The hot weather is taking a toll on everything it seems. It is hard to have a good attitude when the weather stays in triple digits and doesn't cool off enough at night to offset it.
I have two very protective hens with chicks in the chicken house who are ready to take their charges out into the real world.
The ducks have decided the barn is the best place to hatch their babies and have made a nice nest under the shelf there. The duck is also very protective of her nest.
Yesterday morning the mother hens took their babies into the barnyard area and apparently ventured too close to the duck's nest. A royal battle ensued between both the hen and drake and the two mother hens. It was ugly. It was not easy to stop. I finally managed to get the mother hens out of the area and into the pole barn to break up the mayhem. The duck went back to her nest and the drake went back on guard duty. No blood was shed.
No bloodshed was not the case in the afternoon. I decided to let the turkey out of the cage (again!) thinking surely she was over her mothering instinct. By then the mother hens were back in the chicken house which has a nice breeze blowing through it when the back window is open. You guessed it, Wanda wandered too close to the baby chicks. The disturbance that followed was horrendous. Straw, dust, milo and feathers flying everywhere. A noise level to warrant serious ear protection and claws, wings, beaks all moving in kill mode. I'm so glad Royal Palm turkeys are smaller than other turkeys. When in full fight mode it isn't easy to subdue one. None of the birds was seriously injured and band-aids plus antibiotics were applied to my injuries. To top it off, guess where Wanda headed back to...you got it. She went right back to the empty nest she has been in for over a month now. One more time she has been captured and returned to the cage where she will stay for at least 6 days this time.
Saturday, June 30, 2012
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Very busy spring
Spring has been filled with time consuming tasks and I now find I am way behind in updating you on what has been happening. I'll try to fill you in during the next few days.
Today is our 7th day in a row of triple digit temperatures with 5 of those days being above 110 degrees. The heat has taken its toll on many things, not the lease of which is the chickens. We have lost two clutches of newly hatched chicks to the sweltering temps. It is so sad to see the little fluffy creatures who struggled so hard to release themselves from their egg shells only to be wiped out by the weather. The look just fine one minute and when checked on again in less than 3 hours they are dead. No one else is setting right now and I suspect the temperatures in the incubator have risen to the point that the embryos which may have been developing there have also been killed. I will wait until the scheduled hatch day before disposing of the egg, however, just in case some have survived.
Wilma Turkey has been determined to hatch some babies. The problem is she doesn't take care of them after they hatch. All but 3 of the birds that hatched fell from the nest and she squashed the others. I took her from the nest and put her in a cage overnight thinking she would give up and go back to just being a turkey, not a potential Momma. The first time I let her out she went right back to the original chicken house and climbed in ON TOP of another hen who was hoping to raise some little ones. Removed once again and place in the cage, this time she was left in there for 2 days. Upon her resease, same result. I had too many other things to do besides fight with a turkey so she was allowed to stay and set on the chicken eggs which were in the nest. After 21 days some hatched and she was no better at caring for them. She is now in the cage again and will stay there for several days.
Fortunately, one of the hens who had previously hatched some chicks was more than willing to adopt the birds who fell from the nest. I think we have one baby turkey (to go with our one lone duck who hatched and is busy chasing bugs all day long). It is hard to tell as baby Royal Palm Turkeys look just like baby White Cornish chickens.
Annabelle had 4 kittens in May. They are old enough to be really cute and playful now. Daddy was obviously gold as all 4 kittens are golden colored.
Camomille had twins last week. Mom and twins are doing fine in spite of the heat. Ginger is due on Saturday. Oxi has an unknown due date and Blonde Brownie does not appear to be on the road to motherhood. I hope Ginger has hers at night and not in the blistering heat of the day since we hvae triple digit temperatures predicted for the next week at least with no rain in the forecast. It has only been getting down to around 70 even at night.
There is a lot more news but not a lot more time. I promise I will endeavor to do at least one update weekly even if it is just pictures of life on the farm. If I schedule it like a regular j-j-j-job maybe I can keep that promise.
Keep cool best way you can for now.
Today is our 7th day in a row of triple digit temperatures with 5 of those days being above 110 degrees. The heat has taken its toll on many things, not the lease of which is the chickens. We have lost two clutches of newly hatched chicks to the sweltering temps. It is so sad to see the little fluffy creatures who struggled so hard to release themselves from their egg shells only to be wiped out by the weather. The look just fine one minute and when checked on again in less than 3 hours they are dead. No one else is setting right now and I suspect the temperatures in the incubator have risen to the point that the embryos which may have been developing there have also been killed. I will wait until the scheduled hatch day before disposing of the egg, however, just in case some have survived.
Wilma Turkey has been determined to hatch some babies. The problem is she doesn't take care of them after they hatch. All but 3 of the birds that hatched fell from the nest and she squashed the others. I took her from the nest and put her in a cage overnight thinking she would give up and go back to just being a turkey, not a potential Momma. The first time I let her out she went right back to the original chicken house and climbed in ON TOP of another hen who was hoping to raise some little ones. Removed once again and place in the cage, this time she was left in there for 2 days. Upon her resease, same result. I had too many other things to do besides fight with a turkey so she was allowed to stay and set on the chicken eggs which were in the nest. After 21 days some hatched and she was no better at caring for them. She is now in the cage again and will stay there for several days.
Fortunately, one of the hens who had previously hatched some chicks was more than willing to adopt the birds who fell from the nest. I think we have one baby turkey (to go with our one lone duck who hatched and is busy chasing bugs all day long). It is hard to tell as baby Royal Palm Turkeys look just like baby White Cornish chickens.
Annabelle had 4 kittens in May. They are old enough to be really cute and playful now. Daddy was obviously gold as all 4 kittens are golden colored.
Camomille had twins last week. Mom and twins are doing fine in spite of the heat. Ginger is due on Saturday. Oxi has an unknown due date and Blonde Brownie does not appear to be on the road to motherhood. I hope Ginger has hers at night and not in the blistering heat of the day since we hvae triple digit temperatures predicted for the next week at least with no rain in the forecast. It has only been getting down to around 70 even at night.
There is a lot more news but not a lot more time. I promise I will endeavor to do at least one update weekly even if it is just pictures of life on the farm. If I schedule it like a regular j-j-j-job maybe I can keep that promise.
Keep cool best way you can for now.
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
another snake in the house (encore)
I was upstairs yesterday and noticed Betsy intently watching a box. Thinking she had cornered a rodent, I moved the box for her to kill the furry creature. Next thing Evelyne hears is a blood curdling scream from upstairs as I see and hear the ugly, hissing, slithering thing in the corner. Outside these things don't bother me that much; live and let live as long as they aren't eating eggs or bothering my animals or plants. Inside is a whole 'nother story. She yelled upstairs, "Mouse, Rat or Snake?" When the reply was silence I heard her say, "Must be a snake." I am usually the calm one around snakes and she is the wreck. Not so this time. I was so startled by it I'm surprised I didn't become an organ donor (except for the heart which had stopped cold). So the circus begins: What to do with this thing? Neither of us was going to touch it. She got some tools to slice it with, but her aim isn't all that good when she has all that adrenaline flowing. We ended up getting a plastic storage container and putting it over it. Then we shoved a piece of plywood under the container. The snake didn't agree with any of this and wriggled out once, but this time Evelyne was quick with the hoe and we got it successfully in the container with the plywood under it. Now to turn the container over...SURPRISE! It worked. Then we put a snap on lid on the container and took it outside, setting it in the sun hoping the heat would cook it and then we could deal with the body.
Evelyne and Rick are getting a new roof put on their house (looks nice) and the workers were all interested in this snake. None interested enough to take it away. They ask what we were going to do with it and she said "cook it." Their eyes got big and they stared at her. She then explained we were leaving it in the box in the sun and hoping it would cook in there and die. It didn't die in the box. So the next morning Evelyne and Rick took it across the highway to turn it loose to get rodents over there. Instead of slithering away down the hill, it turned and started back toward Rick. Final mistake. Whomp, whomp, whomp, whomp with a shovel, and maybe even a couple more whomps to be sure and that was that. Stupid thing should never have come into my house.
Evelyne asked me if I was ready to move back to the city after these incidents. I said "No. I would much rather deal with these snakes than the kind of snakes who were Dad's neighbors in Aurora."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
