New peeps, rescue hen and so many eggs!

My hens sure do think it's spring! i'm finally getting lots of eggs again!! Remember all those chicks that hatched out last summer?  They are all laying now. Unfortunately, of all those crazy peeps that hatched out, i only ended up with one olive egger and one medium brown layer. All the others are laying white/cream/beige eggs. i thought for certain that breeding my olive egger with the maran would create a dark olive layer...but it did not. :/ The olive egger i did get is a complete mystery since it hatched from a feral hens clutch (all brown/beige eggs)...not an olive egg. 

More daylight means more eggs! They are really starting to come in now!  i'm super thrilled with my variety of colors, but am still missing blue!!  The majority of my eggs are boring white, cream and beige. i really need blue eggs! 

So, i got some (hopefully) blue egg layers! :) With all the chicks hatched out last summer, i must have lost my mind to actually purchase more chickens!  When i saw a local farm store was selling EasterEgger/ Americanas i had to get a few. EEs lay blue eggs! They actually lay blue, green or pink eggs,,,but i'm hoping at least one will lay blue.

They are so freakin' cute. 

i also recently took in a rescue hen, We've been calling her Lola.  She is an older Easter Egger, and i was told she doesn't lay anymore. She was offered on a free site for butchering/stew pot, but i offered to give her a home and let her retire here.  The last rescue hen i took in was my Olive Egger, who became one of my best layers. So i'm secretly hoping this girl  will eventually starts laying blue eggs, but i'm fine if she doesn't.  She seems to be fitting in well with my other hens, i have several retired ladies already.  

So just when i was feeling overwhelmed by all the eggs, i found a nest under the deck with 16 eggs in it!  Several of my hens have been laying in this nest.  These dark brown eggs are from the offspring of the Olive egger hen and Maran roo.  They are not even slightly green, and just a shade lighter than my Maran eggs.  They are also the same size and shape and my maran eggs. 

So yeah, i have no idea why this hen doesn't lay green eggs and why the other one (my mystery olive egger) does.  All my theories on color breeding just went out the window. lol. 

Meet Izzy.

 Last week my husband surprised us with a new kitten. It had been living under my neighbor's house and surviving on dog food. The neighbor didn't want it and had been trying to find someone to take it, so Kenan brought it home.  It's about 8 weeks old.

The kids named her Izzy.  Short for Isabelle Mae. i call her little Pip.  Banjo was completely intrigued with her. He stalked her around the house and watched her from a distance. 

By the end of the day they were friends.

Our other cat,  Tallulah, will have absolutely nothing to do with her.  Tallulah stays outside almost all day just to avoid the kitten.  i'm hoping she'll warm up to her eventually.

 Banjo took to her right away and now they are the best of friends. We've had her about a week and she is unbelievably sweet. She was pretty much feral when Kenan brought her home, she had even bite him when he tried to get her from under the neighbor's house. 

Her and Banjo play all day together and snuggle up at nap time. Hopefully Tallulah will get over her jealousy soon. It didn't take her long to accept Banjo when we brought him home, so i'm not sure why she wants nothing to do with this new little kitten. The rest of us all completely in love with her. She seems to like us too. 

Spring Surprises.

So we've had a lot of surprises this spring. Several of my hens disappeared several weeks ago. Some reappeared, and some did not.

My first hen to return showed up with 16 chicks!!!  They are all fully feathered now, and i expect that she'll be starting to hide from them soon.  When mama hen feels the babies are ready to be on their own, she'll start distancing herself from them and hiding. It's always a little sad to see the babies running around crying for mama not sure what to do. 

Our first batch of chicks are about 5 weeks old.   It's still a little early to tell the boys from the girls, but on some of them it is already obvious.  The black chick standing is quite definitely a boy, obvious by the size and color of the comb.  When you see dark pink this early, it is a good indication that it's a boy.  The light colored smaller chick up front is a girl.  She is much smaller than the others, and has a very yellow comb. 

Typically the girls have a yellow or pale pink comb until they reach breeding age. When they are mature enough to breed, the comb will turn bright red.  

With this batch, i already see a few definite boys and a few definite girls, but most it is still too early to tell.  i have two favorites from this batch that i am hoping are girls, and then i plan to find homes for the rest of them. We do not have a coop big enough for this many chickens and they are quickly outgrowing the chicken tractor.

This is my second hen to disappear and then reappear with chicks. They are about 4 weeks old now, and she hatched out 13!  So we've had to move birds around to find a place to keep her and all her peeps safe.  She is very wild, and will not let us get any where near her babies. i'm tempted to find homes for both her and all her babies together (plus a rooster).  

It's really hard for me to give them away, but we just don't have room for 29 more birds!!! 

Just as i was stressing out about what to do with all those chicks...we get another surprise!!  This hen, which i didn't even realize was missing showed up with 9 more chicks!! They are only 2 days old in this picture and super sweet. 

So yeah, that's 38 baby chicks this spring!!! OMG! 

We obviously can not keep them all, i am just hoping they are not to difficult to re-home. i may try offering chicken starter sets (one girl and one boy) from different broods, otherwise i'm going to get stuck with a crap ton of roosters.  Most folks would just eat the extra birds, but as a vegetarian family that's definitely not an option and re-homing 30+ chicks can be a bit difficult...especially when i want to guarantee they won't be killed or eaten. 

So yeah, really starting to hate surprises...but they are soooo cute!!   :) 

Spring is in the Air

One of the first signs that spring is near is when my begin to lay again regularly and start going broody. This year i was really hoping that one of my domestic hens would go broody so i could sneak some of my pretty olive and maran eggs underneath her.

i had traded for pretty blue hatching eggs as well and was hoping to finally get some blue layers in the mix.  i had no such luck though, i could not get any of my hens to set. 

i did however have a couple wild hens go missing, a few weeks back. i wasn't sure if they were setting on eggs some where or had been lost to a predator, but i was hoping that they would show back up eventually. 

One morning i spotted one of the missing hens and followed her until i watched her diappear into the woods. Took a little while to find her, but eventually i did. She was setting a whole clutch of eggs. i really did not want more wild chickens, but i had no idea how long she had been setting so i didn't want to disturb the eggs.  

When i went to check her a few days later i found one of the eggs had hatched and i could hear peeping coming from the other eggs. So i got my daughter and her friend to help me move the hen, chick and eggs into a safer place. i was afraid that something would hear/smell the new chicks and get them during the night. So we moved her into a nesting box inside the small chicken coop.

When i checked them the next morning i was somewhat shocked to find 15 baby chicks and still a few eggs unhatched!  By the end of the day we had 17 new chicks!!  i have no idea what we are going to do with them all, i just hope i get some hens this year. Last year my attempt to hatch out a few hens left me with about 12 roosters!  

My girl is in heaven though, and they are so freaking cute. Once they hit that awkward 'teen year' stage i might be able to part with a few, especially any obvious roosters.

i had two other hens go missing, and i spotted one yesterday and also spotted a pile of feathers behind the goat field.  So one is not coming back, but the other very well may show up with her clutch of chicks any day now.  Ah, so many babies!! So yes, spring is definitely in the air.

Year of the Mantis.

'The mantis comes to us when we need peace, quiet and calm in our lives. Usually the mantis makes an appearance when we've flooded our lives with so much business, activity, or chaos that we can no longer hear the still small voice within us because of the external din we've created.' from http://www.whats-your-sign.com/animal-symbolism-mantis.html

It is not that unusual for us to find a praying mantis.   Almost every spring we find an egg case, and occasionally are lucky enough to witness them hatching. One year we had a pair courting on the trellis on the front of the house.  This year however, the mantises have been everywhere. Almost every time my daughter goes outside she find one, or two or three.

This guy seems to have claimed this garden as his territory. i've found him a few times around the same area.

i believe this is the same one as above.  He was sitting quietly on top of a Rebor kale that the rain had knocked over.

i believe this is a female. She is bright green, with a pinkish thicker rounder abdomen.  The males tend to be smaller, thinner and have longer wings that extend to the end of their body.  Another way to tell is that the females have 6-7 body segments, while the males have 8.  

This one was found in a different area of the yard, and was much smaller than the others we've been finding.

We found this one on the backside of the goat field. It was hanging out on the chicken wire that is around the pear tree.

On our way out the door yesterday, we this one about to ambush the grasshopper.

We took the kids bike riding yesterday in Blacksburg and halfway into our ride my daughter found this huge female!  She has a serious knack for finding them!

Praying mantis are very beneficial for the garden, and although they look like tiny little aliens we love to find them. Although i've read that the bite, my daughter catches them and carries them around and has never been bitten. i am hoping that with all the praying mantis we've seen this year we'll find a egg case or two and get to watch them hatch in the spring.

Whatever the reason for all the mantises this year, i feel like the message they bring is much needed right now. Be still, go within and reach a place of calm.


Life is beauty in motion, but we can only appreciate it one tiny piece at a time, and only if we’re willing to find stillness within.- Lori Deshene 

Raising Black Swallowtail Caterpillars.

One of our favorite activities each summer is to raise monarch caterpillars into butterflies. Near the end of July we begin taking weekly walks down the road checking the milkweed plants for monarch eggs and caterpillars.  This year we were surprised by the lack of monarchs. We have seen very few monarch butterflies in our flowerbeds. Walking down the road we realized there was very little milkweed this year, and no caterpillars. We checked several times and the last time we walked we found that the county mowers had come through and cut down all the milkweed. So we figured we would not be raising any caterpillars this year, the first time in probably 7 or 8 years.

Then one day last week, i was delighted to find a Black swallowtail caterpillar munching on my carrots. i plant dill and fennel every year because it is supposed to be a Black swallowtail favorite, but i haven't attracted any Black Swallowtails to it yet.  i was not expecting to find one in my carrots, and after looking around i found 5 others.  So i began to photograph them in the different stages. Black swallowtails go through several stages or instars, where they shed their skin and change their look a little.   This first one is about 1/2 " long. It is in the first Instar. 

After shedding it's skin the first time it enters the second instar. 

This one is about 1" long. He's a bit more colorful than the one before. 

During the Third Instar the caterpillarstarts getting quite a bit larger. He looks almost like a full sized BS caterpillar, except he is rather pale.The full grown caterpillars are green with the same markings.

This guy is full grown. He is resting, and will soon wander off to find a suitable place to form his chrysalis. i had originally left these guys on the carrot plants and have been checking them regularly. We really don't have a good place to keep them inside. Yesterday i noticed that a mole had started to nibble some of the carrots and the plants were wilting with the caterpillars still on them. So i knew i needed to move them.  i used to raise the monarchs in a 10 gallon aquarium. i also had a butterfly garden from Insect lore that i used for the emerging butterflies.  Since i nolonger have any of those items, i had to find something i had on hand.

This is a $1 popup clothing hamper that i picked up at the dollar tree a while ago. i have my washer set up in the shed, and i found that these cheap hampers work well for sorting clothing in there. They also work perfect for raising caterpillars! In the bottom, i placed a pot with soil and i have a glass jar with water that has fresh carrot, dill and queen anne's lace leaves/stalks in it. Once the caterpillars get large enough to start wandering, i'll add some sticks and leaves and things so it can find a good place to create a chrysalis.  i also used a mesh laundry bag (also from dollar tree) to go over the top to keep predators out, and caterpillars in. So far they seem quite happy, and are munching away on the fresh green plants. 

i may try to transplant some smaller carrots into the pot, but i'm not sure how well they' do. Next year, i'll be planting carrots, dill, parsley and fennel in this pot specifically for raising  BS caterpillars. :) These are some of their favorite food sources, and they don't eat enough to hurt the plants.

Although i'm really bummed that we are not raising monarch this year, i'm excited that we get to raise the black swallowtail.  

Monarch populations have been declining the last few years due to the lack of milkweed which is their only food source. Many people think of milkweed as an invasive weed, so they spray it or cut it down. If you want to help the monarchs you can plant milkweed in your yard and other flowers that attract butterflies such as tall phlox, gaillardia, butterfly weed, purple cone flower, tickseed etc. Native wildflowers are always best. You can also request free milkweed seeds from Livemonarch.com . 

i'll post updates on our caterpillars until they form they're chrysalis.  Because the temperatures are getting cooler, there is a good chance they will stay in their chrysalis all winter and will emerge in the spring. i'll be keeping them outside in the shed, so they experience the change in temperatures and do not get confused. We raised a swallowtail a few years back that stayed in his chrysalis all winter, and then emerged too early because of the warmth of the house. 

i'm going to take a walk later today and look for milkweed seed pods. Next year i'll make sure to plant a nice patch of milkweed that will not be in danger of getting mowed down. i may give some away some seeds on here as well if i find some! :) 

Moving forward and new additions.

Slowly the rebuilding begins. Not just the rebuilding of our house, but the rebuilding of our life, family and homestead. Just getting back to our land has been very healing for all of us. We have slowly fallen back into our old routines, and our time spent at the rental house is barely even a memory now.

Trying to pick up the pieces of where our life left off, i sometimes feel like we have fallen backward and it will take us years, if ever,  to return to where we had been. 

After moving from our property our chickens began to get picked off one at a time. Although they were in a fenced in area, several of them were escape artists and still managed to find a way out.  At first a hawk seemed to be to blame. It actually killed several but birds inside the fenced area. It soon became apparent that our own dogs were killing them too. So i rigged up the fencing so that they no longer had access to the entire chicken yard, instead they were limited to small pen which would hopefully prevent them escaping.  This worked for a while. 

Then only a few days after we moved the RV to our property my dogs dug out of their kennel, under the fenced area and then broke done the fencing of the pen and slaughtered almost all of my birds. It was devastating. The only birds to survive were the ones who were able to get into the coop.  At the beginning of the year i had something like 30 chickens. We had hatched out several brood of chicks last summer, and i'd purchased 4 young Americana in the fall. Now, they were all dead.

At the time we moved back to the property i only had 5 hens remaining.  My black (game) hen, one black star, one Austrolorp, a Speckled Sussex and a very old Americana who hasn't laid in a couple of years. i also still had a rooster.  

i have been wanting to get a few new chickens ever since we moved back to the property. i missed the chick days at Tractor supply, and i honestly didn't want to raise day old chicks anyhow. We have no where to keep a brooder, and i didn't have the time to put into them. i started looking on craigslist, but most folks were selling basic production layers. Although i raise chickens for eggs, i also like variety in my flock and really didn't want plain domestic layers. i began to check craigslist regularly and found someone selling a large variety of 3-4 month old hens.  i was able to hand pick the hens i wanted.   

Hiding behind the fence is a Golden Campine. The Campine is a very old and rare breed which originated in Belgium. It is considered a heritage breed and is on the critically endangered list.  She is very skittish, and once she starts laying she should lay white eggs.  Also picked are a Mottled Java and 'Gran-Gran'  my old Americana. We do not eat/kill our birds when they stop lying so she is enjoying her days of retirement.

This is the Mottled Java. It is also a heritage breed and on the critically endangered list.  They are a hardy breed, they lay large brown eggs, are known as being good foragers and for going broody. Our Java is very docile and gentle bird. She will come right up and eat corn from my hands.

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Cuckoo Marans lay really dark brown eggs. They are considered 'chocolate eggers' because the eggs are such a rich brown color. Cuckoo is one of the birds i just recently lost in May, so i was happy to add one back to my flock. 

i also added a Delaware to my flock. These birds are a medium size, but lay large to jumbo brown eggs.  They are also considered a critically endangered breed.  i had a special relationship with a Delaware that i'd lost in May and was happy to get another. She is a very chatty bird. Follows me everywhere and is constantly 'talking'.  Although her coloring is not all that exciting, her personality makes up for it.  i just adore her.

We really were not planning to get another cat any time soon. We have still been holding on to hope that Tom would return or be found.  When we moved back to the RV we learned that our neighbor (at the bottom of the hill) was in the hospital, was not doing well and probably would not be returning to her home. 

A few weeks after than she passed away.  She loved animals and her partner/spouse was trying to relocate some of her animals as he was unable to care for them all. We had received our first chickens from them, and also both of our beagles (Sampson, and then Rufus).  So it only made sense for us to give a home to one her kittens.  

He is tail-less, a Manx, like all of her cats and a sweet welcome addition to our family. After a week or so of being nameless, we named him Banjo.

Little by little, we are finding our way. Construction has began on the house, and we should be in our new home before the winter sets in. It is hard to explain the feeling. bittersweet, for sure.  i am learning to let go of the old and embrace the new. 

When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.  ~Victor Frankl

Getting back to Nature

Already it is beginning to feel as if the spring is almost over, and we seem to have missed it while being stuck in this limbo.  i had hoped to be spending most of my days at the RV, because spring is my absolute favorite season and i truly can not stand to miss it. 

We paid a contractor a pretty good chunk of money to get it all set up with electricity, water and plumbing.  Now almost 3 weeks later, we are still waiting.  The electric company brought out a temporary pole and stuck in the yard, but it is not hooked up to anything yet.  Nothing has been done with the water/septic.  We are waiting on a building inspector to approve the set up, so despite our plans to hook it up to the existing water/plumbing/electricity we are now finding out it may not be possible at all.  This really adds to the frustration we are already having in trying to come up with house plans and get started on our building project.  i feel as if the year is already slipping by, and we haven't gotten anywhere at all.  We have less than a week to be out of this house, and it looks like our summer of RV camping is going to be a bit more rustic than we anticipated. :(

i'm fine without the electricity, but the lack of water and plumbing can be a problem. We are already hauling 5-6 jugs of water to the property each day to make sure the animals all have fresh water to drink. Although the majority of my garden hasn't even been planted, i do have a few seedling and flowers that have to be watered daily.  When i am there working in the hot sun, i require a bit of extra water too. Not only for drinking, but after working in the garden i usually end up covered in mud from head to toe and have to clean up a bit before driving back to the house we are renting. So despite wanting to spend all day at the property, i am typically only there until the water runs out.

i truly enjoy my time at the property though, and still find myself blessed to be able to go 'home' even if it's only a couple of hours a day.  Each time i am there, i am reminded of why i love it and why it will always be home.  While working in the yard, the hummingbirds dart by.  The scarlet tanager sits in the tree across the road and sings it's heart out.

While moving a pile of compost, i spotted this little guy watching me from behind a tree stump.  i had no idea what it was, but snapped a quick picture and attempted to get a look at him. 

It's a blue tailed skink! 13 years at our property and i think this is the first time i have seen one here. 

While moving things around in the shed, a little wren kept popping in and the disappearing. So i knew she had a nest in here, i just didn't know where. i did a bit of investigating and realized there was a nest built inside this hard hat that it way up on the wall. 

i couldn't see inside the hat, but i  climbed up on the hay bales and stuck my camera in the top and took a picture. Then looked to see if there was anything in there...this is what i saw. :)  4 baby wrens.

While cleaning up one of the flower beds, i noticed this red spotted newt hiding under the twine.  We have several of these that live in the kids fairy garden. Sage is great at spotting them.

A hike down to the creek and we spotted this tiny baby opossum. The kids wanted to bring it home and raise it, but i have to assume it's mama was close by so we left it where we found it. It was only about the size of a hamster.  

Near one of my gardens a mama Brown Thrasher was making a ton of noise. i figured she must have had a nest in the rhododendrons.  So i peeked inside and saw these new babies.

Despite all that we have been through these last few months.This simple things can still make me smile and warm my heart and fill me with gratitude for this amazing place that we live. 

To find the universal elements enough; to find the air and the water exhilarating; to be refreshed by a morning walk or an evening saunter; to be thrilled by the stars at night; to be elated over a bird's nest or a wildflower in spring - these are some of the rewards of the simple life.  ~John Burroughs

Winter Visitors.

It seems a bit too early to be posting about winter birds, but with the early snowfall and super low temperatures i've been having a lot of birds visiting my feeders looking for food.  i love feeding the birds, and keep feeders out year round.  Our favorites are the hummingbirds, and i'm a bit sad that we won't be seeing them again until next spring.

Each season seems to bring different birds, and in the winter we will sometimes get migrating birds that just pass through for a day or two. Our most common winter birds are tufted titmice, nuthatches, cardinals, bluejays, goldfinch, juncos and pine siskin.  Occasionally we've seen Baltimore Orioles, Rose breasted Grosbeak and waxwings. We like to make special treats for the birds in December, and  in February we participate in the The Great Backyard Bird count.

This year i've had several purple finch visiting, and a pair of cardinals beside the regular birds.

My husband and kids bought me this feeder for my birthday. Isn't it lovely?  That's a male purple finch hanging out on top, i believe.  They look very similar to house finch, but are a bit different.  You can compare them here.  My females definitely resemble the purple finch more than a house finch, although i don't have them in a picture.

 

 Yesterday i received quite a surprise when i looked out the door! There were about 20 of these birds all over my bird feeders.  i have three hanging feeders and a log cabin style feeder on a post.  At first glance i thought they were goldfinch because of the color, but then realized they were twice the size! 

Turns out they are Evening Grosbeak. This is the first time i have ever seen one! They have visited the feeders two days in a row now  (completely cleaned out all the sunflower seed) and i'm hoping they'll return again tomorrow.  Always exciting to see a new bird/butterfly/caterpillar etc that i've never seen before.  i think this weekend we'll make some birdseed cakes and see what other wonderful winter birds we can attract!

Getting Feathers

It's been a while since i've updated on our little peeps.  All of our new chicks are getting bigger and getting all their feathers in.  They lose that cute little fluffiness so quickly, and take on that awkward teen-age bird look for while.  Many of them have already made it through the awkward stage and are beginning to look like miniature chickens.  We are also beginning to get a few signs of whether we have hens or roosters.

My two wild hens, who were never given proper names are always hiding with their babies  They make it so difficult for me to get a good picture of them. i've found that my best attempt to get a photo is to throw down some corn and then step back and sit quietly.  My pretty black hen has three of these peeps. The one in the left corner belongs to my brown hen and i believe it's a girl.  Of the black hens three, so far it appears she has two girls and a boy.  The little black peep is her mini-me.  It appears to be a girl and looks identical to her mama with the black feet, comb and beak.

 This pretty fellow is an americana-cross i believe.  He has a longer neck and a bit of a beard (common with the Americanas) and he is already getting a comb.  No sign of blue tail feathers yet, which is usually a definite sign it's a boy.  It will be a while before i know for sure, but i'm pretty sure this a rooster.

The third little peep, i believe is the Buff Orpington cross. She has a heavier shape, short neck and super soft feathers.  She is looking like a hen so far...although some of them develop later, so it's still just a guess.

Of the four new easter-egg chickens, there appears to be 3 hens and one rooster.  Happy feet has the prettiest pattern.  Her feathers are all different shades of gray.  She is an extremely sweet bird and everyone's favorite. She loves to roost on shoulders.

 This is one of the two 'twins'.  The kids named them Jumpin' Jack Flash and Rascal. They both look completely identical, so i'm not sue which one is in the photo. :)  So far, they both appear to be females.

 

 The kids have named this one Rooster-boy, for obvious reasons. :)  So far it's the only one to be getting a comb.  He is also the only one that doesn't have a tail, which seems kind of odd. i'm not sure if he's slow in getting his tail feathers or if he'll be rumpless which is common with true aruacanas. His featehr feather pattern is similar to Happy Feet, except that he has a pretty russet red color.

 

Sunny's peeps are all getting their feathers too, but they are so tiny. Sunny is a smaller hen, and i'm guessing the Bantam roosters is the Daddy. So the babies just seem extra small compared to all our others.  They have more feathers now than they did in this photo, but i still can't tell if we have hens or roosters yet.

We've been really lucky so far this fall, in that we haven't lost any babies/chickens yet. This time of year is terrible for predators, and it isn't uncommon for my wild birds to get picked off one by one. Last fall we lost all of our roosters but one because they insisted on sleeping in the trees.

 All three of my mama hens refuse to stay in the fencing, and like to scratch around at the edge of the woods and across the street so they are especially vulnerable. i was hoping that hatching out eggs from the domestic hens, they would be a bit less wild.  However, my mama birds teach their babies well. They teach them to scratch, forage and fly out of the chicken pen.