Just a Little Catch Up!

Things have really started jumping around this little farm and I am trying to hop a long and keep up!  February was dragging along and I was dragging with it until the 24th - yes the day of the last big storm.  Star, my beautiful white and gray rabbit, decided to kindle on this day.  For those of you that do not speak rabbitese - kindle is giving birth.  Babies were dropping here there and yonder and unprepared me was running around in lightening and pouring rain trying to get her pen out of the rain and well stocked with all the needs of a new mother rabbit.  She had four kits (babies) and is a wonderful mother.  I checked on the other doe and Mr. Jedi and they were fine, so Star and I settled in for a quiet afternoon.  After the storms had passed, I fed the chickens and gathered the eggs and low and behold here comes Blondie followed by 12 little ones.  She led them straight to the barn to eat and eat they did!  I returned to check on Cleo and Jedi.  The pen was filled with babies.  Cleo must have danced in the rain and quickly deposited 9 little ones in an unprepared pen.  I lost about 5 to drowning and quickly moved Mother and kits into the second birthing pen.  She was not a good mother!  I ended up with one survivor and moved it into the pen with Star.  She immediately cleaned and fed the little one and now is the happy mother of 5.

I never realized that rabbits grew so quickly.  These little ones are a joy to watch. Star has been weaning them this week and I think she is about ready to go back to the big pen and let the little ones grow on up. 

In the two weeks in between this tumultuous Thursday, something killed 6 of Blondie biddies and my big rooster along with one laying hen.  I am hoping the hen is sitting on a nest somewhere, but I did find two patches of feathers behind the barn.  It had to big a big rascal to get my Barred Rock Rooster - he was huge!
I have managed to get in some sewing and therefore knocked back my stack a bit but not near enough.  That will have to wait though as I have two chairs to cane and those take priority. 

Have to run.  Until next time  . . .
Happy reading!
Belle

Two weeks ago a very thoughtful neighbor gifted me with 20 biddies.  It was an unsolicited and  wonderful surprise from this man with a heart of gold.

Several weeks ago a neighbors dog killed ten of my laying hens and a rooster.  These are pets that I raised and nurtured for over a year.  The dog's owner offered to pay me for the hens, but having no idea the value to put on my friends, I told them no.  I replaced my Rhode Island Reds with a few Barred Rock hens that were already laying. 

My gift arrived.  A mixture of Rhode Island Red, Red Sexlink and Big Reds, these little biddies became my focus of attention for days.  I wanted to make sure they were safe, warm and well fed and watered.  The little ones settled in quickly.  On Saturday I went out to check their feed and water only to find a 6 foot black snake had eaten seven of my little ones.  My heart fell.  Sunday was a repeat only this four footer only ate three before being caught.  I still have 10 little ones which during the week have relaxed once again and are happily running up and down their pen.  In a couple of weeks they will be too big for the snakes to swallow and I can stop worrying so much.

I think this may have been the reason my egg production dropped from four a day to two a day.  I have some well fed snakes in my area.  The coyote pups have been born also.  I hear their cries late at night and in the early morning in the woods behind the barn.  I am waiting on them also as I know they will be coming my way in search of food. 

I don't think I shall get too attached to the biddies or the new chickens.  Mother Nature is not kind to my heart.  And yes, I know all about the survival instinct, but I still don't like it.

Until next time . . .

Happy reading!
Belle

Greener Grass

I have six new chickens.  Five of these young ladies are barred rock and the other is a game lady.  Very curious and easy going, these ladies follow me around the pen checking out my every move.  Today was cleaning day for the outside pen.  Raking the old straw and feathers, hauling them to the garden plot and checking the wire on the pen is a half day job.  Of course, I spend a good bit of that time visiting with the ladies and listening to their complaints most of which relate to the demanding Roscoe (my number one rooster) and his two side kicks which I haven't named.  They are true ladies as their complaints do not vary too far afield from the complaints I hear from friends about their significant others.

I am learning these new ladies personalities so I may name them appropriately.  Each one is unique.  Today my favorite earned the name of Jasmine - the wandering vine.  As I was exiting the barn, Miss Jasmine slipped right between my legs.  Frustrated at having to stop my project I chased her around the corner of the pen where low and behold she ran right into the coyote trap.  She is pacing and fuming as she is now contained without food and water while her compatriots are happily playing and eating bread crumbs and seeds.  Perfectly safe, she can wait for hubby to come in and relieve her of the stress of being confined in an even smaller environment. 

So it is with us humans.  We long to be free to roam uninhibited, yet most of the time we jump from the pot into the fire.  Never content with our lot in life, we struggle to find something more.  Most of the time we don't realize that even though the grass looks greener in the next pasture, it got that way because of all the fertilizer.

Until next time . . .

Happy reading!
Belle