick's chest and put a bandaid over the wound to hold it together. Pieces of organs were on my finger. I think it was the bird's crop that was hurt. The chick has been given antibiotics in water from a dropper twice a day since the accident. I really can't imagine the chick got hurt that bad in the minute it was left unattended in the chicken pen - it may have been injured before. However, the injured chick is doing great. The bandaid came off the next day, it's chest has healed, it's wing and neck look normal. It's just as feisty as the other Cuckoo Marans. Amazing. I didn't expect it to make it, but it didn't even realize it was injured.

Cheryl and the Cuckoo Maran chicks

Bella had one injured coral blue keet that was badly injured when it hatched. It was given antibiotic water from a dropper twice a day until it healed. He has now totally healed and is doing fine. It almost died on day 1 of it's life, and quickly was much smaller than the other keets. But now he's totally normal. However, Bella has 1 all-white keet that started acting strange, started hobbling around, not acting normal. We read that keets can have vitamin deficiencies, and started this keet on a drop of vitamin E twice a day, along with twice a day antibiotic water. Although he's making a major comeback, this white keet is now only half as big as the others and something is still wrong with it. We're not sure it's going to make it. If it doesn't make it, it will be the only baby that died out of 12 keets and 9 chicks.

Bella and her 5 guinea keets

Charlotte and her 7 keets have been totally integrated into the flock, although we separate her and her babies to sleep in their own pen. However, this week they will be roosting with the adult chickens. The keets may be very small, but they are smart and catch on to things quickly. They can fly just like a normal wild bird, they are so lightweight I think flying is very easy for them.

Charlotte and her 7 guinea keets

Leggy loves to pose for the camera. Look at those drumsticks!!

Leggy

We still have 2 broody hens - Lucy and Ethel. Yesterday Randy gave Ethel a bath that started out nice and warm, but ended up cold. He was trying to break her of being broody by cooling her down. Chickens love baths, but not necessarily cold baths! The bath didn't break Ethel's broodiness - she was back in a nestbox this morning.


Ethel gets a bath

Coral Blue male guinea

Monster Update!

We still have 3 adult guineas - 2 coral blue (1 male, 1 female) and 1 white (male). The monster has moved on and has stopped the homicides! We still have Andy the scarecrow outside every night, and Andy listens to talk radio on a small handheld radio. Andy sometimes shows up in different areas of the yard to keep the monster guessing about what's going on. We really think the monster was a great horned owl.

After all the sudden murders of all the guineas, the white male guinea was expected to be the leader of the flock, as he was #2 in the flock before Guinea Boy died. However, the white male went into a great depression after everyone else was killed, and he was not acting normal at all. We thought he may move away on his own, he was so strange-acting. But then yesterday he came back to his old self again. He and the blue guinea were chasing each other all over the yard, and the White Boy gained his dominance back by kicking Blue Boy's butt. And so the only girl is dating the White Boy again, and Blue Boy was alone all morning today. The above photo was taken this morning as Blue Boy was hanging out by the chicken coop making eyes at Cheryl and her cuckoo maran chicks. Cheryl told him if he came any closer she'd show him who was boss. Cheryl would win that fight.

This morning Bobby the cat came too close to Cheryl. Bobby was just trying to be friendly to me and was rubbing on my legs, and I was feeding Cheryl and the chicks.

Cheryl won - Bobby knows not to get too close to a chicken again.

Bobby looking at that crazy mama chicken

Have a good week!

Company for Dinner?

2011-06-07T19:11:00.000-04:00

I really wish Bobby would talk to me first before he invited his friends over to share his dinner...

Chicks and Guinea Keets

2011-06-06T05:00:00.000-04:00

Our chicks and keets were a week old last Thursday. The babies have been staying inside the coop with the mama hens. We have 4 hens and 4 sets of babies, so the coop has been partitioned off so each mama and baby group has their own section, as they will fight. The mama hens will fight, that is. The babies, keets and chicks, all get along fine. The babies don't know there's a difference between keets and chicks. Also the babies get confused and respond to any mama hen, not necessarily just their own mama hen. And some of the mama hens don't like other people's babies and will peck them, so right now we must pay attention to them. It's like babysitting.

Here's Jade with her 4 Rhode Island Red and 1 White Leghorn chick.

Charlotte and her keets have a window looking out to the chicken pen in their coop section. All the chickens outside like to check out the babies through the window. The window is actually a door, but is covered until we are ready for the babies to go outside.

Last week we took each of the mama hens and their respective babies out of their coop area out to the big chicken pen. All was fine because we only had one mama and her babies outside at a time. The other chickens were curious, but there were no issues. The mama hens kicked a few other chicken's butts for coming too close to look, and now everyone knows to keep their distance from the babies.

The keets are scared of the big world outside and all stay close to Mama Bella.

On Saturday we got the bright idea to let all 4 mamas and their babies out at the same time. Not a good idea! The babies just need to get a little bigger before I'm ready for that again! As soon as we let them out, all Bella's keets joined up with Charlotte's keets. All the keets look similar, we didn't know which belonged to which mama. So Bella had no babies and started going hysterical. We knew Bella had 1 white -that's easy, there's only 1 white keet, so we grabbed him from the keet mix and gave him to Bell. Then we selected the one injured grey keet, which we know belongs to Bell. Then we just selected 2 more grey and 1 brown keet and gave them to Bell and got her separated onto the other side of the pen. Then we checked on Jade and her chicks who were on the far side of the pen. Jade and the family were ok. Suddenly, there's screaming going on from where Bella was. Cheryl just kicked Bella's butt for getting to close to Cheryl's chicks, and Bella took off running, abandoning her keets. The keets joined up with Cheryl's chicks, but Cheryl was attacking the keets. Cheryl knows she didn't have any keet babies and didn't want the keets hurting her chicks. I grabbed Cheryl while Randy separated out the keets, who again joined up with Charlotte's keets into a big keet mix. Charlotte welcomes all the keets back. Bella started running around like a wild hen screaming. All Bella's keets know their mama's voice and they were screaming even louder. But keets don't peep like chicks, they whistle. Then, to top it off, the adult guineas arrive outside the pen. They hear the keets screaming whistles, and I guess they recognize their own kind. The adult guineas start making the same high-pitched whistle call that the keets are making. It was actually a very beautiful noise, in the midst of the chaos. All the keets start whistling to the adult guineas. So sweet, and so sad, knowing we recently lost most of the parent guineas. After a moment of listening to the guineas, we had to get back to the order at hand. All the babies had to go back to the proper mama, mama's had to be separated again and let out only one at a time. It was tough to figure out which keets belonged to Bella and Charlotte- They have 5 and 7 keets each, respectively. When the keets were with the wrong mother they whistled a distress call. We had to figure out which ones were whistling and swap them out. Babysitting is hard work! I will never have so many mama hens at the same time again - it's too complicated!

Guineas looking in on the keets. Female is on the left, male on the right.

Bella enjoys a dirt bath!

Have a Nice Week!

Chimney Swifts, Blue Skies and Old Trees

2011-06-05T05:00:00.001-04:00

Yesterday I noticed a group of Chimney Swifts flying over and around our house. They were flying close together and making a high-pitched chirping. I had to get my bird book to identify them, as I had never seen them before. They were easy to photograph, as they kept making circles over the house.

In flight, this bird looks like a flying cigar with slender curved wings. These birds live on the wing, foraging in flight. They eat flying insects. They usually feed in groups, flying closely together and making a high-pitched chipping noise. Their flight is distinctive: they make rapid angular turns unlike most other birds. Both the claws and tail bristles are used to cling to rough vertical surfaces. Swifts are unable to perch or stand upright.

Look for the swifts in these photos. The clouds and sky were magnificent.

The below photo doesn't have any swifts, but shows on the left the mighty pine tree in which the guineas sleep every night. It's a very tall and old pine tree, taller than most of the other trees in the area.

The great horse chestnut tree is on the right. This is the only horse chestnut tree on the property, believed to have been planted by the settlers who came to this country. The horse chestnut is not native to this area, and has many medicinal purposes which are very interesting. Our homesight is the site of the original homstead built in the 1700's. The former home was destroyed and the current house was built in the 1850s.

I'm sure we have many other herbs and medicinal plants which were planted long ago, just waiting to be identified!

Monster Update - Monster, Meet Andy

2011-06-04T09:10:00.001-04:00

Andy the scarecrow

The monster that's killing our guineas is still out there, hunting them at nighttime. Randy has spent most nights in the past week sleeping outside, shotgun at the ready. It only attacked once when Randy was out waiting for it, and that was the first night he was outside, and he wasn't ready. But he's ready, now.

The monster enters the hunt area silently, attacks the guineas in the pine tree, they are chased out and fly blindly into the night. Guineas can't see in the dark. Sometimes the guineas land in another tree, sometimes they land on the ground. Then the monster attacks them on the ground, over and over. They fly all over the fields, but the guineas land on the ground. The monster attacks them again and again, leaving guinea feathers in many spots in the fields. Sometimes the guineas fly up to our front door. The guineas put up a fight. Finally the guineas are killed. At the various attack and kill spots many feathers are ripped out, and many feathers are broken in half. The monster is strong, bigger than a guinea. Then the guinea body is taken away. Gone to the monster lair to feed the baby monsters. We have not yet found the monster lair, but are actively looking.

And now it has stopped attacking when Randy's out there hunting it, watching over the pine tree. One night this past week Randy was exhausted and came in at 1AM to sleep in a normal bed, and the monster attacked and killed one of the guineas after he came in. Since then no one else has died. We are down to 3 guineas - 2 are a coral blue mated pair, and the white guinea male. There isn't a flock anymore, they don't travel in a flock or hang out together. The white boy is always separated from the pair, often the white boy disappears all day, just to return to sleep. The mated pair are always off doing their married couple things - he makes her a nest every morning, she lays an egg, then they walk around together, he feeds her. They are still living in guinea bliss, not paying attention to the fact that there's a monster hunting them at night. Maybe they are making the most of their time together? The white boy is miserable, when he is around he often spends his days afraid to leave the protection of the pine tree. He screams all the time. We are sure he survived an attack and now is scared to death. Poor Boy.

Because the monster has excellent night vision, we made a scarecrow to put outside only at nighttime. I named the scarecrow Andy. Last night Randy let his brother Andy take his hunting duty, and Randy was able to sleep. I went out and sat with Andy from 1AM to 2AM to assist if needed. All the guineas lived through the night on Andy's first night guarding them.

Andy

The 2 surviving coral blue guineas

Baby Bunny Story

2011-06-01T00:01:00.002-04:00

A few weeks ago I posted some pictures, but never told the story behind them. A few people asked about the stories that I forgot to post. I have been very busy with the day job, the guinea keets and chicks, the guinea homicides, and with baking. There for a while, my blogging was slowing down. I had to get my priorities in order!!

The baby bunny story is very simple.
Once upon a time, Little Bunny was out playing in the back yard. He was having such a good time playing that he didn't realize he wandered too far away from his home in the brush and stick pile. Suddenly, Little Bunny looked around, and he couldn't see his home anymore! He mama was nowhere to be found! He started hopping as fast as he could, but he couldn't find home. Little Bunny was lost. His mama told him stories about the monsters that lived in the woods. She always told him never to go into the woods, as it wasn't safe for Little Bunny.

Then, out of nowhere, Little Bunny was picked up by Randy. Little Bunny screamed, for he thought Randy was a big bad monster. Randy explained that he was the keeper of the farm and the overseer of all things at Razzberry Corner, and that Little Bunny was safe with him. And so, Randy returned Little Bunny to his home in the brush pile, and he was safe for another day.

The End.

Pies and Cupcakes

2011-05-30T00:01:00.003-04:00

This past week I was busy in the kitchen.

Caramel cupcakes

Lemon cupcakes

Butter cupcakes

I was very disappointed with the meringue on my key lime pie. It's been so long since I made meringue that I didn't really remember details. So I used a meringue recipe that I really don't like, but I didn't know that till after 2 hours of beating meringue. And so I used it anyway, but it didn't get all big and fluffy like I like. And I cheated with this pie and used a pre-made graham cracker pie crust. Don't tell anyone!

It was still a great-tasting pie, but it just would have been more impressive looking with higher meringue. And without that store-bought crust!

Key lime pie with graham cracker crust

Happy Memorial Day!!!

The Easy Way to Clean a Poopy Chick Butt and How to Sex Chicks

2011-05-29T14:31:00.004-04:00

All our keets and chicks are doing well. We got 4 Rhode Island Red (RIR) chicks and 4 Cuckoo Maran chicks from the farmer's market yesterday. They were all 1 day old. They were incubator chicks, we were told. They all did great bonding with a mama hen, especially the RIRs. The Cuckoo Marans really just wanted to sleep yesterday. Today they are bonding with their mama hen very well.

Of course we wanted pullets, so we tried these methods we found online:

To determine the sex of a Rhode Island Red chick:

Look at its feathers on the edge of the wing. If the chick has two uneven rows of feathers its female. If both rows are even, male.
Females have dark spots on her head or back. Males have stripes

We really noticed a difference in the wing feathers- some were even, some were definitely uneven. We chose all uneven. It was hard to tell about the spots or stripes.

To determine the sex of a Cuckoo Maran chick:

Females are darker, males are lighter.

That sounds easy enough, but they all were generally the same shade of black. Some had more white spots. We chose the darkest ones available.

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Today I checked all the chicks (and all the keets, too) for signs of a poopy butt. Sometimes poop sticks to the bottom of a chick and dries, making the chick unable to poop. This can kill the chick. Mama hens will try to pick the poop off the chick. One of the cuckoo marans had a poopy butt, and so I brought her in the house and had a great idea. Last year when we had chicks, I used to wipe the chick's bottom with a warm damp wash rag and try to wipe the poop off. The chick would scream and fight. It wasn't a happy time for the chick.

This time, I put some warm water in the bathroom sink so it was just high enough to cover the chick's butt when she stood in it. Then I put her in it and swooshed water around her bottom. I held her there for about 5 minutes. At first she fought, then she calmed down and almost went to sleep in the warm water. It was a relaxing spa for the chick! I took her out and wiped her bottom with a wet tissue, which is much softer than a wash rag. The poop easily wiped off her butt in a second. It was so easy! I thought I'd share this concept, since that's what blogging is all about - sharing ideas.

I lightly dried the chick with a tissue and put her with her mama hen. She took 2 steps and made the biggest poop I've ever seen come from a chick. Then she flapped her wings and bounced around with the other chicks. Problem solved!

Monster Hunting and New Chicks

2011-05-29T00:00:00.000-04:00

Just a quick post with no pictures. The camera is out in the chicken coop, and I don't want to walk out in the dark. Besides, Randy is out there hunting all night, and I'm not allowed to disturb the area.

First - the horrible news. Another guinea was killed Saturday morning. We got up at 4:30 AM and Randy went out to hunt the guinea-killing monster, but he was too late. The small female guinea was already killed and missing, leaving feathers behind. That makes 3 guineas in 3 nights. And so Randy is spending the night outside tonight. On the previous nights the guineas were killed I never heard a sound, and I was up by 5AM. Most likely they were killed before I got up, and that's why I didn't hear them.

On Friday Randy cut down the tree in the woods that he thought held a monster nest. He thought it was a hollowed out tree. A trail of guinea feathers had gone from where the guinea was killed at our front door to the tree in the woods. The tree had a big hole in it, and the trail of light colored feathers was easy to see going into the hole. But there was no nest in the tree. The monster must have sat in the tree and eaten guinea dinner?? Hmmm, that rules out fox, I think. I still do not think that raccoons are fast enough to hunt, chase and kill a guinea. But that's just my opinion. Owl, maybe? Today after doing the crime scene analysis of the latest guinea victim, we noticed the biggest, strongest guinea feathers were just sheared off in half. Something very strong grabbed that bird and ripped it's strongest feathers into 2 pieces like they were twigs. Hmmm, great horned owl??? Eagle? But it's a night hunter. Scratch eagle. Great horned owl. We will see tonight.

UPDATE! UPDATE! BREAKING NEWS!

Just as I was writing about the monster, it attacked outside. I honestly didn't hear anything inside the house. With the new windows we have, noise doesn't travel inside at all. Randy just came in to replace flashlight batteries. He said suddenly all the guineas screamed and flew out of the pine tree, scattering all over the yard. And of course Randy's flashlight started dieing at that moment when he turned it on. He never saw or heard what scared the guineas. Luckily he was able to pick up the white male guinea off the ground and put it in the chicken pen for the night. One is safe. The hunt continues into the night.

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In other news, today we got 4 Rhode Island Red chicks and 4 Cuckoo Maran chicks. We wanted some dark brown eggs. And so we will have 8 new chickens in our flock. Probably 4 will be roosters anyway and we'll sell them! We gave the chicks to 2 of the broody hens in the chicken/keet nursery.