Friday Farm Fotos: Broody

It's springtime on the farm.

To a banty (or bantam) hen that means only one thing-

time to hatch some babies.

It doesn't matter if they are sitting on their eggs, someone else's eggs, eggs that are bigger than their bums can possibly cover,
NO eggs.....

These broody girls are dedicated to the cause of motherhood.

Quick- snatch that egg before someone puts their bum on it!

 

Of course, it's not always such a bad thing...

there is a perk that comes from all this madness.

 

*SQUEEEEEAL*

Happy Friday, everyone!

It's that time of year again...

Grass is popping up... the trees are starting to bud.... the air has a wonderful warm feel...

Aaaand this is happening....

*Sigh*....

Welcome to Broodyville. Population: ....uhhhh.... it depends on how many hens are in the same box fighting over the eggs. At the moment, two.

Two hens that is, one egg between them.

(Yes, one.)

By the way, that was not, I repeat NOT, me giggling in the background.

I would never be so evil as to get any kind of amusement from messin' with these sweet little charmers. (mwahahahaha)

Welcome, Springtime! Let the blooming and the broodiness begin!  :)

News from around the farm

Taken after an evening storm on Tuesday, May 26th

After a week of no internet, I'm finally up and running again! Woo hoo! I received a new DSL modem today from the phone company to replace the old one that quit working. It's been tough not to be able to visit all my blog friends, but so much has been going on around here the last week I've hardly had time to dwell on it for too long. Hubby has been off from work this week and we've been busy building animal housing again, this time for the two newest residents of the farm....

I bring you-

Elvis and Priscilla!

These sweet little Boer-crossed goats took up residence here just a few days ago, and have already been keeping us entertained with their funny antics. They are brother and sister twins- Elvis has been fixed so he is very calm, but Priscilla (with the blue collar on) is very rambunctious and at times, pesky. She untied Hubby's nail apron while he was working on their little house and carried his hammer away on several occasions, too.

Dad came by this weekend to help us check our hives and said we were ready for hive #1 to have another "brood box" added, which simply means the queen is doing her job laying eggs and the hive is growing rapidly. (All good signs.) Hive #2 is a little slower and fewer in number, but Dad says they are coming along and will do just fine.

Here is a short little video I took of Hive #1 and thought it was interesting- these are the young worker bees cleaning the "flight deck" of the hive. if you watch very closely and focus on one bee at a time, you will see them going back and forth, back and forth- almost like they're mopping the floor!

And as usual, some news around here is OLD news..... and getting OLDER every day.

*Sigh*

Well, I'm off to make my rounds and find out what's new with you- It's great to be back in BlogLand!

A day full of surprises

It's very unusual for East Tennessee to have low humidity and crystal clear skies near the end of May, but that's exactly what we're having right now... in fact, we've had three days of the most gorgeous blue skies I can remember in a long time. It's such a wonderful and welcome surprise after all the rain we've had lately.

Surprise #2 came from the hen house this morning....

A mini-egg!

One of my green-eggers must have had an off day yesterday.... look at the size of it compared to one of my Rhode Island Red eggs.....

While I was mowing today, I got surprise #3- Can you see the baby rabbit in this picture?

Well, I didn't when I mowed over it's nest but fortunately I saw it before I made another pass with the blades going.

I carefully picked it up- trying to handle it as little as possible- and put it back down into it's cozy nest.

Surprise #4 came in the mail... wonderful Christine from a cute little blog called the Tin Can Cottage sent me a "Blog Gal" for no reason other than just leaving her comments! Isn't she precious- I just love her little gingham dress and cherry apron.... she is now in my sewing room watching out the window for me. Thank you Christine for the sweet thought!

And surprise #5-

Just when I think I've seen it all........

*Sigh*....

I'm not sure, but the one to left and closest to the camera looks like she might be being held against her will..... what do you think?

Rain, Rain....

Last Saturday was to be the "Plow Day" Hubby looks forward to all year where we should have seen things like this going on...

Instead, it looked like this....

Hubby was not happy.

Poor Hubby.

We have had 11 days of rain and very little sunshine. The garden has flooded twice- looks like we will be re-planting our beans. My tomato plants have started wilting, too- too much water around the roots and not enough sunshine.

Farm Chick Paula is not happy either.

On a happier note, we are out of the drought we've been in for three years, so I'll not complain. (Too much.) And I'm really excited about my little apple and pear trees- this is what I found this morning....

Several of you commented on my last post about Daisy and Edie's wool and asked what I did with it- and to be perfectly honest, I've never done anything with it... until now. I've always wanted to try felting, so with some careful shearing this time, (I'm getting better at it, just still VERY SLOW) and some wonderful advice from my friend Kathy from Cedar Pond, I'm going to attempt to clean and felt their beautiful grayish-black colored wool. I'll let you know how I do for my first attempt.

Oh, and it seems the little one-egg game is still going on up at the banty coop. Apparently, whoever's bottom touches the egg last before it hatches will be the winner. (And the momma.)

These two are daughters of the Little Terrorist, by the way.... can you see the resemblance?

Scary, isn't it?

Feeding time and double trouble

It's time to feed the bees.... want to come along with me?

Several of you asked where the hives were located from the house or from the other animals, so maybe this picture will give you a perspective-

This is looking from the barn toward the hives- they're the two little white dots next to the fence.

Once I get to the hives, I open the outside cover which reveals the top inner board.

See the 3 holes on top? The bees get ventilation from those, but can't access it from inside the hive because of the feeder box.

Once I remove the top board, I pour the feed (honey/water mixture) into the feeder box.

I lift up the feeder box just to check and make sure everything is alright.... even though it's early enough in the morning that the bees aren't very active outside the hive, they are already scurrying around inside. I love being around them when they're calm like this.

A few of the bees have already found the feed.

I do this for both hives, replacing the board and cover after I'm done.

Here is a view from the hives looking toward the barn and house- this may give you a better idea of how far away they are.

Once I'm finished with the bees, I make my morning rounds and notice deer tracks in the garden. This is NOT good.

And when I get to the chicken coop, I see this.

(Click to enlarge it- their expressions are hysterical.)

Double trouble?

Definitely.
Two broody banty hens in the same nest box can only mean one thing.... stay as far away as you can!

Liza Minelli lays an egg.

Some of you may remember the Little Terrorist and how she held three eggs hostage back in the spring.... if you'll recall, one of the eggs was hers but the others were two very large green eggs she plopped her hiney on just to show off her brooding abilities. The egg that actually belonged to her turned out to be a tiny little rooster, and one of the green eggs never hatched- but the other hostage turned out to be a hen.

Fast forward six months.....

This is the hostage today, otherwise known as Liza Minelli. She has turned out to be a rather striking hen- she is part Araucana and part Silver Penciled Hamburg. (Yep, Hamburger was the culprit.) Over the weekend, I kept noticing Liza wanting to go inside the Silkies' coop... I assumed she was hungry and wanting to eat some of the leftovers in their feed dish. But while the Silkies were outside and I had my back turned, Liza promptly ran inside the coop and into one of the nest boxes. I found Hubby and told him to come quick- Liza was about to lay her first egg. We waited anxiously and about 10 minutes later, we were rewarded with this-

Liza has inherited the green egg trait!

Now if you'll excuse me, I must indulge myself in some "chickie love".....

Isn't Beau handsome? *sigh*

Gertie, Clementine and Sadie busily pecking. Have you ever seen anything so sweet...

Oh dear......

Please- not the fuzzy bottoms.....

I can't... help... myself......

2 out of 3 ain't bad

Just in time for Mother's Day, the little terrorist is finally the proud mother to 2 baby chicks... hers and one of the Hostages. The other hostage egg was a dud, apparently. (Ironic?)

This weekend went by so fast... Hubby has been fixing the radiator on his tractor, so my potting/storage shed was put on hold temporarily. (Rats.) Still no pictures... I'm waiting until it doesn't look like a privy before I let you see it. I will give you a "tease"- we ordered the same color of tin that's on our barn, so it will have a matching roof! (squeal, gush) I will have my own "mini-barn"! I'm thinking about putting a little sign on the front that says "Paula's Pout House". (cute, huh?)

In the few short months I've been at this blogging thing, I have come to know which part of the country (or world) most of you live in who read my blog, either by you telling me yourself, or seeing it on your profile. And even though I don't know exactly where you are, it's nice to have an idea where of you and your families live... I try to picture in my mind the way the land looks, if it's a large city or small town, if it's been dry or raining... things like that. But when I hear of bad weather or tornadoes coming near where I know some of you are, I'm almost sick with worry, and hope and pray that everything is alright. (I guess that sounds sappy or dumb, but that's who I am.) That's the way I felt last night and this morning after hearing of some of the devastation in places close to where some of you live. I'm hoping this post finds you safe, and that all is well with you and your family.

The Countdown begins!

This is it... 3 more days.

Some of you have asked about the little terrorist and her "habits" while on the hostage eggs, and from what I can tell, she has only been off the nest probably 6 or 7 times to eat, drink, and poop, then right back on she goes. This is not unusual for a broody hen, especially a bantam breed- they are usually more motherly than the more domesticated large breeds. (Although some of them have their moments, too.) From the time a hen starts sitting on the eggs until they hatch is usually 21 days.

You better stay out of my garden, wabbit......

or I'll open up a can of this on you....

That's more like it.