Old Hen has a Chick

After three months of setting, not setting, lice and abandoning her nests, this old hen had a chick. Now she is still setting on a clutch of 10 eggs unhatched. And she has this single chick to keep her company. This hen was older when she was given to us. We were told she would make a good broody hen. I think the rain storms kept her off her eggs. Hens don't do well in thunderstorms and we have had a lot this spring. I have learned to take a broody hen and her eggs and keep them in a brooder box until the eggs hatch in 21 days. Give the hen food and water and keep her away from the other hens in peace. My other hens like to try to lay an egg right on top of a broody hen. This causes abandoned nests and cracked eggs. I am quickly learning how to be a good chicken farmer. I have made 2 additional brooder cages for broody hens to live inside our chicken coop. Now I have no broody hens and should have more egg output from the freed up flock.

Duckling Lineup

Here are our 4 ducklings inside the house in a plastic tub with a 100 watt bulb to keep warm. The tan one is a Khaki Campbell and the blacks ones are Cayugas. The runt is the one with the scar on her head. We call her Shelley since the breeder said her head must have stuck to the shell too long. I think of Mary Shelley who wrote Frankenstein is a more fitting. But Shelley has a personality and is unafraid. We have moved the ducklings to our outside brooder box for now. Baby ducks are messy and smelly and are happier outside. They love the water and get water all over the place. Our next step is to allow them time in a shallow pool to swim in.

Raining Snappers

While riding our horse through the pasture my husband spotted a snapper close to the coop. So he moved the turtle far away from the horses and the chickens. You can see she was not happy to be moved.

Fried Ducklings

We attended a Farm Fest in Cabool, MO this past weekend. Along with horses, tractors, plants there were baby ducks and chicks for sale. I always stop to see what varieties are for sale from other farmers. These are 2 Khaki Campbells and 3 Black Cayuga ducklings we bought at the end of the hot day for cheap. The breeder put them in the fried chester chicken boxes as an inexpensive way to hold these babies. We ended up with a runt since she had so much personality among the 60+ mixed ducklings in the box.

Crazy Friday

For two days I have been building a brooder cage for my broody hens inside the coop. To keep them on their nest with their chicks away from the flock in peace. Sometimes hens hatch 1 chick and abandon the rest of the eggs. I want maximum chicks hatched without me resorting to an incubator. My game hen hatched 2 chicks in winter but abandoned her last 2 sets this spring. Very frustrating to lose eggs and chicks from a flaky hen. The broody cage idea was recommended by the old timers to force the hen to sit on her nest.

This morning as I worked I heard peeping from under one of my barred rock hens. This is her first brood this year as she was born in October of 2010. I knew she would need to be moved into the brooder box ASAP. So I finished and moved her, the chick and the unhatched eggs. Mama hen was pleased and setting in peace. Then I heard squawking and upset hens in the horse pasture. Hens were running all over the place and out pops a red fox with a mouth full of feathers right in front of me and my horses.The horses ignored the fox so I yelled and the fox ran. I grabbed my dog who was asleep to get the fox. Useless, she ran back into the kennel back to sleep. I thought about releasing my other dog, but he would have just gone after my hens too. I was warned the fox will return and kill all my chickens, and the locals were right. Foxes are smart and hungry. This fox only wounded my red hen and got feathers.

This is going to be a busy summer for me and that fox.

Car Nesting

One of the not so wonderful aspects of farm life, mice, rats and voles nesting in our cars. A vole decided to place our car Kleenex in a shredded pile under the trunk by the spare tire. We discovered this as we were needing a tool for the car and found the white pile. We had noticed the Kleenex box look mangled earlier. We did not find the vole but think our cat dispatched it last week seen here wounded in the grass near our cars. And in my vintage Volvo wasps have tried making a nest in my door jam and in our mailbox too. Fun never ends out here in nesting season.

Mg, Ca and Fe, Oh my!

It has been raining here for almost a solid month in the Ozarks. We needed the rain after the dry summer last year. But this had me doing heavy wet chores outside and I got worn out, crampy and partially deaf. I took aspirin and it did nothing. So my husband took me to our small town doctors office. Turns out our well water is high in Ca but low in Mg. I drink only tea and coffee from our well water. Low Mg in the water causes fatigue and cramping. My husband drinks store bought drinks like OJ, milk and soda so he was not affected. I was drinking to city water before this and not used to well water.

Next my blood level was low and I needed a blood count. The Dr said I can't give blood anymore. I need Fe to boost my blood. Low Mg can starve the blood of O2.

Next my loss of hearing was caused by sinus problems. There was scaring and signs of problems in my ear tubes; a vacuum had been created and sounds were not getting through. I was given a steroidal nasal spray to clear my sinus. If that does not work I will have to see a specialist.

So after a trip to the doctor I am feeling better, no more cramps nor migraines. And the sun came out and I can get my muddy chores done without pain. Guess I needed a 10k mile checkup after all.

Mole Teeth

Yesterday my cat and dog we digging up the lawn. I went to see what was so interesting. It was a huge hole with a huge mole fighting both of them. This mole was fast, fat and feisty. We have a mole problem out here so I wanted to see what a big one looked like. The dog and cat pulled out a huge 1/2 lb mole. I put it in a bucket next to a cat food can. The mole was chirping and digging at the bucket. My husband took it outside for a photo session. I included the blurry one to show how fast the mole moved in his glove. It had large teeth which it used on the gloves several times. I now have a new respect for these creatures. We took this one to an unused field away from the house. We watched it dig into the rocky soil faster than I could dig with a spade.

April Showers Bring Snappers

This afternoon I heard my guineas raising a ruckus. I saw this snapper headed for my chicks instead of the pond. The guineas were pecking this turtle very hard on its tail. I threw a bucket over the turtle and my husband came to walk it up to the small pond. It was a female and not happy about being picked up. She was about 7 inches wide across the back shell. We hope she stays in the smaller pond this summer.

Noisy Sunlight

We got about an hour of sunlight in between storms today. Our guineas took advantage of it to hunt for bugs in the foot tall grass. They are the real watch dogs of our farm and never stop talking. I am so glad we only have six.

Wild Bunny

This evening our barn cat, Poppy, brought us a large "gift" in his mouth a baby cottontail rabbit. The baby was mostly unharmed and still alive. A storm was raining on all of us so I brought the baby rabbit inside. It's in a cage with shavings and greens away from us and the cats. We will release away from our farm if it is strong enough to run. Rabbits never show signs of pain as they are prey and it could have internal injuries I can't see. We have a lot of wild rabbits on our farm and they are a pest if unchecked. But we will give it a chance and set it free to join its rabbit pals in the morning. I checked and it is a boy rabbit.

Driveway Rivers

With all the heavy rain we have had in the last 2 weeks we have had new rivers in our gravel drive. The rivers flow under our deck and down the hill to the field below. Our grass is a foot tall and the bugs are water logged. The chickens are feasting on it all. And this morning we had a medium sized snapping turtle blocking the driveway. Alan tossed him into the shallow pond. We could use a break from all this rain.

Tractor Tree Guard

Our tractor needed a tree guard added for protection for bush hogging. We hired our craftsman friend Jeff to custom weld a tractor guard for us. He fitted the guard and welded an S for Savoy at my request which he fabricated by hand. He also painted the S to match our tractor. The paint is still wet in these shots. Will post a better shot when the rain stops. Now we can impress all the cows and horses around the Ozarks with our styling guard. This guard is very heavy 1/8 inch steel plating primed and painted and bolted to our tractor. We are very pleased with the quality of materials and full welds (no spot welding). This guard will outlast our tractor.