A Busy Start to Spring

Happy hens free ranging.
Jessie's on clean up duty.

Lots going on, so I'll get right into it...

HENS

During our hens' first year with us, their large run was fully grassed, so really, they didn't need to free-range because they had everything they could want right inside their very safe fenced-in run full of grass and bugs. However, this year, as I had suspected, the grass is not coming back inside their run. Between the chickens and the pine needles, it just didn't grow. So now is the time that I bite the bullet and let them actually free-range. It scares me a bit to do it because we have so many hawks and other predators around and I just want to keep them safe. It reminds me of when I adopted my first cat after college. I was planning to keep him as an indoor cat because statistics say that indoor cats generally live healthier and longer lives. When my sister heard this, she said to me, "How can you do that? Wouldn't you rather he have an exciting, interesting, shorter life, than a boring longer life?" She had a good point and ended up convincing me to let him be an outdoor cat. And she was totally right. (The funny thing is that years later, she got a cat of her own. And of course, he's....an indoor cat. :) )

Anyway, I feel like the same reasoning needs to be applied to my chickens. A shorter, interesting life is better than a longer, boring life, right? So, my kids and I are working hard at trying to let our worries go and let our hens free-range for real. The good news is that it's been going well! We actually have been letting our dogs out with the hens. I'm happy to say that the dogs have been awesome! They love hanging out with the hens. Cooper seems to be guarding them from afar. (When the neighbor's dog started barking, Cooper ran over, it seemed, to keep him at bay.) On the other hand, Jessie follows the hens around very closely. It looks like she's trying to herd them all together, and maybe she is. But I have a sneaking suspicion that she's really just following them around so she can eat any poop they drop along the way. So gross. But hey, it's a win/win.... Jessie earns a "treat" every once in a while and her presence is totally going to keep the foxes and hawks away. Here's video to see her in action. Is she herding Daffodil back to the other hens? Or just waiting for a "treat"? Jury's still out. She reminds me of the clean up crew that follows behind the horses in the parades..... Jessie Herding Daffodil

The hens & dogs.

You're a great lifeguard, Jess!

Classic farm scene

black, white, and black & white

Chicken parade
 with clean up committee following

Fluffy chicken butts

TEENAGERS

Next up, our "teenagers". Ruby and Matilda are doing great. They adjusted nicely to Pearl's leaving, and have become a very cute twosome. (Pearl --maybe we should call him Earl now?-- is doing great at his new home at the Hillside School, by the way.) Ruby and Matilda are almost totally feathered out at 6-and 5-weeks old, and with this warmer weather I've been shutting off their heat lamp during the day, and just turning it on at night. I've been trying to merge Ruby and Pearl with Mayzie and her babies, but it isn't going very well. They have been in separate coops in the same horse stall for 2 weeks now and when I let them mingle, Mayzie is just as mean to these teenagers now as she was the first day. Lots of Mayzie charging at them for no reason at all. Matilda did get a cut on her beak after Mayzie chased her, but it was a small cut and is healing quickly. So, my hopes of Mayzie taking all four of the younger ones "under her wing" (like that?) before they all go into the big coop just isn't going to happen. Oh well.

My sweet teenagers, Matilda & Ruby

Mayzie antagonizing the teens,
as they cower in the corner away from her.

Poor Matilda with a tiny cut on her beak,
after being chased by Mayzie

MAYZIE & THE CHICKS (Fern & Charlotte)

Here is what's happening with Mayzie and the chicks. Yesterday morning, I walked into the horse stall where they are, and I heard Mayzie cooing at me. Which got my attention because before Mayzie went broody, she had the sweetest little coo. She never sounded like a chicken, her voice was always more like a dove cooing. But when she went broody, her voice changed. While she was broody and mothering these chicks, she took on making that classic "cluck-cluck" sound that you think of when you're thinking of chickens. (If you ever think of chickens, that is! Just me? LOL) Her voice became totally different than her normal coo. Anyway, I thought it was really strange to hear Mayzie's coo yesterday, since she hadn't made that noise in almost 2 months!

Mayzie also has started to "fly the coop" a bit. She's been flying up to land on the horse stall door and peeking back into the big chicken coop (it's right next door and the door was open so she could see in.) I thought that she was going to fly down and go visit her old friends, but she didn't. I could tell that she was literally "on the fence". She totally wanted to go back into the big coop, maybe just for a little while, but in the end, she went back down to her babies.

Mayzie "on the fence"

Mayzie almost ready to "fly the coop",
(or technically, fly back into the big coop.)

Later that day, I offered Mayzie some kale and she did another thing that surprised me. For the first time since the babies arrived, she just gobbled up that kale. She ate the whole thing herself, and fast. Her babies were at her side and she didn't drop one piece down for them, even though they were peeping cutely below her. And you know what? I totally understood you, Mayzie. Once in a while, as a mom, you just want that one treat all to yourself. Kind of like the mint-frosted-chocolate-chip-brownies that were in my fridge. There were only two left, and really, I should have saved them for my kids after school, but good lord, I couldn't not eat them. I ate them both and they were so good. And when Ben came home and said, "Can I have a mint frosted brownie?" I had to say, "Um, they're all gone." "Gone?" he said confused. "Yes. Gone." I said quietly. Because, like you, Mayzie, sometimes the mom just needs to take the treat just for herself, right? Can I get an Amen? Granted you've only been mothering for four weeks, and I've been at it for 13 years, but I got your back, lady! You keep that kale all for yourself this once, you've earned it! :)

And then, when I was cleaning their coop a bit, I found another surprise, which kind of helped to explain Mayzie's change in behavior. It turned out that for the first time in two months, Ms. Mayzie had laid an egg. When hens go broody and are mothering, they stop laying eggs altogether. It's a hormonal thing. Well, clearly, Mayzie's hormones are starting to return to normal. She's no longer broody and she's easing up on her mothering, right as the chicks turn one month. It's a bit on the early side for her to let go of her mothering responsibilities, but not too bad. (Ideally, that happens around 6 weeks old.) She's not totally done with her babies quite yet, but I can see the progression starting.

My guess is that she's going to be done mothering before the babies are big enough to go into the big coop with her. Which actually may work out great. If Mayzie returns back to the big coop without her babies, then the four younger ones will have a better chance of bonding as a group (without Mayzie interfering with her bullying the older two.) I think that might actually work out better: to send in the four younger ones in together as a group. Instead of sending back Mayzie with her two babies, and having the two teenagers fend for themselves. A group of four sounds safer to me. We shall see. Time will tell, and Mayzie's behavior will ultimately make the decision for all of them.

By the way, these Welsummer chicks finally have names! The more cautious of the two is named Charlotte and the more adventurous of the two is named Fern. (Anyone recognize the names? Tipping my hat to the girls of "Charlotte's Web".)

Mayzie and Charlotte
(Look how big the babies are now!)

Say hello to Fern
Didn't they grow up so fast?

Fern & Charlotte
4 weeks old
Old enough to nap without their mom on a warm day.

Mayzie's unexpected egg!

AROUND THE FARM

So pretty! Blossoms blooming!

Jessie has the cowboy boot.
Cooper wants the cowboy boot.
It doesn't belong to either of them.

NASTY. NASTY. NAST-TEEE.
I saw Cooper rolling in the grass out in our back pasture.
That's never a good sign... Usually it means he's found something gross
that for some ridiculous reason he wants to get that smell onto him (like horse poop.) Yuck.
I went to investigate and I found this lovely carcass.
THANK GOD it was just beyond the dog's electric fence so he couldn't touch it.
Instead, he was rolling around as close to this as he could get without getting zapped.
My guess is it was a skunk at one time? Maybe a fisher cat? Blech.

And the picture below is even nastier than the one above, in my opinion! 

My nemesis has made an appearance....

Leaves of three? Shiny red leaves?
Not totally sure if it's poison ivy, but I'm not touching it, that's for sure!
This popped up right outside my front door.
This year, we're hiring professionals to help us get rid of it.

Someone on our street had some trees cut down and was giving away the stumps.
How could I not grab this heart shaped piece?
Pretty sure it weighs twice as much as I do, but I did it!
I loaded it into my car all by myself.
Where there's a will there's a way!