A Mothers Love doesn't discriminate

 Remember that cute little yellow Duckling? Here it is! I had no idea Ducks grow so fast! 

I purchased a duck and 6 chicks at the same time. We laughed at the fact that Dexter would grow up thinking he/she is a chicken.  We also didn't know if Dexter was a boy or a girl and still don't. I'm inclined to believe its a female as Dexter has strong maternal instincts. Dexter thinks these chicks are her babies.  Above you will see that I took Dexter out of the run for a swim in the kiddie pool. She just jumped out and waddled over to the run trying to get close to those babies and didn't like that they were inside and she is outside.

 I later purchased two more ducklings. One is with these chicks that you see in the run. The other is inside the coop with the two Polish Top Hat chicks. The black duck (Batman) has a deformed leg due to a vitamin deficiency and has a difficult time walking around. For now Ill keep it with the little ones.

Its quite the job taking care of all these animals these days.  Every morning I have to let the hens out to free range, let the chicks and two ducks into the run, make sure they all have plenty of water (since ducks drink about a gallon a day) and I move the Top hats fromthe tiny brooder in the coop to the larger brooder in the coop with Batman. I make sure they all have food and water and then go on to work. In the afternoons I come home and let the ducks swim and before dark I have to move all the chickens back to their original places. It will be nice when they can all be together! 

Some days I love these creatures with all I have in me and other days, I want to get rid of all the animals and my belongings and just be alone! I guess that's life! 

Cuteness Overload

 I am the crazy chicken lady. I am down to 8 laying hens and 1 rooster. 

Its spring! Time for babies! I purchased six chicks and 1 duck. 

Why one duck? I wanted a few ducks but at Tractor Supply they had only ONE duckling! 

It was in a bin all alone so I got him and Im pretty sure hes going to grow up thinking hes a chicken.  His name is Dexter. (we really dont know if its a he or a she)

Dexter is going to be one spoiled duck!

My weekend- new chickens and redecorating

 A week ago I purchased five chicks to add to our flock (since we were down to only five laying hens) Then, I found out some friends were moving and needed a home for their laying hens. So this weekend I adopted five hens (that are already laying)

 When I added the new hens to the flock.... I let the new ones explore the run alone while the others free ranged in the yard and checked the new ladies out from the other side of the fence. At night, I opened the coop so they could all be inside together. Again, the new ones stayed in the coop/run alone today while the others free ranged. Later, I let them all back in the coop. Three of my hens decided it was time to lay their eggs at the same time in their favorite box. These silly girls!

 I tried to move two but they only hopped back in there. Later I returned to find three eggs in the box.

I have three Buff Orphington hens now. They are a much larger breed but so pretty! I just love them already!

Im also excited about changing the living room around. We are finally getting rid of the red wall! Cant wait to finish the living room and share photos later!

Dangers in Chicken Keeping

What a weekend! The chicken coup needed a deep clean and I worked on that this weekend. However, when I was in there spreading fresh straw a piece poked right into my eyeball. 

This morning it was still very red and draining. I ended up at the eye doctor before work. After he put a dye in my eye and looked with a special light, he saw I had a scratch on the cornea. 

He put in antibiotic drops and patched it and sent me off to work.

Oh the preschoolers loved that! I was told that I look like a pirate and they asked if my eyeball fell out and all sorts of funny questions. I came home totally drained and with a terrible headache! 

Who knew that chicken keeping could be so dangerous?

Got Eggs?

 We have lots of eggs!

Chickens dont like snow

 When the snow started I was leaving work. It takes me about 40 minutes to get home but on that day, it took two hours (and then I got stuck on my road !) As I walked up to the house I heard the chickens squawking! They were not happy about this weather! They wouldnt even leave the coop!

 The rooster has really blossomed ! He used to be small and ugly but now he's pretty handsome!

Above is our hen that the girls have named "Goose" shes an Americana and she lays green eggs.

I took them special treats during all this snowy weather. They wouldnt even go into the run and had the added bonus of the heat lamp on during the cold snap. 

Im sure they will be happy when our weather reaches 70- degrees in the upcoming week.

Spring Chickens

 The hens are working hard at providing tons of eggs now that we are having more and more daylight! Our youngest hen is laying now and as most first eggs, they are tiny but getting bigger with each egg. 

We are expecting a lot of snow and ice in the next few days so we have the heat lamp on again. Im excited about the large amount of snow we are expecting (we dont get a lot of snow here often) but after this, Ill certainly be ready for spring. 

(and my chickens will too)

This Week I .....

 This week I sold my Americana rooster. I have loved watching him grow up and was sad to say goodbye but when my little friend's chicken turned out to be a rooster, it was a bad combo (to have two roosters) so we sent him to a new home.

 This week I watched Lucky Bear grow more! At 7 weeks old he is about 7 lbs.

This week I applied for part time jobs to help with expenses and to help get me through the summer. (no interviews yet)

This weekend I rested a lot. My immune system has been working hard these last few months in the new job. This weekend Ive been finishing up the Dexter series on Netflix and catching up on blog reading.

Our Ugly Buzzard Blossomed!

 Remember this cute little chick ?

 Remember this cute little guy?

 My little friend here watched chicks hatch from eggs at school last year. He wanted to keep one so he asked if it could live with me :) I agreed and have had so much fun watching it grow.

 It was quite ugly once it lost its baby cuteness. We joked about him being a buzzard. It started to change a lot recently and it was today that I realized that cute little chick is a ROOSTER! 

Unfortunately he is fighting with my other rooster so we have to find a solution soon!

He;s turned out to be quite handsome!

Cold Chicken

 This week we had some very cold weather. Lower than its been in more than a decade. 

We had to prepare the coop to keep the chickens safe.  We put the heat lamp (from when we had chicks) in the coop and kept it on 24/7 It looked like the coop was ablaze!

 Of course the light kept the chickens awake more which makes them eat more.

I put out extra feed for them to eat. The digestion of the feed also keeps them warm. 

Each morning I went out with boiling water to pour over their frozen water. I also fed them some leftovers!  They did well in 4 degree weather! In fact, in the past two days we collected ten eggs! (which is unheard of here in the winter!!)

 I found a few eggs in the door of the fridge, Id forgotten they were there! 

I used a little trick to test the eggs to see if they were good or not. Your egg should stay at the bottom of the glass if its fresh and good. As it ages it will stand up and eventually, if its too old thus bad to eat, it will float (like the photo above) 

If the egg is fresh and good to eat, it will stay at the bottom of the glass like the photo below.

In the winter I find myself purchasing grocery store eggs. I don't like to do that anymore but we do what we have to do. Ive read about how people use lighting in the coops to keep their chickens laying eggs year round and I had no interest in doing this, that is, until I saw what a difference it made in the egg laying this week! 

Broody Hens and Curtains

 My hens have curtains! They like small  and often dark spaces to lay their eggs. I used an old dust ruffle from my baby girls bedroom to create these curtains. Behind them are nesting boxes. (not the ones they tend to use) but never the less.... I think its cute!

The above hen (Big Red) has turned broody. The nesting box they all lay in (and take turns to lay in) is on the far end of the coop. I'm unable to put curtains over that box. Big Red has decided to brood. This means her body is telling her its time to hatch eggs. (only we don't have a Rooster so theres no chance of chicks) When they brood, they don't lay eggs. They sit and take up all the time on the nest. They also pluck their chest feathers out and put them around any eggs they have to cushion them. Their bare skin also keeps eggs and chicks warmer than it would with the feathers. 

At first I was leaving her alone to brood but have since read that we shouldn't allow her to brood since its contagious and they stop laying eggs while sitting on the nest! So, I removed the straw from the nesting box to deter her from sitting there. I also put ice packs in the nest. If she does sit (and she did) the ice will help cool their body down. I guess its a chemical thing. 

Ive noticed another hen sitting alot and I think she is brooding now. 

I really wish the neighbors dog hadn't eaten Edgar, Id let them hatch babies if we had fertilized eggs. Never a dull moment with chickens.

New Home for the Chicks

 The space under the nesting boxes was wasted space. My husband was getting tired of having chicks in the bathroom :) and closed in this space for the chicks.

 The older chicks were being tormented by the hens so we have put them in the new brooder with the smaller chicks. They seem to all enjoy their own space, and the heat lamp is still in this brooder (outside in the coop)

 They dont have to fight for feed anymore (the hens seem to love their chick feed better than their own) I placed a new water drinker (thingy) in the run which I added their favorite, apple cider vinegar to. This makes them drink more and stay hydrated during hot days. It also has antibiotic properties and is a natural wormer.

Is it terrible that I have about as many photos of my chickens as I do my children?

The thing about moving the chicks outside it the smell we were noticing did not leave the bathroom. We have a dead creature somewhere under the house. We have looked in the crawl space, behind the siding and insulation etc... and have now realized whatever it is has died between the shower/tub and the flooring which is next to impossible to get to. Unless we tear out the tub/shower walls.  UGHHHH

Im very tired and worn these days. We work long hours and never have enough money. 

Its a stretch just to buy a few clothing items for my daughter and Im so tired of it! 

Ever have that feeling? 

Foster Chick named "Spot"

 How cute is this little chick?!

 A friend of mine's son hatched eggs in his classroom. He wanted one and did everything to prove to his mom he would be responsible enough.

 So I told him that I would keep his chick with my flock if he would agree to come over and help clean the coop and care for the chickens. (The chick on the right is our smallest chick that's two weeks old. The one on the left is 3 days old and so funny! Its little butt is bare with no fluff/feathers)

 Today was the day for a deep clean. I shoveled all the straw out, sprayed it down, scraped poop and used white vinegar to clean/scrub with.

 My little friend didn't want to use my "girlie" gloves.

I used Diatomaceous Earth to dust around the coop to keep the insects down.

 My little friend helped spray out the coop, he also cleaned out the brooder and put fresh straw in.

 Hes so proud of his funny little chick .

 Later this afternoon he came over to share some strawberry caps with the flock :)

Our crazy daily lives

 This last few weeks have been a bit crazy. My husband went out to the coop this week and found this black snake curled around the eggs in the nesting box. It had already eaten two eggs and you could see the two crunchy lumps.

 Below you will see the brooder that my husband added to the coop. We added the chicks to the coop brooder today. The heat lamp is in there too. The juvenile chicks are in there too because the big girl (hens ) have been bullying them.

 The big girls got a new waterer for the run. I added apple cidar vinegar to their water in the run. (You shouldn't add vinegar to metal waterers as it causes them to rust)

 My baby girl celebrated her birthday with 4 friends at a small fun park in Raleigh-Durham area. She road this with her friends!

 One of our barred rock juvenile chicks got out of the coop and a hawk got it. (yes, one week after my three leghorns were killed) Then the neighbors dog got my new rooster and this is what was left in our yard. (very sad)

One of my daughters will be traveling on an airplane for the first time this week as she flies to Arizona with her grandma. 

School is out for summer.

Unbelievable! 

I will be working and only having a short few days off this summer. I'm not sure we will get a vacation but as long as I'm with my family, I'm good.

My chickens enjoyed their first watermelon treat of the summer. They love watermelon and it helps cool them down and hydrate them during hot southern summers.