Category Archives: Chickens

A February Walk at the Farm

February 10, 2024Chickens, Dogs, Eggs, garlic, Horses, Pond, Reflections, The Farmruthsoaper

Hello and welcome.

We been having some nice weather this week so I thought maybe you might join me for a walk at the farm.

One of the first things you might notice is that our neighbor to the east, who has horses, extended their corral. The fence that my husband put up last spring is their barrier to the west, so they come right up to our property line. For the first couple of weeks Ruby and ranger would go over and bark at them, probably thinking they were doing something they shouldn’t. But Ruby and Ranger have since gotten use to them being so close and while Ruby and Bernard might touch noses through the fence, she no longer has an issue with them being there.

My husband said that every morning when he goes to open up the chicken coop Bernard and Colby Jack greet him at the fence. He likes to have a couple of carrots or other treats for them.

They are very friendly horses, especially when there are treats to be had.

The chickens out enjoying the nice weather. The hens started laying more eggs this week. For several weeks we have only been getting between zero and two eggs a day, but in the last four days we have collected 18 eggs.

Rex, our rooster, is one of the chicks that we got last spring. Unlike roosters we have had in the past he not aggressive toward people or the dogs. It’s nice not to worry about turning my back on him.

They are a bit difficult to make out in the above picture, but the garlic is about 4 or 5 inches high. I spotted daffodils, lilies and irises sprouting as well.

While things have started to dry out a bit this week the pond is still running over its bank. This is the highest we have ever seen the pond this time of year.

Most of our beach is under water.

As I walked down the west property line I loved this view of the barn.

The thin layer of ice that covered much of the pond early this week has since melted since temperatures reached up into the 50’s and 60’s F on Thursday and Friday.

There is still plenty of time for winter weather to return but we will certainly appreciate these nice days while we have them.

Thanks for joining me.

How’s the weather in your part of the world?

First Egg

August 11, 2023Chickens, Eggs, Reflectionsruthsoaper

Our young hens (the chicks that arrived back in March) have started laying. They turned 20 weeks old on Monday. On Tuesday my sister called and told me she had found 3 small eggs in her coop that day. Three of the 6 hens we gave her had started laying! Since we hadn’t seen any small eggs, which is evidence that a young hen is laying, I started giving our girls pep talks. “What are you all doing hanging out here? You should be in the coop giving me an egg and earning your keep.” Today my husband found our first small egg. In the photo below the egg in the center is from a young hen. It’s about 1/2 the size of the other eggs.

It’s hard to say how many of these small eggs a hen will lay before their eggs become normal size, but as more of the girls begin laying I’m sure we will see more eggs like this.

Thanks for visiting!

Downsizing Our Flock

July 28, 2023Chickens, Reflectionsruthsoaper

Remember back in March when our new chicks arrived and I realized that we had 29 new chicks instead of the 18 that I thought I had ordered?

Over the spring and summer as we’ve watched them grow it became apparent that, coupled with the 9 old hens that we already had and even though we lost two of the young chicks, our flock had become too large. During the day, when the chickens were outside, we didn’t have problems, but at night when they were all going into the coop issues would arise. Old hens squawking and pecking at young ones and blocking their way into the coop, then the young ones began pecking at each other. 36 chickens are just too many for our coop. We also discovered, as the chicks grew, that instead of just three roosters that we ordered, we had four roosters. 4 roosters were also too many.

We decided to try to rehome some of our flock. I remembered when we were expecting our chicks that my sister said she and her husband were considering getting chicks again. I knew that they hadn’t acquired any yet, so I decided to offer her some of ours. After some consideration they decided to take six hens and a rooster.

My husband, who was still concerned about having too many roosters. was in the farm store one day and mentioned our abundance of roosters to another customer. The man said he would be happy to take any extra roosters off our hands. Come to find out he lived just down the road from us so last Tuesday morning my husband packed up two of the roosters and delivered them to their new home.

Then on Sunday my sister and brother-in-law were ready for their new flock, so my husband selected six hens and a rooster and took them to their new home, where my sister told me that they were settling in nicely.

I am happy to report that peace has been restored to our coop. There is no more pecking and squawking when they are going into the coop and as the saying goes “Happy flock – happy farmer”. (Okay. I just made that up :))

I hope you have a great weekend.

Thanks for visiting!

The Fence is Finished and Other Things

May 6, 2023Bees, Chickens, Chicks, Fencing, Reflections, The Farmruthsoaper

Last week we had, what my husband referred to as, the soft opening. He had completed fencing the perimeter of our property. The only thing left to do was put up the gate across the driveway. Until he could get that done, he made a makeshift gate by using a piece of the fencing to extend across the driveway and clamping it closed.

Difficult to see but there is fence across the driveway.

Front fence looking to the west from driveway.

Putting up the grate took a few days. First my husband rented a post hole digger to make the holes for the wooden posts. Then he had to measure the depth of the holes while putting the posts in and filling in around them with quickcrete (cement). On top of the quickcrete he put stone then topped it with soil. He used a level to assure that the posts were straight. Once they were in place he left them for a few days to let the cement set up. On May 2 he attached the gate to the posts and the project was complete.

The fence in this photo surrounds the front garden. It is not part of the perimeter fence.

All of the rain that we have had in the past week has the ground saturated. We now have pooling water everywhere.

We have a bumper crop of dandelions this year.

Even though we have been wishing for the temperature to hurry and warm up there are some good things about the cooler temperatures.

The apple trees have not blossomed yet thus reducing the likelihood that they will suffer damage from heavy frost or freeze when in bloom.

The forsythias have enjoyed a long bloom time because of the cooler temperatures,

as have the daffodils.

For years my primrose plants have struggled just to survive. Last fall, after learning that primrose like wet soil, I decided to move my plants to a lower area in the prayer garden.

Already this spring they are thriving.

Our old chicken coop is still standing. Tearing it down is on our to-do list but has not yet become a priority. My husband had leaned the old gate from the chicken yard up againt the front of the old coop.

Earlier this week he noticed that a bird, most likely a robin, has built a nest on top of the gate.

I couldn’t see inside the nest while standing on the ground, but I was able to get a look inside by holding my camera up above the nest and taking a picture. This was two days ago, maybe I’ll take another picture today.

On April 23 our bees arrived. We had lost all three of our hives over the winter. We decided to start just one new hive this year.

They have been very busy this week – enjoying the dandelions.

Our old hens are enjoying springtime. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that at least six of the nine are laying eggs. I really only expected that four were still of laying age, but somedays we find six eggs. 🙂

Here’s a cute story: last week while working in the barn my husband found, in a dark corner, a nest with seven eggs in it. One of our black hens has been sneaking in there and laying her eggs. Apparently, she was getting ready to brood some chicks. Sadly, he had to get rid of the eggs because we haven’t had a rooster since last November, so none would be fertile. Perhaps next year, when our new roosters are mature, she will try again.

Our young chicks are enjoying life at the farm as well.

We are experiencing a lovely day today as it seems like are warmer temperatures have finally arrived, so I’m heading outdoors to get some things done. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Thanks for visiting.

Sunshine On My Shoulders 😀

April 14, 2023Birds, Chickens, Chicks, Daffodils, Dogs, Fencing, Flowers, garlic, Killdeer, Nature, Pond, Reflections, The Farm, Weatherruthsoaper

Over Easter weekend we had beautiful spring weather and throughout the week, that has followed, it seems that the weather has just gotten nicer each day.

On Easter Sunday, when we went out to the farm, I wore jeans and a jacket over my long-sleeved shirt, each day I have found it necessary to wear lighter clothing until yesterday, and again today, I have broken out my summer wardrobe and am wearing shorts with a tank top and enjoying soaking up that long-awaited sunshine.

Let’s take a look at what’s been happening at the farm this week.

Sunday

For about the past three weeks my husband has been working on fencing in the entire farm. It’s a huge undertaking as the 7.6-acre farm measures 1000 ft (304.8 m) by 330 ft (100.5 m). When it is all done he will have pounded in more than 260 fence posts and strung more than 2600 feet (792.48 m) of fence.

The small fence posts in the above picture line the east side of our back field. He has the entire back field fenced at this point and is working diligently on completing the front of the property.

In the above picture the fence lines the front of our property on the west side. When this project is complete we will no longer have to worry about Ranger and Ruby and even the chickens wandering onto neighboring property or into the road. It will take a large load off our minds.

There seems to be an abundance of robins this spring. Some of them have even sat still for pictures.

The fence in the above picture which had enclosed the main garden area is also being removed.

The pond level is up from last fall but it has yet to overflow like it does most years in the spring.

Ruby did not hesitate to get her feet wet as she enjoyed a cool drink from the pond.

Things are beginning to green up. I’m sure the thunderstorms we had last week helped.

Tuesday

Tuesday the weather really warmed up so we were able to move the chicks to the farm.

My husband set up their chicken wire enclosure. He designed it so they have access to the coop through the small door with hopes that they will learn to go in the coop at night.

He also put up a divider inside to coop so they do not have access to the big door.

I bet you’re not surprised to see Ranger watching the babies.

Like robins, we have an abundance of red winged blackbirds.

Some of them posed for pictures as well.

I also got a rare picture of a kildeer that was hanging around near the beach before Ruby chased it off.

The garlic that we planted last fall is coming up nicely.

As I looked up to see if the maple trees were getting leaves yet I noticed what appears to be a Baltimore oriole nest. It seems too early to be a nest build this year, so I am assuming it was from last year or maybe even the year before.

I only say “the year before” because I noticed a second one in the same tree. I don’t know how likely it is that two pair of orioles would nest in the same tree.

Some of the chickens had wandered into the field next door. This won’t be a problem once the fence is complete and it really isn’t a problem now because that neighbor doesn’t mind.

But Ruby thought it was a problem

and took it upon herself to bring them all back home.

She really does have amazing herding instincts and skills. If you have ever tried herding chickens you understand how difficult it can be. It took her less than two minutes to round up eight hens and bring them back over to our farm.

Thursday

The chicks are doing well at the farm, feathering out nicely, learning to forage

and maybe even learning to get back into the coop.

It was a great day to be in the pond, at least the dogs thought so.

Ruby discovered the (bullfrog) tadpoles and has now become obsessed with watching for them and trying to catch them. I suspect she will spend a lot of time there this summer.

Ranger just wanted to go for a swim to cool off.

When deciding to put up the fence my husband and I discussed the likelihood that the wildlife presence on our farm would be altered. Not necessarily a bad thing. While deer, fox, racoons and other animals can get over the fence it’s hard to say whether they will or not. I suppose it depends on what there is to motivate them to do so.

However, I never considered that the fence might be a problem for a pheasant. Pheasants can fly and could easily sail right over the fence.

This male ringed-neck pheasant was very confused and spent several hours trying to find an opening in the fence.

Eventually Ruby spotted him. I’m not sure if he flew or ran when she chased him but I think she did him a favor as he did clear out of the area. Hopefully he found a different route home.

I’ll leave you with a slide show of flowers that are blossoming at the farm. Among them are daffodils, forsythia (beginning to open), and primrose.