Spring is in the Air. Rural Thursday.

About 2 weeks ago i posted about my broody hen. She had disappeared and then was later found hiding behind the hay in our shed sitting on about 10 eggs. i wasn't sure how long she had already been setting, so we let her keep her eggs and have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of new chicks. Hens typically set 21 days to incubate their eggs, sometimes a day or two longer.

Twenty-one days came and went, and she didn't get off the nest. So i went out to check her and see if she had any peeps hiding under her. Instead, i found close to 30 eggs!!!

i thought the hen was hidden behind the hay, but apparently a couple of my other ladies knew she was back there too and continued to lay. The dark brown eggs belong to her. The light brown belong to either Sunny or my black hen. The big white eggs are coming from our only white leghorn. i thought all of the birds had stopped laying over the winter, as we don't have a light in our coop this year. Doh!! Seeing all those wasted eggs is so frustrating. Our ladies just refuse to lay in the coop. i put X's on them so i can collect any fresh eggs, since they are laying here.

The chickens are not the only ones with spring fever. See the grin on Casper's face? He's smiling because my doe Delilah has come into heat. Although he is a wether (castrated male), it hasn't stopped him from noticing. :) Male goats will stick their face in the female's urine stream (gross!!), and get it on their upper lips and then they curl their lips back into a smile and inhale the aroma... lovely, eh? They have both been very vocal and active. It's fun watching them chase each other around, show affection and play together. Casper bites at Delilah's haunches and makes a weird nickering sound that reminds me of Chewbacca.



Despite Punxsutawny Phil's prediction of 6 more weeks of winter...it is feeling very spring like here. i've been organizing my seeds, drooling over my seed catalogs, planning my garden...and even starting a few seed trays. Part of me is ready for spring, and part of me is still waiting for winter to show up. It has been so mild this year, i still really want at least one good snow...a few snow days...something.


There is a privacy about it which no other season gives you.... In spring, summer and fall people sort of have an open season on each other; only in the winter, in the country, can you have longer, quiet stretches when you can savor belonging to yourself. ~Ruth Stout

i'm participating in the "Rural Thursday" blog hop so click on the rooster below and check out some of the other blogs in the hop!