Queen Anne, our Silver Laced Wyandotte hen, is broody. After a few days we decided to let her have some eggs to sit on. We moved her from the hen-house last night and this afternoon we gave her a clutch of eggs. (Blue/green eggs courtesy of a friend.)
Here she is, shortly after egg-handover. In a few moments she pulled all the eggs in, where they will be warm and cozy. And now we wait and see. 21 days, if she proves a committed mother.
Filed under gardening
This morning when we opened the egg door…
we found an egg!
Courtesy of one of our Buff Orpingtons. It’s all very exciting. Keep them coming!
Filed under food
To cheer things up around here, I though I should write a post about our chickens. Because we are loving them!
Gary built them a fabulous coop. We used the plans for The Garden Coop, though we made it shorter, and switched a few things around. The height change was largely to try to save a bit of money, though in retrospect we can’t have saved much. When all was said and done, it was not a cheep coop, but we were anxious to “do it right” from the beginning, and so we are very pleased with the result. The coop is an integrated run and henhouse, which means they can get up on their own in the morning, and if we are away, they can still safely go outside. We let them out in the morning, and they free range about our property, finding lots of things to eat. It is a lovely sight to see them roaming about, and hear that pleasant clucking. I love that they stick together as a flock, though occasionally somebody looses track of the group and starts the unmistakable “purrup purrup!” of a lost chicken.
We are pretty sure the rooster/hen count is now, incredibly, 5 and 5. (well, it was always thus, we just had no idea). Just what we were aiming for. Ernest, our oldest rooster, has been crowing for some weeks, and so far it is quite acceptable. We are thinking we may allow him to stay-on to look after the girls. This will be revised, if he becomes a problem. The hens are two Barred Rocks, two Silver Laced Wyandotte and one Black Australorp.
Little R loves her chickens. “Dick, dick, dick!” It’s not uncommon to see her “free-ranging” with them on the grass. I’m becoming more mindful of this, of course, as they get older, since I know roosters can be aggressive. So far there have been no problems. She was not best-pleased when they cheekily stole her apple (though she was probably trying to feed it to them anyway), but that has been the only conflict.
We have a while to wait yet, but are looking forward to the first egg!
Filed under gardening, Uncategorized
The newest excitement at Good Cheer is a box of cheeping chicks. 10 in all: 6 Plymouth Barred Rock and 4 Silver Laced Wyandottes. I have to say that obtaining the chicks was not a positive experience but now that they are home and doing well it’s great. Five of the chicks were “day-old” when we got them on Monday evening, four were a few days old and one…well, one is probably about two weeks, and looking very awkward. The others look a this bigger chick as a mother, following it about and ducking underneath, looking for a warm spot. They are, of course, unbearably cute. (though I was not prepared for just how dead a sleeping chick can look!)
We are hoping a good number of these chicks will turn out to be hens, and as such will go on to give us eggs! The roosters…their fate is not entirely decided, but one option is that after a short, but hopefully very good, life with us, they will go on to give us chicken pot pie. I say “us”, though as I haven’t eaten chicken in many years, it will likely be for Little R and G.
But I won’t talk more about their end just yet, since they are only beginning, and it is time to enjoy their fluffy cuteness. (again, oh so “Sofs”)
And it is also time to build a chicken coop!
(And just in case you are wondering, the box shown is not their home, just a box to hold a few for a visit with Little R.)
Poor old blog. A bit neglected these days. I’ve been rather taken up with plans and schemes and research around gardens, and chickens, and goats. And while I’ve sort of held off posting about these things (lacking suitable visuals) I will do so now, to explain my absence!
First, The Garden: Doesn’t everybody start making garden plans in February and March? Something about knowing spring is coming. I use the snow as a sketch pad and tramp about, outlining beds and fencing. We want to put more into our vegetable garden this year (now that I can help!) and I have plans for a little front garden of herbs and country flowers. With a wattle fence. I got a copy of The Year-Round Vegetable Gardener for my birthday and am very excited about the possibilities. We may not get things in terribly early this year (other things going on….as you will see) but I am very keen to extend the harvest into the winter, and focus energies perhaps more on that than on growing to preserve. So far everything is just in my head but I’m itching to get at it. As a small start I just put a cloche over some chives to encourage the little green tips.
Chickens: Sometime this spring we will be getting 10 chicks. 5 Plymouth Rock and 5 Silver Laced Wyandotte. We need to figure out how to brood them until they are big enough to go outside. And then they will need a coop. After MUCH deliberation we decided on The Garden Coop. We plan on having the chickens free range, but wanted something predator proof (!) and an enclosed run if we are away. This coop seems to have good instructions and the blog has lots of info, alterations and will be great for support.
The Goats: These twin angora/pygmy doelings will be joining us in May.
We decided they would be right for us because of their small size, and space and food needs. I was also intrigued by the possibility of fibre. Next year, after they have been bred and kidded, we will milk them. Pygmy goats give little (but supposedly very good) milk but I’m hoping it will be about right. We need fencing, and a pen, and I need to finish shingling the barn….
And today finds me, back to the wood-stove, the trusty John Seymour tome close to hand, plotting ways to grow food for said chickens and goats. (Kind of ties it all together. Which, of course, is the point.)
