Celebrating the first shoots of Spring with the Rose Bay Garden Inspection Team. 🙂🐔
I spy Daylillies!
hobby farm
Soft & Strong
The soft, fluffy down of a baby chick.
This little girl has gumption!
Her mama abandoned her nest just days before the egg was due to hatch. The egg was cold; we didn’t know if was still viable. But we took the chance and cobbled together an incubator out of a styrofoam cooler and a light bulb (Thanks again Internet).
Right on schedule we heard chirping! But a day later, nothing more than a wee hole in the egg. She seemed to be struggling, so we peeled back the shell and helped her out. Back in into the incubator she went, to stay warm and dry off.
After a day or so, we tried to introduce her to her mama. Maybe there was still some maternal instinct left? Nope. The hen pecked the chick till she bled.
We rescued her again.
Now she is in a brooder in our laundry room chirping her little head off. My husband says she tweets more than Donald Trump.
We might call her Twitter.
WPC –Texture
A Variation On The Theme
This Thursday, I’m sharing a sketch (or two) of my humble chicken coop door.
I’m not sure which version I like best …
The chooks sure love the “open door policy”. When I’m at home and can let them free range, they spend the day hunting for bugs and taking dust baths. Then at dusk, they march back in, and one by one hop up on the roost, muttering their good-nights to each other. Very sweet.
But that rooster? Hmmmmm. He and I are still working things out.
For Norm’s Thursday Doors
The Chickens – Close-Up
My Austrolop chicks are now just over two months old and when I see them together in the yard they all look very much the same – little bundles of black feathers. Except two are just beginning to hint that they might be roosters, (let’s hope there are only two males in this flock) and of those two, one has little sprinkles of copper on his wings. They are barely distinguishable ….. Unless you get Close Up (WPC). Then you can see that the feathers are not all black after all, but a shimmer of teal, mauve and copper. He’s gonna be handsome dude!
This little one is a Silkie chick. I have two of them (also about two months old) and there is absolutely no way I can tell them apart – no distinguishing marks at all. I’m assuming they are both hens, but who knows? One thing is for certain, though: they are sooooo cute and fluffy – right down to their toes!
Fresh As Fresh!!
What perfect timing!! Those very spoiled and coddled hens of mine have finally decided to earn their keep, and have begun laying eggs again. We came home from several days away to find 8 fresh eggs in the nesting box!!! Welcome to Spring!
It is usual for hens to take a rest from laying during the darkest time of the year. But this year, they have enjoyed a nice long rest – starting two full months later than last year. I wonder if they somehow knew something we didn’t – that we were in for the harshest winter in memory…. and just decided to hold off. Your guess is as good as mine – into what a chicken thinks – or even IF a chicken thinks.
Perhaps because of the hard winter, which added another 100 cm of snow and ice to the landscape in the past week (in March!!), we were just beside ourselves with glee when we found these gifts from our “girls”. And on the first day of Spring! A very positive sign.
We celebrated the best way we know how – we scrambled up 5 of those eggs with onions and dried oregano (also from the garden). Mmmmmm! Happy Spring to You All!
WPC – Fresh
Rose Bay Letters 