Snow Day

It is another snow swept day here in New England. You can tell everyone is coming down with a case of spring fever and its only January. Today we were to be (unexpectedly) blessed with a couple of inches, which is turning into slightly more than that. I'm not a fan of snow, it gives me this pit in my gut.

My chickens seem to be fairing the weather quite well however, spending time under the trampoline which allows them some snow-free grass to pick at. The dogs aren't the slightest bit interested in the snow today...spending their day lazing around the house moving from one dog bed to another. Snuggling in close by the fire to stay warm. Stanley watches intently at the windows as birds jump around in the tree tops looking for any morsel of food available.

Me and Mason, we took a snow day. Mason woke up with a hacking cough and I originally had an appointment this morning ~ which was canceled as the snow began to pile up in the streets. As a result I decided to call it a day and not bother with work. Have I mentioned how much I love my boss and the fact that I can just make spur of the moment decisions such as that??? Abi and Garrick will be home soon also a direct effect of the weather.

To sweeten the smell in the house me and Mason whipped up a loaf of cinnamon streusel (from a box of course). This will be nice when Abi and Garrick hop off their buses and come running up the snow covered driveway. I'll top the warm streusel with vanilla ice cream and everyone will smile.

Ah life is good...even when its snowing!

Have you Met MAX???

So approximately a month ago Abi was able to break me down and convince me that she had to have a bunny. This is Max a 5 month old (what i presume to be) Jersey Wooley. Rescued from a little lady in Meriden who had upwards of 45 bunnies in need of homes. She had stated that little Max here was a Lionhead, but I'm pretty sure he is not.
He is a quiet little bunny... as most bunnies are but he was sweet enough to allow Abi to carry him around from cage to cage while she made her choice of bunnies that day.
He was so "tame" that she couldn't possibly say NO to him and I do not think she has regretted her choice once.

He looks absolutely huge in this photo but he's really not a big bunny although he has HUGE FEET! I'll have to take a picture so you can see.

He's already litter box trained and while she does let him have free run of her bedroom for a while every night he seems content to lay low in his cage....EXCEPT when Stanley is about.

Chasing Stanley is his most favorite hobby and I think Stanley particularly enjoys it also. They seem to have fun playing this game for a few minutes every night before he leaps back into his cage.


His one downfall...he's incredibly thirsty during the night. I swear he drinks non-stop from midnight till about 4am. Its a little frustrating because its not like he's just drinking its like him and his water bottle are having a game of tug-a-war and the bottles winning.

But aside from that he's cute and I have to admit I go and see him almost everyday. I like him a lot better than the bunny I had when I was about 18. (bad timing on my part!). In the summer we plan on giving him some time outside, but not making him an Outside bunny. He's too cute to do that to.




Here they are sharing a little moment. <3>

Favorite Blog Ever

http://www.hencam.com/henblog/ Here is the link to the HenCam Blog, what I love about this blog is that she has a camera in her hen house, outside in the run and on her goats also. Every now and then when I feel like seeing what someone else's chickens might be up to (or how they may be acting on a particularly cold day) I click on this sight and see what is going on at Little Pond Farm!

The first snow...

do you see how Big and Beautiful Maddy is in this picture compared to when I brought her home!

And Look how fat and "Henny Penny"esque Pepper is looking after moulting.

Snowy Days and chickens

When the weather gets cold and the bugs are not plenty the chickens come knock knock knocking on the back door.

Its not uncommon to find Pepper peeking in the back door window in an attempt to get someone's attention and hopefully a treat.

she knows the key to my heart and it works everytime!!!

Here she is meer inches from entering the house! She's such a house chicken its not even funny.

A Series of Unfortunate Events ....

So in my last blog I think I was going to explain a series of unfortunate events but I feel with every line i typed I doomed another innocent animal to the slaughter house, eventually causing me to give up on blogging altogether. But I am confident that enough time has passed that my animals lives are safe and I've paid down whatever price I had to pay to karma.

We have made a few additions to the "farm". I will introduce them here and give you a brief interlude to how they came about. First, meet Maddy and Daphne two New Hampshire Reds from a farm in Litchfield. They look pretty bad here, and these pictures were taken a mere week after their rescue. They were without much of their feathers and it was not a pattern that meant they were moulting...these hens were unhealthy, stressed out, and ridden by a rooster one too many times. Kept in a barn with approximately 50 other chickens...and no I'm pretty sure they were not well KEPT.

You can see by the photographs Pepper is in full moult as well! While she looks pretty raggedy herself I know that she was being take care of and fed well to help her grow her feathers back in a timely manner....which they did and I have never seen Pepper look better.

Maddy is the lighter colored one and much more hand friendly. Daphne is slightly more red and I dread the day that she gets sick and needs my attention. She's mad as a hornet with a big chip on her shoulder about something... and is not afraid to give you hand a peck if she feels you are out of line with her. Just the other day I reached in to touch her neck feathers which looked slightly skewed and maybe bloody. She pecked my hand to let me know to back off and I didn't look back. (her neck was fine by the way).

I let Daphne have her space. Maddy recently spent the better part of a month living in the house recuperating from a nasty pecked wound on her back...courtesy of my pecky hen Pepper. She had a hole approximately 2 inches around pecked into her back. I happened to catch site of it one day while sneaking a peek in the hen house. I thought she was going to bleed to death by the size of the wound.
I immediately moved her into the house and just about 1 week ago was able to move her back out. Which of course left her wide open for a couple days of torment from my flock leader Pepper. But all is calm again and everyone is getting along just fine.
With a couple days of near 40 degree weather forecasted they will be able to spend a few days outside and breath some fresh air, peck some slightly frozen ground...and get back to being chickens. Even if just for a little while.