Springtime

latest two hatches of Wyandottes

light-colored chick appears RED,
but still a full Wyandotte

Lacey and kits

Brooke and kits

the broccoli and lettuce bed

Dutch-Boy, at Frank & Caroline's

Hope y'all enjoy these pics and vids, courtesy of hubby's smart-phone.  Commentary later.

Thirty-three chicks

I finally have a GOOD hatch!  On January 11th, I set 41 gold-laced Wyandotte eggs, from Solo and the spring pullets I collectively named "the Young Ones."  Solo is named such because he is the only surviving chick hatched here last spring, and not so much for the Star Wars character.  When I candled the hatch on day 11 or 12, I only saw four obvious clears.  Two more were questionable, but I figured I'd let them go anyway.  So, I set 37 eggs Tuesday evening, and about a handful of those eggs cheeped at me as I moved them (a good sign!).  The first "early bird" chick hatched Wednesday morning, then Thursday they were popping out like popcorn.  I know at least one hatched Friday morning, as I saw a very wet chick when I looked in with the Mini-Mag.  I remarked to hubby there was no counting them until we pulled them out of the incubator because they were bouncing all around in it.

Yesterday afternoon, we set up the nursery, and while I added electrolytes and probiotics to their first water, and fixed up the first chick starter (I wet it with liquid from the fermented scratch), hubby pulled the chicks out one at time to count.  I came back with food to distract the adult birds out running around, and heard, "Thirty ... thirty-one ..."  Sure enough, once all the chicks were in the nursery, there were only four eggs unhatched.

That's an 80% hatch rate ...I think it's also a new record for here.

Oh, hubby got me a second incubator as my birthday present, so there are 42 more gold-laced Wyandotte eggs from Solo and the Young Ones.  The older hens aren't laying well enough just yet, so after I clean out incubator #1, I'll be loading it up with a third hatch from Solo and the Young Ones.  I intend to hatch a LOT of chicks this year.  Most will be sold or eaten, but I want to get another hen like Beauty was ... okay, I actually want a dozen like she was.  The best way to make progress in chicken breeding is to hatch as much as you can, and it is time to "move the chains" on this idea.

On the chick hatching idea

I borrowed Frank's spare incubator, and got it almost filled before the rain started the other week.  I had already filled my incubator, which has resulted in only two surviving chicks out of 42 eggs set.  I only had nine eggs develop, so 33 eggs were clear/not fertile.  Three chicks hatched, but one was on its back doing the dying cockroach the next morning.  I had also set eight eggs under the Black Swedish hen and Minty, the Ameracauna hen I got from Luanne.  Of those eight eggs, only one chick hatched, but he (?) is doing quite well under the Black Swedish hen's care.  She was wrapped too tight even before she went broody, and the hormones of broodiness made her absolutely psycho until that chick hatched.  Now she is just an angry dragon-mom.

Refilling the incubator is on hold due to weather.  We had about four days without rain this week, and during that time we went to get the new bunny hutch, I went up to Tractor Supply to refill the feed shed, and yesterday went to the grocery to refill our fridge and pantry.  Hubby had gone into town before the previous week-plus-of-rain started to fill the two five gallon fuel cans for the generator, as it really only takes an average-strength thunderstorm to knock power out.  And now, we have the first named storm of the year out churning in the gulf, but the feed shed has plenty of critter chow, the fridge and pantry have enough food for another two weeks, and we have two full fuel cans for the generator in case a tree comes down on the line somewhere.  We're both low on the money side of things, but we won't need to go anywhere except for one appointment up in Palatka.

Oh, baby bunny update:  Gracie's one little kit didn't make it in with Brooke's two huge hungry hippos - but those two are seriously large!  Shalimar is down to three kits, and I suspect the one that died was the one I couldn't get to eat when I was handfeeding them.  I did do a supplemental feeding on one kit, and will check again this afternoon to see if another is needed.  Charky wasn't pregnant, but ought to be as of last night.  I'll pop Brooke in with Jack this evening (she was bred to Larry for the hippos) and Shalimar in with Larry this time.  This should give me a clue as to where the size of Brooke's and Larry's two kits comes from - or if it's a combination of both parents.  I am wanting large, meaty Rex-furred bunnies like these two babies.  I'll get pictures of the kits after they've opened their eyes and gotten more fur - baby bunnies are born nearly-naked, and with their eyes closed like kittens.

Getting caught up

I am way behind on updates here, and hubby apparently didn't feel he had anything to say while I was gone to my son's wedding, so here we go:

• I sold three kids before I left on my trip: Andre, Timmy, and Tyche.  All three went to pet homes - Andre pretty much sold himself! - and that gave me travel money.
• I sold three more kids this past Saturday: Brownie Junior, Hansel, and Snickers (Cocoa Puff's daughter).  Brownie Jr turned on all the charm we never knew he had and got himself a pet home, and Hansel and Gretel won over a young couple, but they want to breed and get milk, so I mentioned the 3 week old Snickers as a potential bottle baby and they agreed to come out to the property to see her.  It was love at first sight, and when the gal asked if she could hold Snickers, I watched her just MELT when Snickers turned, looked her in the eye, and batted those baby blues.  I have full confidence Snickers will be every bit as spoiled as mama Cocoa Puff.  They said they'll probably change Hansel's name (no big deal) but they love the name Snickers.
• Hubby accomplished his mission while I was gone and kept the milk production up.  Even though he ran two gallons through the cream separator after picking me up in Palatka, I still had to make a cheese the very next day, and have been making quite a few cheeses since returning home (all cheddars right now) as I am bringing in between a full gallon and a gallon and a half each morning.  And this is with Maggie still over at Frank and Caroline's to breed to Harry Houdini (Prim's son, if you recall).  Hubby will have plenty of cheddar cheese stocked up before I switch over making butterkase (has an umlatt over the "a") when it warms up.
• Tractor Supply has had Gold-Laced Wyandottes TWICE now for Chick Days.  Both groups were labeled pullets only, but the first group was actually a straight run as I have at least four cockerels out of eight.  I got with one of the assistant managers yesterday about that, proposed a working-out on some more chicks, and he found that agreeable as I took home another ten chicks.  I forgot to ask if they know which hatchery they're getting their stock from, but either way it's a potential new infusion of genetics.
• The week after Chocolate died, a possum got my best hen Beauty.  Yes, I still mad about that ... we trapped and killed the culprit (I thought we were going for a raccoon), but that doesn't change the fact I did not get to hatch any eggs from her.  This is back on my mind as I get ready to fire up the incubator and two hens in the broody house are setting eggs (to be replaced as soon as the rain stops).

Solstice chick update

So today is the winter solstice.  The good news is, the days won't get any shorter than today - they'll incrementally get longer until the summer solstice.  The bad news is, the cold has not yet hit.  As much as I hate cold weather, I hope we can get a few days of frost to kill off the fleas which have staged a major invasion here in the 75+ weather we've been having.

The first batch of chicks hatched last month are happily growing.  We still give them a lot of food, but it doesn't seem possible to keep food in front of them at all times as the voracious little monsters hoover it up rather quickly.  I got weights this morning (forgot last night, and the previous two Tuesday evenings!) for the four week mark.  Two runts at 5.1 and 5.2 ounces, one in the middle at 5.5 ounces, (those appear to be cockerels) one pullet at 7.3 ounces, one "not-sure-just-yet" at 7.9 ounces, and one pullet weighing in at a hefty 8.0 ounces.  The big girl looks pretty good shape-wise, although her legs are a sooty color.

Pollux watching his latest batch of Wyandotte babies

left to right: a runt, the not-sure-yet and the dark blob is the big girl

on right, that's the big pullet's butt ...
looking closer that is a nice wide tail set!

Wyandotte chicks

I have a second batch of Wyandotte chicks, hatched out Friday.  Fifteen total, but one may be a cull if its neck doesn't straighten out better.  It appeared to be malpositioned in the egg.  This bunch is from only two breeding groups: Azar x the Sisters, and Tiny x the Pretties.  Week zero weights are: one at 1.2 ounce, one at 1.3 ounce, seven at 1.4 ounce, two at 1.5 ounce, and four at 1.6 ounce (all from Tiny x the Pretties).  Looks about the same as the first hatch, but I won't be able to compare again until week four because I missed weeks two and three on the first hatch.  Ah well, I'll get numbers for each week before summer hits this time.

new batch of Wyandotte chicks, hatched 16 Dec

The great possum war rages on, with egg thief number seven trapped and dispatched the previous weekend.  Something tripped the larger trap overnight, but was not caught, so I'll be looking for number eight in the traps soon.

Hubby has been busy the past week:

tree clean-up

That's a water oak behind him, and yes it came down on the workshop.  Given the size of the tree, that's really not much damage to the workshop roof.  The hurricane in early October partially uprooted this water oak (and about three other trees, but further back on the property) and it's basically been hanging for two months as we couldn't figure how to get it down without landing on the pig pen, the workshop, the power line, or the house.  It must have got tired of waiting on us, because it came down last Wednesday evening - and there was hardly any wind that night, so it came down straight.  I did need to call out the power company to get it off the power line to the main box, but we didn't actually lose power, so again not as bad as it could have been.

If I don't post again before the holidays, hope everyone has good ones, and hope y'all are enjoying all the warm weather!

Post-Thanksgiving post

Time flies when you keep yourself busy ... it's already the end of November??  That means my "baby" has had another birthday - he's 23 now.  Wow.

We hosted a small Thanksgiving here, with hubby's parents coming down.  I roasted a Muscovy duck, gifted to us by Frank and Caroline back when I helped them wrangle and castrate piglets and picked my three up.  I think that was September.  Along with the duck, I baked two decent sized sweet potatoes, then steamed some broccoli florets (store-bought, my plants are yet big enough to feed us) and opened a can of cranberry jelly.  Simple but very tasty.

roasted muscovy duck

That's the china platter I intended to send Feyd off on ... he would have filled it just a bit better, I think, but we were denied that by some nighttime predator.

Speaking of nighttime nuisances, egg thief number SIX has been trapped and dispatched.  This one tripped the smaller trap a couple times before finally getting caught in the larger of the traps.

possum number six caught

This one is pretty big, but still acted juvenile by opening its mouth and hissing at me.  I guess it grew up big from eating all those eggs ... the traps are set again, although one of the Flashy Girls sprung the larger trap again, thinking she should lay an egg next to the ones in the back of the trap for bait.

I put enough of a dent in the possum population to load up the incubator on the 1st, and chicks hatched on the 22nd.  I helped three out of the shells, as I had too many eggs in one plastic strawberry basket, but one chick was too weak and one had a dislocated hip, so eight chicks made it out of the incubator to be weighed and put in with Pollux.  The eight weights were: 1.2; 1.3; five at 1.4; and one at 1.5 ounce.  In the week just past, we lost two chicks due to smooshing (it's a technical term), likely from Pollux.  He didn't immediately adopt this group, and it's probably because I didn't take his last chick away soon enough for him to start feeling lonely and inclined to adopt any little ball of fluff.  We even had to set up the heat lamp and a tub of pine shavings for the chicks ... and of course there is always at least one who hops out immediately then cries about being alone and colder.

I weighed the remaining six chicks last evening, and had three weigh in at 1.9; one at 2.2; one at 2.4; and one at a whopping 2.6 ounces.  Next week I will be certain to have a paper bag I can fold closed to weigh them again!  The heat lamp provides just enough light for them to jump out of the plastic strawberry basket.  I know the original eight were five Bigfoot x Feyd's Daughters; two Azar x the Sisters; and one Tiny x the Pretties (the largest, also the surviving one I helped out of its shell).  I don't know which died.

Another note on those plastic strawberry containers: they don't even hold in/out newly hatched chicks.  I used four with the lids cut off to (try to) separate the eggs in the incubator, and it was not long after drying off that the chicks were up and over the sides of the baskets.  Lucky for me, I did not cut off ALL the lids on my stack of baskets, so I can try again with the current batch cooking in the incubator.  I had five breeding groups' eggs in there for that hatch, and this time I limited it to only three breeding groups (Azar x the Sisters; Tiny x the Pretties; and Azar x the Flashy Girls).  No eggs from Feyd's Daughters this time around, as one of the Daughters is broody and has been since the 17th.  She still has that crazed look in her eyes, so she may go the distance despite this being the wrong time of the year for them to go broody.  (NB: Lengthening daylight hours usually triggers those hormones, along with upping egg production just prior to broodiness.)

I'm also working on starting seeds, but I'll save that for another post.

Egg thief number 3 caught

Another egg thief caught, and this one is no juvenile.  With luck, I have now trapped the ringleader, aka "Big Mama."

unhappy trapped egg-thieving possum

this one is twice the size of the others

I did manage to collect some Wyandotte eggs yesterday before milking time - twenty-three, to be exact.  I found no intact eggs in the Big Butt Girls' tractor, and when hubby went to collect what looked like two eggs in with the Flashy Girls, he only found empty shells.  The older hens should be done molting, but they won't lay really well until after the solstice when the days start to get longer.  Y'all can see why I am trapping these egg thieves - I need all the eggs I can get for the incubator.

Wyandotte pictures

Just a few pics, first up, the new chicken fence:

new 48-inch high chicken fence

It seems to be working properly, as we haven't lost any more chickens.  It's also too tall for Flaca and Ducky to just hop over any time they feel like checking out sprouts in the front "lawn" area or garden beds.  The pulser actually was not bad - the battery wasn't holding enough of a charge to pulse the fence.  The box for the goat fence has two batteries, so hubby swapped it for one of those and everything seems to be working fine now.

I have not posted any recent pics of my gold-laced Wyandottes, so here are a bunch of my F1 generation, including Bigfoot.

Bigfoot, looking pretty

Pollux the capon nanny,
and Feyd's five daughters from the March hatch

Pollux and Feyd's daughters
note the nice wide-set tail!

Bigfoot's four sisters, and one Azar daughter -
I can't tell them apart 

F1 group I call "the Sisters"
plus Azar's one daughter

new pic of Tiny,
sire of Bigfoot and the Sisters

I had Feyd in with the Sisters, so I have been collecting up every egg they've set since he died.  I plan to set the incubator tomorrow evening after picking up eggs for day ten.  This hatch will be my first F2 generation (since the Sisters are F1s).  When Feyd's daughters from the March hatch get laying, I will be rotating Bigfoot in with them first, then Tiny and Azar afterwards to see which cross gives me the best looking chicks.

Now Feyd is gone

I had intended to resume blogging with a much more cheerful topic, really I did.  Feyd - my beautiful, big original Gold-Laced Wyandotte rooster - is gone.  A medium-sized predator got into the electric perimeter last night, dug under the back board of the tractor, and managed to get Feyd and drag him off.  Knowing Feyd, he probably bit the predator's nose bloody, and is giving it indigestion to boot.  All five pullets that were in with Feyd are still here - Bigfoot's four sisters plus Azar's one daughter.  I plan to gather up every egg they lay in the next ten days to hatch, before I put another rooster in with them.

Where the predator dug under, and some feathers from Feyd

This wasn't how I planned for Feyd to make his final exit ... after Feyd taking a chunk of skin off hubby's palm last week, I had decided Feyd deserved a proper death, as the centerpiece of Thanksgiving dinner on the blue and white china platter.  So much for plans.

another view of where the predator dug under

This is our fault.  We had become complacent; we had become lax.  We both had seen the broken eggshells , but thought the hens were kicking them out of the tractors.  We have been lazy on keeping the grass down around the electronetting, so it could have been grounding out.  Hubby immediately spotted where the fence was sown this morning.

We're not sure what we're dealing with - smaller than a bear (the bear would have caused much more damage) but larger than your average opossum or coon.  Possibly a bobcat, or coyote, or loose dog, or maybe even a fox.  Hubby says he will probably sit up tonight, hoping to shoot it.

This is on top of another rabbit loss Saturday.  Out of the four young rabbits I bought, I sold one _ Runt - lost Hogger to a freak accident where he got both hocks jammed into the wire and tore skin and meat off trying to get loose, and now Roberta, the big girl, who like Hammy looked like she simply went to sleep and didn't wake up.  That leaves me with Lacey from that group, plus Shalimar who is doing just peachy.

Lacey, remaining bunny from the NZ/Rex mix group I bought earlier this summer

Y a know, I forgot to snap a pic of Shalimar.  She's in the shade now, and that will make it difficult to get a good pic because she is a solid dark blue (grey).

As for the long silence ... well, it seems this year that the more I am doing around here, the less I feel like blogging.  I guess you could say I've been spending my energy doing, instead of just "talking" about it.  By the time I'm done with evening milking, I usually just want to stop sweating, maybe take a shower, and lay down and either read, or just page through a knitting or crochet magazine, or cookbook, or through one of my herb books with lots of pictures.

Chicken update

We've been doing a lot of stuff; I just haven't felt like typing it up this past week.  But, I did resolve to post at least once a week, and it has been since last Monday.

My March hatch was very good - out of 41 eggs that developed, 36 hatched.  Four did not even pip, and one quit, apparently too weak to get out of the shell.  I have twelve Meaties and 24 Feyd chicks, not all of which are full Wyandotte since Penny the black sex-link hen contributed some.  This is now my best development and hatch rate.

This morning, I started caponizing the January hatch, which is Azar x the Pretties.  The best cockerel has a single comb, plus white tips on his feathers, and there is no stand-out good rose comb cockerel in the bunch.  They are certainly quick and agile, though!  Out of four prepped for caponizing, we had two escapes, one known slip, and one that may be a capon.

I think my last hatch of the spring in the incubator will be Tiny x the Flashy Girls again ... not only is Bigfoot still growing out nicely, but his sisters look good as well.  After I gather up the eggs, I'll switch Azar and Tiny and put those eggs under broodies over the summer.

Whole lot of busy

Today is one of those days I realize just how many different things I have going on here.  I've been working with Chocolate on the milking idea, and as long as she has Goat Chow in the feeder, she could not care less.  The instant she's done inhaling her Chow though, she tries to get away.  Hubby has been holding her for my to milk, except this morning he is up in Jacksonville because his brother just got back from a rotation to Korea.  I tried to get Lynn out here to hold her, but business is picking up fast at the commercial nursery she owns/runs so no dice there.  As a result, I only got about two ounces this morning, whereas I got over six ounces yesterday morning, and the difference is someone holding her.  A milking stand is en route here from Pennsylvania, but FedEx tracking says it won't be here until Wednesday.

Also in transit are: a meat grinder, patty mold, and bell hog scraper to get the hair off the pigs' skins after slaughter; hoof trimmers, hoof knife, goat halter, and a lamb/kid bottle in case I need that for my next goat; and two cheese making kits plus another cheese making book so next year when I have three in milk, I will be able to make cheese from the excess.  One Nigerian Dwarf doe can give up to a quart a day even with kids on her, depending on how good a milking bloodline she's from.  That is enough for hubby and me, but Cocoa will grow up, as will the registered doeling I am on the hunt for, so for a couple years I will be having three kidding and milking, so cheese making has been on my to-learn list for a couple years.

The guineas are finally acting like proper guineas: they are flying or hopping out of the enclosure and moving off in a gaggle to hunt for bugs.  May they find every tick nest not just on our property, but the neighboring properties as well!  I find it amusing they just started doing this the day after Craig, Marty, and me were discussing how to cook guinea.

On the chicken front, more hens are getting into the spring mood and starting to camp out on eggs or golf balls ... including one of the Big Butt Girls, the black phase BLR Wyandottes I got from Luanne.  Luanne has now had a grand total of two Wyandotte hens go broody on her over the years (one last year, just to prove her wrong when she told me they don't go broody) so having one out of only three in the back of the tractor all fluffed up and growling was a surprise.  Kids and critters will make a liar out of you every time.  Having another Silkie go broody wasn't much of a surprise, but having it be one of the black dragons still tending Silkie chicks was.  Let the daily battle over marked versus unmarked eggs begin.

Hammy and Pork Chop continue to grow and eat like pigs should.  I have decided not to keep either one, and instead go hunting for a pair or trio of full blooded Pot Belly pigs for my pork project.  Hammy will go first, as he is the smaller one and not putting on fat to the extent Pork Chop is.  Pork Chop has the fat jowls and wrinkles around the shoulders that Potbellies are known for, so I am curious to see just how big and fat he'll get.  I even had to buy the second bag of pig food for those two last week, making my total investment still less than $35 for pigs plus feed.

I was going to including planting notes and greenhouse update, but wow this has gotten quite long with only part of the critter update.  Oh, no pics this morning, as I set my camera down somewhere and don't recall where.

Bigfoot and a baked Silkie

I caught Bigfoot just a short bit ago, then held him until hubby reached a break point on the Silkiebator tractor he's working on to take a few pictures.

Bigfoot, the one grow-out cockerel from the October hatch

Bigfoot isn't sure if he liked his throat stroked
He certainly has lovely hackle feathers!

Bigfoot staring down the camera
(I am holding him by his hocks)

Bigfoot's wingspan - he still has a lot of growing to do!

Bigfoot still has big feet and long legs to grow into ... and a nice wide wingspan.  He flapped a bit while I was posing him, and left his one wing spread out, so all I did was extend the other.  I am still quite pleased with how he's growing out - especially considering he's from my first F1 hatch.  He seems to be setting the standard pretty high.

Quick note on the January hatch - the best cockerel has a single comb, so I will not be growing any intact cockerels from that hatch.  That gives me more caponizing practice.

Finally, we ate our first Silkie cockerel recently.  I had a couple of oranges from my friend Lynn's trees, and an idea to make a nice exotic spiced baked chicken using orange juice, ground cinnamon, ground clove, and just a touch of cayenne.  Exotic-looking chicken, exotic spices for it.  I am so doing a Silkie for Halloween, with green food coloring in the rice and acorn squash.

orange spice baked Silkie

The Silkie cockerel was quite small, which is why he ended up on our table.  The amusing part is, when he had his feathers he looked about the same size as BeeCee.  It was when I picked them both up the size difference was apparent.   Plucked, cleaned, and without giblets the Silkie only weighed one pound, ten ounces.

We also ate one of the guineas, cut up and done teriyaki with fresh mushrooms, carrots, and garlic.  Not bad, a touch richer in flavor than even the Silkie, but the guinea only weighed one pound, fourteen ounces under all those feathers.

I had also slaughtered a cockerel from Bigfoot's batch, and he weighed two pounds, 15 ounces (just shy of 3 lbs!) which is quite a decent size for the age ... especially considering that slip from last year only weighed about four pounds even.  He was the smallest slip, and I should have just slaughtered him instead of trying to grow him out more.  Ah well.

Update for past week

OK, no good excuse for the radio silence this past week, other than I've felt more like doing things than blogging about them.  I intended to catch up yesterday, but got hit like a ton of bricks with a lower digestive tract bug of some sort.  It knocks me flat around lunch time - hit fast and hard, so I was not inclined to go too far from the bathroom.  Funny thing was, yesterday I woke up feeling normal, with a bit of energy and planting plans ... go figure.

Today I am still staying close to the house, but so far so good.  I moved the newly hatched chicks out to the brooder tub, as right now we have no broody hens and Pollux has his wings full with last month's horde of Wyandotte chicks.  This month, Azar's group had a horribly low fertility rate, and then only two of the four who developed made it out of the shell.  Spikey's group fared much better, with nine of the no-so-little cheepers out and popping around.  Only one didn't hatch.

Spikey's chicks definitely have his wide and flat back ... a couple I observed ended up on their backs when they flopped out of the shell for the first time.  It took them a bit of effort to flip over on their feet.

On the plant side of things, I did manage to get the cheater-starts of Swiss chard in the ground, and have plenty more that I started from seed ready to move.  I also have a few spinach starts, some broccoli starts, and of course peppers and tomatoes to transplant into larger pots.

The one really impressive volunteer mustard green continues to impress - I am going to do my best to get every seed from it once it bolts.  The original parent plant was a Florida broadleaf variety, if memory serves, but I will be calling this strain Putnam broadleaf if I can keep it going.  It is strong and healthy, and keeps putting up new leaves (to the bunnies' great delight).  While we have no idea how it tastes, the rabbits certainly approve of it.

Oh, of the old seeds from 2013 that I planted a couple weeks ago, I have some white radishes sprouting.  I was a bit surprised to see that the other morning.

Pics later - I am still trying to get caught up after yesterday's gastric fireworks.

Update sans pictures

OK, so it is still cold and windy, but according to the forecast the rain has passed for now.  Some chickening and gardening updates are in order.

• Saturday morning was the farm swap in the Tractor Supply parking lot, and I headed up the road that morning with twelve chickens in the back.  I dropped the three cockerels off at Leo's restaurant (two Wyandottes from the October hatch and one black Silkie), then went to the swap to sell the nine cull pullets after having sorted out the four grow-out prospects.  I managed to sell all nine at the swap, and got $10 per bird.  The last bunch sold, the fellow tried hard to get me to come down off the already-discounted price (I was asking $12 per bird, but willing to make a deal), and had even left for a while before coming back to try again.  When he mentioned he was hoping to get them cheaper, I replied that I am not working towards "cheap" but for quality.  When I said that, he sighed and then paid what I wanted.
• I didn't have anything to put up for auction Saturday evening, but I did show up as a buyer.  I was very much outbid for Silkie hens, but feel like I scored some decently-priced equipment which included three wire cages of various sizes, eleven (!!) waterers for rabbits and one for chicks, and an old styrofoam incubator with egg turner that needs the viewing windows replaced that I intend to use as a hatcher.  I even left with $6 still in my pocket.  This was after I had already put the pullet money from the morning up.
• I candled the eggs in the incubator early this morning, and there are a LOT of clears.  In fact, only 14 out of the 41 show development.  Since most of the clears are from Azar and the Pretties, and that cross had a MUCH better development and hatch rate last time, I presume this is a fertility issue related to the weather.
• We had a surprise frost yesterday morning, but it looks like none of the garden plants took any damage.  The walk-in greenhouse has a tear in the plastic up by the roof centerpiece already, and I can't tell if it was the wind, something falling, or an owl trying to perch that caused it.  My sprouts are doing decently enough, even with the damping off problem, and some of the spindly tomato seedlings are putting out true leaves now.  A few late sprouts are growing properly as well, so not a total loss.
• Bright Eyes now officially has the title for ugliest and roughest molt.  Not only does she look miserable, I see her shivering when the wind kicks up as this is the coldest spell we've had so far.
• The wood burning stove is well-loved right now.

I think that brings everything up to speed for now.

Setting eggs in incubator

Here I go, again ... wait, that sounds almost like a song.  LOL  Setting eggs in the incubator again.  This time I collected eggs from Azar and the Pretties (as in last hatch) and Spikey and the Broilers, which include a couple eggs from Feyd's daughter Bertha now, also.  The Pretties finished up the collection period with a bang this morning, so that bumped two Meaties eggs out of the turner.

41 eggs to be set in incubator

42 big fat Wyandotte and half-Wyandotte eggs

I discovered I can only set 41 eggs unless I am hatching little Silkie eggs - the larger Wyandotte eggs get stuck up against the motor housing and keep the first tray from rolling forward freely.  Ah well.  It started raining again, so I am not going outside to snag up a Silkie egg that will need time to dry before I can wipe off the sand and other shtuff.  It is plugged in and started.

Unless something goes wrong, I should have new chicks in three weeks!

Caponizing 0 for 3

So, I decided to brave the cold and caponize this morning.  Out of three, I have two slips and one pullet.  The pullet now has a nice red bracelet to identify her, and was truly a surprise pullet.  I had thought I might have two pullets in the cockerel tractor, but when I went to look over the weekend, I could only see one (who now needs a red bracelet and web snip to identify her) and not this one.  She certainly has good size to her.

I have four in isolation for tomorrow morning, which is forecast to be warmer than this morning was, with its noticeable frost.  Friday is supposed to be warmer still, but also a high chance of thunderstorms and rain.  Then it will get windy, and get cold again ... winter in the deep south.

Salad seeds started

I felt motivated to do some more planting this evening after hubby and I went out for dinner to celebrate the successful auction.  This time I planted two types of lettuce, some green English cabbage, and something called corn salad, which I have never tried but am quite curious to taste.

two kinds of lettuce, green English cabbage, and corn salad

So this tray, marked with a Heinz ketchup pack (what can I say?  The cat has not brought either of us nice colored twistie ties recently) consists of:

• Burpee "Salad Bowl" lettuce
• Burpee "Ashley" red lettuce
• American Seed "Early Green" cabbage
• Burpee corn salad

I guess I am really feeling the gardening urge so far this year.  Here's hoping the motivation sticks!

Oh, a short chicken note: We took six Wyandotte chicks from out underneath one of the "dragons" who was still on the ground with the chicks who did not figure out hubby's stairs of scrap wood from the deck.  After we got those six and put them in to cuddle up with Pollux, our capon chick nanny, hubby moved four more Wyandotte chicks up into the nest boxes with the other dragons.  My comment was, "It's a good thing chickens can't count, or I'd be in a LOT of trouble tomorrow morning!"

Meet Bigfoot

So, I was outside just a few minutes ago, watching the cockerels from the October hatch, and the choice cockerel I've nicknamed Bigfoot was beautifully obvious in the bunch: he was strutting, shining in the morning sunlight with his tail feathers spread wide looking big and impressive.  I had the thought, "If I can catch him real quick, then I can mark his comb with some Blu-Kote so we can tell him easily in the dark ..."  And I did, and Bigfoot was not exactly happy about the situation.  As I walked him back towards the enclosure, I had another thought (two in one morning!) and called to hubby to bring out my camera and get a couple pics of Bigfoot with me holding him for scale.  Remember, this fella hatched out on October 19th, which makes him all of 13 and a half weeks old right now.

Bigfoot's flight feathers are growing in uneven, but the color is THERE

front view of Bigfoot, with his tail spread showing

Bigfoot hatched on October 19th, making him on 13-1/2 weeks old

If Bigfoot grows to fit those clod-hopping feet of his, he will be huge!  He has consistently been one of the top three cockerels by weight, and the only one of the three with huge feet so I've known which one he is for a while now, and have been keeping my eye on him looking for a fault egregious enough to warrant caponizing.  So far, he has not shown me any reason to caponize him, so he'll be the lucky cockerel who gets to grow out as a cockerel from this hatch.  The October hatch were from Tiny and the Flashy Girls.

Nothing cuter than new chicks

Right now, there is simply nothing cuter here on the property than the newly hatched Silkie and Wyandotte chicks.  That may change when I breed the bunnies, or it may change when I get my goat and her kids ... or the chicks may just set the standard for cuteness that high.  A couple pics of the babies with their mothers and foster mothers.

chicks peeking out from under the Silkie pullets

a small group of Wyandotte chicks

I know both sister and Tammy have expressed a desire to see more pictures, and sister specifically mentioned the fix of the pic issue when she called for my birthday.  Of course, what was really fun was brother's reaction when he googled up what blue Silkies are supposed to look like ... one of the few times I have wished for a video phone since I'd loved to have seen his facial expression.  It probably looked similar to Dad's when he visited in October and saw my "furry" chickens for the first time.

I have decided to sell a few layers on Saturday at the livestock auction.  We are up to our ears in eggs, and not all the hens are laying yet.  So Greyscale (won't stay in the enclosure or out of my garden beds!), Funky (don't need the temptation to breed her with that funky comb), and Beetle and Blackie will go up for auction.  I'll take Silkie Boy also, as I am now certain I have at least one black Silkie cockerel.

Hubby counted up the chickens yesterday, and with this weekend's hatch we are at 108 chickens on the property.  Add in twelve guineas and three rabbits ....

Chicks hatched

After waiting most the morning for the last two eggs that showed signs of life, I finally admitted there was no more forward progress and "whistled the ball dead," as the football expression fits.  Overall, a decent hatch rate!  I am satisfied with the results.

25 of 30 chicks hatched and healthy

I have a total of 25 new chickens from inside in the incubator, and I am pretty certain there are four hen-hatched Silkies outside.  I tried toe punching for the first time, using the more expensive nail clipper style punch, and that was a mixed success.  I'll need to check the Wyandottes again in a few days, and I could not get the web between the toes on the Silkies yet due to small size.  I'd like to have the Silkies toe punched so I can compare which cockerel throws the largest offspring.

It was a bit of a trick getting the chicks under the setting Silkies, as I had to shield the chicks with my hands to keep them from being pecked.  This is even after I took away unhatched eggs and golf balls as well.  I actually managed to get all 25 from inside underneath Silkies.  Getting them back ... now that is a whole 'nuther ball game!  LOL

So of the five (plus two outside) that didn't hatch, two died trying, three died before pipping for whatever reason, and the two outside never developed.  I have read some chicken breeders will actually reduce the amount of calcium supplement (oyster shell usually) before breeding season so the egg shells are not as hard as normal.  I did not do this, nor do I intend to ever do it.  I want the chicks strong enough to kick out of a regular strength egg shell here.  Oh, my "regular strength" egg shell is a lot thicker and harder than what you'll find at the store.  It is the first big test.

Freeze warning now issued for tonight - my poor garden beds.