Greetings from a Chicken

Here is a funny story...although not nearly as funny to tell as it was to experience:
On any typical day after arriving home from work I am greeted by our two silly mut dogs! They stand stretching upwards toward the top of the gate, tongues wagging in an attempt to be the first to say "HELLO" to me!
They knock each other down and out of the way, this always makes walking up those first three steps toward the door enjoyable. You know you will always be loved if you have a dog! Even if the rest of the world should yearn to hate you~your dog will inevitably be there to give you a kiss and say I love you!
So yesterday I pull in the driveway and exit my car as usual making my way toward the side toward, the steps, and the dogs gate. I don't see the usual hopping and laughing that usually greets me which I thought odd, as I draw closer I can hear a cluck and bawk bawk. I head up the steps and over to the gate to see what's going on and who is standing there waiting for me ...Salt of course!
She is clucking along coming closer to the gate to get my attention~clearly she was hoping and praying i would have a small morsel to offer her. I was sad that I didn't have a chicken snack in my purse (but honestly how could i ever have guessed?). I said hello and entered into the house....and there I was greeted by my three sillly puppies!
Ah, its good to be home!

The Funniest Chickens You Ever Did Meet

So I may have mentioned at some point in this blog that chickens have far more personality then I think I would have ever guessed. They are actually quite humorous and can get as excited as a dog when they see you coming.
<--This happens to be Salt, she is the one year old Plymouth Rock Hen who is settling in so well here at Farm Webster you would think we hatched her ourselves. (we didn't!)
Salt is particularly excitable when she sees any of us coming near
in fact it makes cooping her up at night difficult.
We wait for the chickens to head for their run at night before shutting the door...but what is happening is they hear our feet steps coming and they come running back out! I am trying to offer them as much freedom as possible so, when I go out to coop them I will retreat back to the house and wait for them to head back in. At this point I often send one of the kids because my patient is fleeting the older I get.
So recently the chickens have taken to coming on the deck,
more often when we are present. They come up, cluck around and
then usually fly back off. Initially I was shooshing them back off as there are a couple pots of veggies growing and I was fearful the chickens would make a quick snack of them.
After a few days of this game I decide to let them be, they didn't seem all that interested in the veggies anyway (odd considering they have all but destroyed everything below the deck).
What is interesting...I believe they are there to visit, not eat. As we sit around the table on the deck the chickens move in close and lay down. Usually Salt leads the pack and Pepper and Little Red

are quick to follow. Laying out their wings and closing their eyes. They are completely comfortable with us, with the dogs, and the cats! It's a site I could not have imagined in a thousand years!
I told John "i think we have the strangest chickens in the world" to which he refuted "how many chickens do you know?". He's right, I don't know alot of chickens....but I know us. I know we have a tendency toward the strange and unusual in our house and I find
it incredibly entertaining to know that our chickens would rather

spend their free time sitting with us at the table then eating bugs in the yard. To the left you can see the dogs and chickens enjoying a snack of stale potato chips together. Everyone gets along well. Even Milly our "goat chasing dog" has no interest in catching a chicken and maneuvers around the chickens without so much as a blink of the eye in their direction.
Yesterday I noted Remi playing with Bella, jumping off the deck and realizing mid-air that he was about 2 seconds from landing on one of the chickens. How he managed to spring his body forward and miss landing on them I will never know...but I could tell by his movement that he was looking out for his chicken friends. He seems to love them as much as he loves Stanley his cat. He is careful to not step on them, he watches them in the yard and when they get away from each other he rounds them back up.
I often sit on the deck and watch everyone "grazing" in the yard together...wishing....if only everything in life was this simple!

Our Chicken Friends

I have to tell you I have some of the funniest pics of our chickens chillen on the deck with us today in the sun. I promise to update the blog to include these pictures within the next day or so. Mason has soccer camp starting tomorrow so that might throw me off some, but I promise promise to get it done!

Rain Rain...Go Away AGAIN!!!!!

So you don't have to be from New England to know that our 'summer' weather has been anything but cooperative! In all my life I have never seen so much rain as we have seen in the last 3 months. Nerve racking really. I never wondered what detrimental effects RAIN could have on our environment. I've always considered it a necessary element and while the rain tends to get me down I accept it~especially when thunder and lightening are involved. I do love a good electrical storm! Remember the old saying "April showers bring May flowers". Well, I haven't really felt the saying has applied for the last several years and I would joke that it should be April, May showers bring June flowers...but this year I think it needs to be STOP STOP THE RAIN ALREADY.
Not to mention the town started laying these drain pipes along the sides of the roads, apparently to assist with the distribution of water onto the roads. These drains are going to drain the water underground and into the sewers.
I'm not sure they are working...at all. These photos are of my yard...which in the past has had a problem with the collection of water over top of the patio...but this water quickly dissipates when the rain stops. It took slightly longer than normal this fine day I decided to take some pictures.
So, honestly... we probably could've gotten a kayak to float on top of the water on the patio. It was ridiculous. But as I said, some water collecting there is normal. I ventured over to the side yard, and noted some VERY deep water there (that is the top picture). My feet became submerged in the mucky grass and water with each step...causing my flip flops to stick to the ground.
Should I mention the dogs use our backyard as their potty...which is perfectly acceptable. A much better alternative to using the floors in the house. But with each suctiony step I felt I was sticking my feet in POOP WATER! eeeew, how gross! Of course the dogs really can't help that and they are by no means to blame!


I feel bad mentioning the state of the chicken run. Or should I say duck pond? Its a disaster beckoning every fly in the state of Connecticut to come forth and take up residence. A chicken run should be kept dry at all times...and a nice dusty spot helps they groom. This is not even possible~at least not in this section of the state. We've attempted to dry out the coop by throwing in mulch...but I'm afraid at this point all we have done is invite more pests as I noticed the run was full of disgusting green flies and a new little white gnatty looking thing. I have no idea what these new little bugs are!
I had mentioned a week or so ago that my hosta's were infested with aphids. Hosta's are not

typically bothered by pests, this is a very hardy plant...but with so much rain EVERYTHING IS SUFFERING.

I am an absolute fan of Mother Nature. I love her and her infinite wisdom. I appreciate the fact that its one thing that humanity has not managed to control, change, or harness for his own wealth or personal greed. There are times I get frustrated due to a rain shower ruining a picnic or snow on the wrong day, but for the most part I ride out the seasons with little complaint. After all its one of the reasons I do stick it out in the Northeastern part of the states. Because, believe me when I say, nothing makes me quite as happy as sunshine that wont quit!

But please, please, please, whoever is responsible for this rain dance I am begging you please~give us back our summer before its winter again. I need the sun to flourish and apparently, the environment is suffering much more than I would have ever imagined as well.

Rain Rain Go Away...My little chickens want to play!

Had I know it was going to be this bad, I would've settled on ducks. :o(

Which came first...the chicken or the egg?

These my friends, are honest to Nature cage free eggs. No hormones, no antibiotics, no animals were abused in the making of these eggs! Aren't they perty. Before I left work for the day the kids had called me to let me know that we had an egg. They were so excited you would've thought we had a new chick!
"What do we do, where do we put it? AAAAAGH!"... "Put it in the fridge, no wait. Leave it out. Wait, no..grab a bowl. I don't know, i guess leave it on the counter." Ok, phew! that was a tough decision (apparently i was more nervous or excited than the kids) and before i got home the kids must've remembered all the egg cartons we've been collecting since we bought our fuzzy chicks~because egg 1 was placed gently in the carton and waiting for me to view when i arrived home.
They were pretty sure Pepper laid it...and she did use the nest box...which will make John happy. Knowing someone is using something he's made lol, :oP
But then when I got home they kept telling me that Pepper was still in the box and they weren't sure what was going on. I told them not to worry about it. I figured she was fine...but part of me did worry that I was given a broody hen! Wouldn't that just be some crappy luck~always expecting the worse.
Fact: A broody hen is a domestic hen ready to brood. (is it just me or can anyone else out there not stand when the definition lazily uses the word its defining). Basically a broody hen is a hen that is ready to hatch some eggs...Her biological clock is ticking...and she is looking for some babies! She will sit relentlessly on her nest in hopes of hatching eggs. Even if her eggs are not fertile and will never hatch :o(
We all went outside to make sure Pepper was doing ok and what to my wandering eyes should appear but a miniature sleigh...oh no wait, it was not a sleigh...but instead ANOTHER egg. Pepper turned around to check the other box and I quietly retrieves it from the box. She looked back in the box and seemed confused (not really). But can you imagine if you just delivered a baby then turned around and it was gone and you are left thinking "did i really just deliver that or am i nut-so?" LOL.
So we have our first official eggs and I couldn't be happier. Thanks Salt and Pepper~

The Nest Boxes

Here is the outside view of the box, note the green drawer~it makes it so pretty (reduce, reuse, recycle PEOPLE! get inventive).
There is also the picture of the nest boxes together and then one side alone. The ladies seem to approve. I was a little worried when one of the kids told me that Daisy was in the nest box. I can't have them roosting in the boxes, but at the same time...how do you explain to a baby rooster that these are for eggs...not to be used as beds! I dont know that I would be able to get through to him.

Fact: they say you need one nest box for every 4-5 hens you have

Well, you know we have to make sure everyone is happy and has plenty of room here at Hotel Webster. We used an old dresser drawer to set these ladies up comfortably. John got home at about 6pm, stuffed a couple hamburgers in his face and went out to build the box. Under my supervision he worked quickly (lol, that was a joke) and was done within an hour. There are two boxes side by side set outside of the coop for easy egg removal. The top flips up and the nests exposed, you just have to reach in, steal the eggs, and run...run AWAY! I'm kidding about the running part~but there is always the chance that a hen may not want you to take her eggs and try to peck you...afterall these have the potential to become children if left alone. (not really...I think our roosters are not quite old enough to fertilize anything yet, but someday).

So along with Nest Boxes...come eggs!

Meet Salt and Pepper

A little fluffy Butt shot of the two ladies!

so here they are... the one on the left is Pepper, she is a ... well, honestly I can't remember her breed. Its a rock cornish or something. But she's a standard size lady hen, and it would seem that a cornish would be smaller. No? At any rate I tried to look it up on line and i just kept finding photos of actual cornish game hen dinners! So that's not my girl. The lovely grey and white butt next to her is Salt...she is without a doubt a Plymouth Rock. I knew i was getting the Plymouth Rock so I remember her breed. Its the other that is causing the blank.

A close up of Pepper

I believe it was Pepper who poked her head out first when I uncovered the box, she poked her head out and said "thank god I'm still alive! I thought I'd never get out of this box" and flew out. Her sister flew out about a half second later and they took to digging up the mulch. What a difference their big feet make. I thought the little ones did some damage to the vegetation till I saw these woman kick up their heels. I guess I'm glad we decided to go with a mulch covered yard this year, it gives them plenty to tear through and i can imagine the number of bugs they uncover is plentiful.

This is Salt and I think she's beautiful

Salt's manners are far greater than those of Pepper. Salt is definitely the more courteous of the two. She bumped one of my small roo's out of the way whereas Pepper literally grabbed neck feather and flung him to the side. I wish you could've seen poor Daisy walk away sulking ...retreating to the corner to cry. He was so excited about his new feathered friends. To be tossed away like yesterdays garbage made him so sad and I wanted so badly to console him...but alas, he's a chicken and they don't really respond to the coddling like you would think. Imagine that!


The ladies enjoying some new soil, and perhaps a new delicacy

These woman are used to the free range lifestyle, something I am still unsure about. I just can't stand the thought of watching one of my birds being hoisted off the ground and carried away by a hungry hawk. What a torturous and painful death it must be to be shredded alive by another winged creature! Thanks, but no thanks, I'm not ready to make that move yet! We are trying to allow them some time out of their cover as long as they are supervised. I think that's fair enough...and its only because we love them. <3

Our New Hen Friends

So I was very excited to be able to pick up our new friends last night in Burlington. I was unable to get a peek at who I was getting as she had already caught and boxed up for me prior to my arrival. Needless to say I was a little nervous about what they might look like when I was able to finally arrive home and catch a glimpse for the first time.
I noted alot of her hens had bald backs and hens due to the rooster having his way with them (holy cow i had no idea roosters were THAT big).
Anyway, seeing as I am sitting at work and actually do have work to be done I am going to go for now...but be ware I will be back later to take some time to talk and post pics about my new ladies.
I think you'll like that as much as I do!

Farewell dear Rooster Friends

So today I made the decision the roosters had to go. Now for anyone that knows me...knows that where animals are concerned I think with my heart and rarely with my head, so for me this was a very "Big Girl" decision. I have this false sense of truth that my home is always the best home for any animal--even when its not. For three large roosters, this was not the ideal situation. They would eventually become more of a problem then their original intention...which was to supply eggs. How many of you out there were not aware that Rooster's do not lay eggs? Well, i did know that...but apparently the girl at Tractor Supply Co was misinformed when she told us that the lighter the chick the more likely it was to become a hen someday. I have done ALOT of research since buying these guys and I can assure you that were Golden Comets are concerned

LIGHTER IS NOT BETTER unless you ARE looking for Roosters. Maybe I should go get a job there and help them learn. INTERNET PEOPLE! It will teach you most everything you never wanted to know...and then some. I suggest the folks selling the chicks at TSC do some light reading and then start educating folks on hens vs. roos. It would save alot of dumbasses such as myself the trouble later on.

The kids actually took the whole situation quite well considering they had grown to love these feathery friends. As a final "sorry" and in hopes of being forgiven we let them out into the tree next to their run. Daisy and Little Red quickly made their way up

on to some of the high branches. Sunny quickly became jealous and jumped up as high as he could... he was able to get about a foot off the ground and seemed quite satisfied with being "taller" than the other roos'! He sat proudly on his branch for a little while. In fact their new free status did little to excite them when about 20 minutes later Little Red went into Rooster Protection Mode (RPM...lol) and began crowing her(his) combless head off to round up his flock. He crowd and crowd...and one by one the roosters all retreated into the coop!
I am thoroughly amazed by the power one little roo posesses. He speaks and they go running.

I couldn't see the threat, but apparently he saw or heard something I couldn't. He spoke and they listened. After he rounded them up into the coop he sat at the door blocking their exit and continued to crow... perhaps warning whatever was out there. I have to admit I was thoroughly impressed by his prowess and even more glad to have made the choice to keep him. Note the random photo of Stanley hanging out with his chicken friends in the bottom photo. Stanley is a scaredy cat...but loves to watch the chickens--and clearly they like to watch him in return!
Anyway, the happy ending to the story is that we gave the roosters to a nice young couple who lives in Northfield...a beautiful quaint Connecticut town (population 12 i believe) about 15 minutes from here. They had 12 chickens already...only 5 of which were hens. They also purchased theirs from TSC...and didn't seem all that educated on the needs of a rooster...I suppressed the urge to tell them technically for every one rooster you should have 8-10 hens. They seemed to be working backwards, but were so happy to take them off our hands FOR FREE! and I didn't want to argue.

Today I was able to locate a couple hens about one year old this month in Burlington...they began laying in December. Hopefully we will be able to pick them up this week (or she offered to drop them off...probably in hopes of getting a peek at their new home). As soon as the ladies arrive I will be clicking or is it clucking away with the camera and posting their pics. I know one will be a Plymouth Rock hen...I have chosen the name Maddy for her...for no reason other than it seems like a good strong hen name!

Factoid: Most standard sized Hens start laying around 20-24 weeks old...and only lay eggs until they are 2 or 3 years old... BUT they live until they are about 5 or 6 years old. Which means they only work half their life and get to relax the rest! Ah~life is sweet.

The chickens...

This is Sunny, this chicken has the most personality of the three standards sized. Sunny actually started out the smallest of the three and has since gone and caught up--and taken on the more "roosterly" role and squares of with our dog when he nears the fence. Sunny jumps to grab what's in your hands...as he is very impatient...but I have to admit I love this chicken he's got as much personality as a dog or cat!

This is Sunny...with Rocky in the background and Delilah in the way back. Rocky was originally the most aggressive of the chicks. He would knock the others out of his/her way...thus the name Rocky. If it is determined later he is a hen I will rename him Roxy~but for now he remains Rocky.

Little Red and Daisy...with Delilah's rear end in the corner. Little Daisy, after some investigation is a Belgian Bearded d'Uccle. With a fuzzy face and some lovely shoes! She's quite unusual...and not what most people think of when they think "chicken"...she's adorable though. Maybe I can post a close up of her fat face later.

Little Red again (named for the red head she sported when she was just a chick...she has since grown some lovely back head feathers) Little Red is the first of the chickens to crow...which is leading me to believe she is a rooster. Either way she's quite attractive~but not as friendly as I would like her/him to be.

This is Delilah, she's a little more shy than the other two standards...and I am pretty sure is a Rooster at this point...but wont know for sure for about 4 more months. Delilah has been known to crow periodically...although I swear she's just complaining that she's hungry. She does not demonstrate the "ideal" characteristics of a rooster, but has thin pin feathers around her neck which is standard to a rooster. More to come on her/his sex later.

Anyway, we made the quick decision to buy the chickens for the purpose of someday having eggs....at the rate we are going I think we may end up with 5 roosters. Call it luck, call it karma. Either way, I have to admit chickens are way more interesting than i would have imagined... and if they didn't smell so bad, I would probably let them live in the house..>LOL....ok, that's a joke but they are very fun to watch.