Oh, and I put the "middle" kids in the hen house last night for the first time. Everything went fine, they've been spending their days in there by choice as it is so everyone seemed good with it!
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Green EGGs!
I've had brown, blue and white egg laying hens but never a green one! With my roo carrying the blue gene over a hen carrying the brown gene, you get a GREEN egg! They are SO pretty! Found one two nights ago on the ground of the run and then another yesterday just outside the coop. Since they're both the same color, I believe it's from the same girl so hopefully this will kick start the rest of this group to start laying too. I can't wait to have lots of eggs again and my egg customers will be glad to be able to have their farm fresh, free range eggs again too!
Oh, and I put the "middle" kids in the hen house last night for the first time. Everything went fine, they've been spending their days in there by choice as it is so everyone seemed good with it!
Oh, and I put the "middle" kids in the hen house last night for the first time. Everything went fine, they've been spending their days in there by choice as it is so everyone seemed good with it!
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
LOVE these Marshmellow Heads
I'm already chicken crazy but I am in love with these little marshmallow heads!
Before I lost all my chickens last January I was planning on breeding my EE chickens since my roo is EE but after my 6 month search for these rock star chicks and finally found NINE from a breeder (better then a hatchery which I'll cover in future post) , I decided that I am passionate about them enough to commit to breeding them to the standards.
In my lifetime I have bred Cocker Spaniels and Quarter Horses, so I'm not new to the commitment and passion one needs to breed for the betterment of the breed and I am ready to make that commitment. To top that off, I have very young grandkids who love these marshmallow heads as much as I do! My 5 year old grandson Geddis, told me today that he didn't want to leave until these chicks got bigger! After spending the day watching the chicks and his worry after seeing our roo mount one of the hens and concerned that our roo was hurting her, he got the lesson on what mating is and that all eggs are not fertile and how they get fertilized...well, he actually saw how they get fertilized, and he's OK with the whole thing.
So, lots to learn and am looking forward to a flock of these dizzy little chickens running around!
Before I lost all my chickens last January I was planning on breeding my EE chickens since my roo is EE but after my 6 month search for these rock star chicks and finally found NINE from a breeder (better then a hatchery which I'll cover in future post) , I decided that I am passionate about them enough to commit to breeding them to the standards.
In my lifetime I have bred Cocker Spaniels and Quarter Horses, so I'm not new to the commitment and passion one needs to breed for the betterment of the breed and I am ready to make that commitment. To top that off, I have very young grandkids who love these marshmallow heads as much as I do! My 5 year old grandson Geddis, told me today that he didn't want to leave until these chicks got bigger! After spending the day watching the chicks and his worry after seeing our roo mount one of the hens and concerned that our roo was hurting her, he got the lesson on what mating is and that all eggs are not fertile and how they get fertilized...well, he actually saw how they get fertilized, and he's OK with the whole thing.
So, lots to learn and am looking forward to a flock of these dizzy little chickens running around!
Friday, July 1, 2011
Crested Polish Chicks FINALLY!
I am SO excited! I have been looking for White Crested Black Polish chicks for over 6 months and I finally found some.....umm, make that EIGHT! They're straight run, which means we don't know what sex they are so I had to buy them all to up the odds on getting some girls! Three of them are the White Crested Black so I'm hoping at least one of those is a girl. I pick them up at the Tehema County Fairgrounds tomorrow morning! When I can spend more time talking with the lady who hatched them and find out if they're not related then I'll keep the best cockerel (boy) for breeding. As tough as it has been to find them I'm sure there's a market worth me putting up with another crowing bird... :/
Here's a picture the lady that hatched them sent me....OH, I'm SO excited! Check out those little marshmallow heads!
Here's a picture the lady that hatched them sent me....OH, I'm SO excited! Check out those little marshmallow heads!
Monday, June 27, 2011
Yes or Roo?
Seems like lately, everyday on this farm consists of me trying to figure out if this chicken or that chick is a pullet or a cockerel. For you non-chicken owners, that's a girl or a boy.
I hatched my own eggs, set Super Bowl Sunday (GO PACKERS) after losing my whole flock of 20 to something...under suspicious circumstances but only my Roo, Big Daddy survived. Under the worst of circumstances, I grabbed eggs out of the coop and the fridge and to my surprise, I hatched 14 of 22!
Here I am 4 months later, still trying to figure out the sex of a few of them. The chickens I'm having trouble with are from the Easter Egger breed and these can be hard to sex due to a small comb (the thing on top of their heads) and wattles (those things that hang down below their beak). So I decide I won't have enough girls to give me eggs (we sell them and our customers are missing their fresh eggs) so I grab 9 "girls" from the feed store. They only identify them as "brown egg laying chickens"...now that should relate to "girls" right? Since only the girls lay eggs....well, not if you're on a roll with roo's!
Three of these "girls" go to our grandkids (my son picked a chick from the straight run and has the same luck as his mom and got a roo. I brooded two for his family and one for my daughter's family. She wanted to add an Australorp to her 4..vocal girls). One, I'm sure is a cockerel because he has a very large and red comb that popped up at 3 weeks...now, I have another suspect.......and my husband wonders why I spend so much time just sitting and watching the chickens.....and drinking so much wine!
Here's a pictures of the two new buggers....so out of 9 pullets (after giving 3 to the grandkids), I'll be lucky to get 4.....to add to my maybe 5-6 from my own hatch....the continuing saga of Yes or Roo?
I hatched my own eggs, set Super Bowl Sunday (GO PACKERS) after losing my whole flock of 20 to something...under suspicious circumstances but only my Roo, Big Daddy survived. Under the worst of circumstances, I grabbed eggs out of the coop and the fridge and to my surprise, I hatched 14 of 22!
Here I am 4 months later, still trying to figure out the sex of a few of them. The chickens I'm having trouble with are from the Easter Egger breed and these can be hard to sex due to a small comb (the thing on top of their heads) and wattles (those things that hang down below their beak). So I decide I won't have enough girls to give me eggs (we sell them and our customers are missing their fresh eggs) so I grab 9 "girls" from the feed store. They only identify them as "brown egg laying chickens"...now that should relate to "girls" right? Since only the girls lay eggs....well, not if you're on a roll with roo's!
Three of these "girls" go to our grandkids (my son picked a chick from the straight run and has the same luck as his mom and got a roo. I brooded two for his family and one for my daughter's family. She wanted to add an Australorp to her 4..vocal girls). One, I'm sure is a cockerel because he has a very large and red comb that popped up at 3 weeks...now, I have another suspect.......and my husband wonders why I spend so much time just sitting and watching the chickens.....and drinking so much wine!
Here's a pictures of the two new buggers....so out of 9 pullets (after giving 3 to the grandkids), I'll be lucky to get 4.....to add to my maybe 5-6 from my own hatch....the continuing saga of Yes or Roo?
Thursday, June 23, 2011
My First Day
Hi, it's my first day for this blog about our farm High 'N Dry Farm. I've created this blog to share farm life and help and encourage others to create their own farming experience.
My husband of 32 years (today!) and I have 3 horses, 16 chickens, 2 dogs and a barn cat. We use to have two goats but they were city goats and preferred the alfalfa the horses were getting over the weed we got them to eat so we rehomed them to a really nice farm where they can have babies and be a part of their petting zoo. As much as the horses seem to dislike them, they did miss them when they left a week ago. Go figure!
We also have two grown kids who are married to people we love like they're our own kids! They've given us 5 grandkids who we are over the moon about! They make us laugh out loud every day!
We called our farm High 'N Dry Farm because we are high on a bluff over looking beautiful Lake Oroville's West Branch, it's pretty dry here in the summers (usually, but not this year) and for the usual reason why people say they're high 'n dry!
I will be sharing the day in and day out antics, trials and tribulatons of life on our farm, from the chickens to our beautiful veggie garden!
Pam
My husband of 32 years (today!) and I have 3 horses, 16 chickens, 2 dogs and a barn cat. We use to have two goats but they were city goats and preferred the alfalfa the horses were getting over the weed we got them to eat so we rehomed them to a really nice farm where they can have babies and be a part of their petting zoo. As much as the horses seem to dislike them, they did miss them when they left a week ago. Go figure!
We also have two grown kids who are married to people we love like they're our own kids! They've given us 5 grandkids who we are over the moon about! They make us laugh out loud every day!
We called our farm High 'N Dry Farm because we are high on a bluff over looking beautiful Lake Oroville's West Branch, it's pretty dry here in the summers (usually, but not this year) and for the usual reason why people say they're high 'n dry!
I will be sharing the day in and day out antics, trials and tribulatons of life on our farm, from the chickens to our beautiful veggie garden!
Pam
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