Monday, May 12, 2014

Chicken Happenings

One of the things I love about our homestead are the personalities. Everything that lives here has a personality. The stray cat is skittish but also a little defiant. Our cat, Kitten, is the biggest (almost 15 lbs!) snuggle bug, allowing the kids and baby to grab a hold of her without ever swiping at them. She is also by far the best hunter, people included. When she decides it is time to be loved, you cannot escape her.

The chickens on the other hand, work very hard to avoid you, while trying to get close enough to check for (and steal) any food you might have. Their personalities provide endless entrainment and enjoyment.
Our most recent scare/laughing moment involved a bullet. Let me back up, the kids were given by my mum, a small Nerf gun. Early one morning, while playing with it, our oldest, L1, shot it at the house, close to the chickens. Seeing a yellow thing, a red chicken quickly made off with it. Not to be out done, Big Mama's August 2013 baby sprang into action, and stole the dart. Our Red Comet was not happy.


Not being as fast as the little Sumatra, the Red Comet, gave up pursuit. Now, the kids and I gave chase, hoping to get our bullet back and chaos ensued (yes I am in my pajamas sans my first cup of coffee):



Of course she ATE it! Were you hoping that she would be a smart little chicken, realize it was Styrofoam and not eat it? Yeah, me too. Obviously that didn't happen. So what was I to do? Google it and freak a little. A few people had similar issues but no one said what happened after.

The good news is that she is still alive, weeks later so I am thinking that one Nerf bullet will not kill a chicken. I highly doubt they should eat them regularly.

Other fantastic news here on the homestead is that Brown Mama went broody last Thursday! I have been waiting for this moment a little too much. Every time she was hanging out on the nest for more than a few minutes, I would get super excited and run into the house, grab the Maran eggs from the past few days and bring them out to the coop. I would put them in the nesting box next to her, she would scoop them under her and I would walk away ecstatic. Alas, she always would show up outside the nesting boxes shortly and not return to the next.

After the last month of this I was starting to give up hope. So Thursday when she was sitting and sitting and sitting, I was getting excited. Then she hung out all afternoon. Bummer. Come evening though, she was back on the nest! Hooray! Three days later, she is on 10 eggs.


Saturday someone must have stepped on an egg in her nest because one was crushed and egg was everywhere. I cleaned up her nesting box, and added new and fresh material, hoping it wouldn't cause her to stop sitting. Poor Brown Mama, covered in egg on her chest. This morning, when she jumped up for breakfast, I cleaned her eggs a bit and wiped her down. Everything is looking good so far. Come May 29th/30th we will see what hatches.


Here is Brown Mama's baby from last August, cooling down in the shade from the laundry on this hot spring (summer?) day.

This article was shared on The Self Sufficient HomeAcre, The Prairie Homestead, From The Farm, The Chicken Chick,

5 comments:

  1. I had to watch the video twice because I couldn't believe she ate the whole thing! Now that we know she wasn't harmed by this, you have to admit, it's pretty funny! But, does that mean her eggs aren't organic anymore? ;) Oh - and a cat in a bathtub? Most cats won't go near a tub because they know there is water in there! Good luck to Brown Mama. Here's to lots of chicks!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, it is funny now. It was funny then too, until she ate the darn thing! Crazy chicken.

      Delete
  2. I absolutely love watching chickens! I had one that loved to run up and sit on my lap. Thanks for your homeacre blog hop submission :) Feel free to stop by PintSizeFarm.com this week and submit another!

    ReplyDelete
  3. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Funny! Thanks for posting!

    www.lucysnest.com

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.