Born Free

Our new chicks, born free, and roaming the wilds of the back yard….

 

Because I'm free to do what I want any old time....

 

 

Three More Chicks And A Keet

The other broody has hatched three chicks. We also acquired two keets (baby guinea fowl), but one didn’t survive.

 

A keet hiding in a corner

Mum plus one

Mum plus two

This keet is loud!

 

Dinner? Or A Rooster With An Uncertain Future!

To our great disappointment the broody and her eggs failed to produce one chick. Now she seemed a good mother and the conditions seemed favorable, so we are wondering if our rooster is not up to snuff!

We have a second broody, and have put fresh eggs under her for a second go, but the rooster is on borrowed time if we don’t get chicks from this clutch or the next!

Leading his flock, but time could be ticking, and he could be on the march to the stock pot!

In Which We Acquire A New Rooster And A Small Bird Gets Rather Confused

This morning I was dropping the youngest T.B.T. at Kindy when one of the teachers cornered us. She had a white bantam rooster that she needed re-homing and she wondered if we would take him to join our flock. I umm and arghed and said I would talk to the E.I.C.

The trouble was the rooster was already at Kindy and in a box. Would the youngest like to see the rooster? Of course he would? What were you going to do with the rooster otherwise? Drop him at the park at lunch we are told. Sigh. I think she saw us coming!

The new rooster

The boss with one of HIS flock

Meanwhile  the E.I.C. was cleaning out the chicken house, gathering up the many chicken eggs, putting in clean straw. When what did she find? A tiny egg. Some small bird layed their egg in the chicken coup. The eldest wanted to hatch it, but we had to tell him that A: don’t have an incubator, B: If we put it under the broody she would likely squash it, C: if she did manage to hatch it she might eat it, and lastly D: we wouldn’t be able to feed it.

Today's eggs

Is The Boss Firing Blanks?

With one of the girls well and truly broody, and now ensconced in her own little enclosure, we are looking forward to having baby chicks in about three to four weeks.

We just have two questions!

Will she be a good mother and stay on the nest enough to hatch the eggs?

And has The Boss, our rooster, been firing on all cylinders?  He certainly has been, ahem, active enough!

Completed makeshift hatchery

On the Nest

Eggs, Eggs, Eggs And More Eggs

It looks like our flock is coming into full lay. We have had ten eggs each day over the last couple of days. If they keep that up we will be having seventy a week. It’s our first big surplus which feels good.

It does mean the folk at work will also not be needing to buy extra, and we can supply the local food bank with extra as well. we just need cartons

Now maybe a should try baking a Pavlova again, thought the boys love the meringues….

Clucky Chickens and Daffadongdillies

One of the chickens has gone clucky, so we have created a haven for her and her future chicks.

Master 4 has outgrown his cot/bed, and now has a set of bunks. Since his old one was in no fit state to on-sell it has been converted to use as the nursery.

Meanwhile the daffodil’s, also known as the daffadongdillies in our house, have started to flower… Spring must have really sprung

So Cute, Or The Right Decision

We had a couple of “so cute” moments today.

The library was having a storyteller, so we took the family in to hear them and our youngest T.B.T. grouped a bunch of chairs together, and lay down on them. He was having stories so he should be lying down…

Later on we were at home, and myself and the E.I.C. went for a walk to check the mail. As we headed back we spotted the small one, bucket in hand, heading down to the chickens! He called out to us that he was just feeding the chicks! So cute.

It just confirms to us that we made the right decision, when the kids have freedom to womble down to the bottom field and feed the chickens by themselves…

That, right decision, was further confirmed when we noticed that the cows hadn’t been properly fenced and a number of Kowhai trees were in with them. The eldest informed us that he can set the electric fence..

The Instance Of The Muddy Kumu

The path we have worn down to the chickens has become rather muddy. Rain and cows have made parts of it a quagmire, so we have to squelch our way down very carefully.  It doesn’t help that one important spot, where we have to straddle a fence, became our bovine friends main path from one end of the field to the other. The other day our youngest almost disappeared up to his waist!

So there is a certain inevitability that one of us would loose their balance and end up sitting splat in the middle of the mud. Today that happened.

The E.I.C. lost her balance, and ended sitting in the middle of one of the muddiest spots, only inches from a nice large cow pat. Foolishly she informed me of her trauma! Quite sadly there is not photographic evidence, and most disappointingly she refuse to re-create the incident so that I can take a photo.

The Magic Dog Sausage

As it is closing rapidly on the middle of winter, our chickens have not been good producers. For the last month or so we have had no eggs. It was a very sad state of affairs.

Now we had been told, and read at various points, that if you feed your chickens dog roll then they will lay all year round. We had nodded and not really listened. So the other week as we went round the supermarket we passed the fridge with the dog rolls, and remembering that advice decided that it wouldn’t hurt to give it a go. Since then we are getting a couple of eggs a day! Including a monster jumbo brown egg.

So it works

Jumbo on the right