It's Raining, It's Pouring

We sure had good intentions of getting caught up at The Compound this past weekend, but the weather just wouldn’t cooperate.  The chickens are lucky they even had a chance to get outdoors.  Just what we wanted or needed was more rain!  We’ve had so much the Tilapia pond is overflowing, the garden is a mud bog and  so overgrown with weeds, but I can’t get in to take care of without getting stuck in the mud.

We also wanted to get started on the final touches to the pizza oven.  Nothing other than cleaning out the camper, tiki hut and caring for all 81 83 chickens (forgot to add the two new ones to the overall count) was accomplished.  We feel like such slackers.

As I write this post, it is raining AGAIN! 

To those of my family scared by the huge number of chickens, take a deep breath and calm down.  I have them posted on Craigs List and have a buyer for 3 pullets this Saturday.  I will not keep all of them, I promise.

Delivery at The Compound

With great excitement the Moose and I went to The Compound late Friday, to get a head start on chores, but most importantly to check on Connie and her eggs.  Out of the 7 or so she had been laying on, she hatched out these two.

I don't think any of the others will hatch, but we left them with her for a couple more days.  She's a very protective Momma, and is already training them on what is OK to eat.  We gave her some fresh sweet corn, lettuce greens, and bread, to help her gain the weight she lost back, and also to give her a variety of things to eat.  She was making a clucking noise when eating the sweet corn to let her chicks know it was something worth eating.  They ran over and pecked at it, but they are still too young to really enjoy corn on the cob.

Dolly is still sitting on her eggs, and we should see something from her, if all is well in the next week or so.

We need to come up with an area for Connie and her two little ones, so she can stretch her legs, but not be bothered by the other hens.  The large dog kennel is a nice large space, but I'm sure she misses scratching and the breeze in her feathers.

I just adore chickens!

Broody Hen at The Compound

We're so excited!  We have a broody hen!  The Moose and I have really wanted to have our hens raise their young on their own, and we look forward to comparing the differences between them and the ones we hatched in the incubator. 

Will they be more socially excepted in the flock?
Will they grow slower, quicker, or about the same?

We noticed Connie sitting in the nesting box a couple of weeks ago, and when I went to collect the eggs I got quite a growl.  I knew something was up.  She stayed on the eggs the entire day.  We gave her three more days to make sure, and then the Moose moved her to one of the dog kennels we bought at a recent yard sale for $5, to keep her and the eggs safe and secluded.  She didn't like the move very much, but after a about 10 minutes or so, she settled right down.

We placed a small container for water and feed just in case, and she has actually eaten a little.  I don't think you can really tell in this photo, but she has really flattened herself out over those eggs. 




They should hatch sometime this next week or so, if I'm guessing correctly.

We had another go broody as well, Dolly.  The Moose moved her, and at the point we left The Compound on Saturday, she did not sit back on her eggs.  She just started eating, like she hadn't eaten anything in a week!

I'm keeping my fingers crossed, she'll have settled down.  More updates to come!