Babys grow up

The last 3 days have been interesting to watch. The mommy hen has been getting on the roost and running everyone else off and then strutting back and forth, she calls the baby's to get up on the roost. If this hen had on boots and a campaign hat you would think she was a drill instructor. So, tonight the 2 biggest chicklets made it up to the roost. The third is in the nest with the helper mom trying to get the courage to fly up on the roost.

The sad and the funny

First the sad news. The little guy, the chicklet that was smaller then the rest was lost last week. I heard the mommy hen scream and by the time I got out there, no sign of em. I figure a hawk came in and snatched him before anyone knew what was up.

Here's to the little guy
Pass a pint around
If not for the little folks
Giants would abound

Ok, on to the funny, as you can see in the picture, the hens are acting goofy tonight. A giant set up house keeping, she doesn't know shes moving tomorrow, gona need a truck to move all her stuff. Then the babies settled in for the night with the first warm body they found, gona be chilly tonight. Then the mommy hen and helper mommy climbed in because the babies were in there. Can someone tell me why one of them couldn't just move over, hmmm. These chickens are funny creatures, no doubt.

The baby chicks, chicklets, are grow quickly and its no small wonder either. When food arrives, they are like pigs running to the feed trough. They jostle each other out of the way and pig out. Then the greedy older hens come to see what the commotion is and decide they are hungry also, and join in pushing the chicklets out of the way. Sharks would be proud of the feeding frenzy that ensues.

As you can see from the picture, the dark chicklets are growing very fast. They look like a cross of Jersy Giant and Astrolorp. They Jiants are a large framed bird and the astrolorps grow fast, so we get a large fast growing chicklet. The lit ones are Buckeyes, a slow growing chicken with utility background. They littlest one gamely struggles to hold his own and pushes his way in to eat.

Outside babies

The babies are doing well. Mommy hen has been looking after them with much fan fair and has enlisted the aid of her chicken friend in the chick keeping duties. One of the babies is a bit weak and spindly but seems to get stronger every day, we will have to see how this goes.

It looks like two of the chicklets are Buckeyes and the other two are Giant and Astrolorp crosses. As you can see from the picture, they are much bigger and the same age. It will be interesting to see how they develop.

Looks like the Giants will be leaving soon. There is a young man that wants to use them for a FFA project and his parents are getting them for Christmas, so there will be more room in the coops. Hmmmm, maybe time for more chicklets.

this picture was on the second day the mommy hen took them outside. She keeps them moving all day. At the end of the day when everyone goes inside, the chicklets don't even bother to eat, they crawl into the nest and crash. They must be tired.

November chill

It has finely decided to warm up a bit, at least for a few days so i uncovered the few veggies that survived the cold snap. There was a small amount of frost damage on the rutabagas and carrots and a very small amount of damage on the onions. Since it's to be a nice day today i fertilized with some fish emulsion and let the sun shine in. I hope this gets them started growing again as the shorter days seems to have slowed everything down.

The Mini Farmstead

I will be talking about my small farm and the troubles in small scale organic gardening and raising chickens. I have been sending out emails with news and updates, but this may be easeier. We will see how it goes.