Bootstrap

Bootstrap, my feather footed banty rooster, is slowly improving. He slept on his feet last night for the first time since we found him nearly frozen. He is still in the house and will stay in the house until I am convinced that he can take care of himself outside. I am not sure what happened to him but he did show signs of leg mites and lice, that had most assuredly drained him plus his beak was frozen shut.

He is talking to me now when I go into the room, which is another sign that he is improving. We have taken care of his mite and lice problem, so he is starting to gain some weight and get his strength back.

The reason that I didn't notice that he was having a problem was because he stays in the goat/chicken shed all of the time with the little D'Uccles during the cold months. The rest of the crew are always out and about, so I can spot a problem with them but the D'Uccles and Bootstrap are always nestled in the straw of the nests or on the roosts. With his fluffy feather cover, I just could not see that he had lost so much weight and his foot feathers hid the leg mite damage.

Anxiety

Here it is the end of another day and I still don't have my Christmas shopping done. I received my first Christmas card today and it caused me great anxiety. This year has flown by with each month passing by faster then the previous one.

The days are so short that I barely get my morning feeding done and it is time to do my evening feeding before it gets dark. I am always so rushed that I feel like I have forgotten something important.

We did get some small projects completed today. My DH shoveled out the goat/chicken shed and fixed me an area inside to feed the "stay in the shed" chickens, so the goats can't get to it. My Mille Fleur D'Uccles are the only ones who cannot tolerate the cold weather and spend their winter days on the roosts.

I got six eggs today but only three yesterday, the hens didn't like the rainy, snowy day that we had yesterday. The Sun inspired them today, it inspired me too.

Hello Ike

The last two days have been miserable around here. We walked out the door and into a sauna. I won't say this too loudly but I much prefer cold weather to humid weather. Hot is fine as long as it isn't humid. Yesterday and Friday were just unbearable, you didn't have to do anything and you were soaking wet with sweat.

Hurricane Ike or what is left of him is suppose to arrive here today with heavy rain and a wind advisory, wind gusts up to 45 mph. That could make it dangerous here, we might get hit by flying chickens. Ike is suppose to bring cooler, less humid air this week and I am really looking forward to being able to milk without sweating.

We sat outside while we were finishing up feeding last night and looked around us and realized that we have a lot of chickens. They were everywhere we looked. I gave away one of my Banty hens with her seven chicks, so I think that I have 30 or 31 left.

My chickens are fairly strange, most everything else around here has the sense to stay out of the rain but not them. It was pouring rain on Friday and they just went about their daily routine like the sun was shining and it was a beautiful day.

We are so thankful for the rain, our pastures were drying up. Hopefully this rain will help out with the hay crop and they will get another cutting. There doesn't seem to be the demand for hay that there was last year though, the farmers are trying their best to keep the prices up but no one is buying because so many people dumped their livestock last year.

My chickens are working hard to provide us with eggs. I am getting at least seven eggs, that we can find, everyday. I found a nest of five eggs just lying out in the yard, that lets you know how badly our grass needs mowing. I am sure that some of our chickens are laying in other places that we don't know about. I just wish that I had some regular egg customers, that I could rely on. We do sell them but it is just here and there. No one that comes here to the house and picks them up on a regular basis.

My Polish rooster has finally found a name, everyone has been calling him Elvis and since I haven't come up with a better name, I guess that one will have to stick. I am very pleased with all of my roosters, none of them are aggressive and as long as they stay that way, they can stay. Rocky has us a little puzzled, we haven't quite figured him out yet. Elvis is popular with the young hens, doesn't that just figure? Bootstrap has always just partnered with one hen. The fox managed to get his first two wives and he actually grieved over them. He is exclusively keeping time with my last Mille Fleur D'Uccle hen now and that leaves poor Rudy, my D'Uccle rooster, all alone.

Little Rooster Syndrome

Rudy, my Mille Fleur D'uccle rooster had a bad case of LRS or Little Rooster Syndrome, when we brought the new Barred Rock rooster home. Now this new rooster is quite impressive, he is massive and has a real deep, rough and loud crow. The minute Rudy found him there in the pet cage that next morning, he was itching for a fight. He wasn't about to let another rooster join the community, there was already two roosters too many.

The new Polish rooster isn't much of a threat, he doesn't even crow and he jumps straight up in the air and hits the ground running at the least little noise. But this rooster was different, he just could not be allowed to stay and Rudy had made up his mind to chase him off as soon as we let him out of that cage.

When we did turn the new guy out, Rudy put up a gallant fight. But he just didn't have the right stuff. I have named the new Barred Rock rooster, Rocky, it seems to fit. The following video is what happened when he and Rudy tried to iron out their differences like men.


When Rudy finally decided that he was fighting in the wrong weight division. He ran off in humiliation. My bigger rooster, Boot-strap was next in line to take this newcomer on. I didn't see that fight but I guess that it was a good one. The good thing about Rocky is that he doesn't start a fight, he just finishes it.

Busy Again

Busy, busy, busy, I have so much to do that I am actually looking forward to winter. My Husband will be very upset by this comment. I don't have time to blog but I will use it as an organization tool.

I finally got most of my Spring surge of rope halter orders finished. I currently only have two outstanding orders that total 6 halters. Then this morning I got an order for 17 more halters.

I am in the process of building a large website for a Barrel Racer and Trainer. I have all of the information and pictures that I need to finish it, I just need to pull it all together.

I also have been asked to do a local website for our community that I would really like to do a nice job on, it will be complicated with a lot of information, I am donating the entire site and my time. At this point, I am trying to figure out how I want to do it. I will post a link to it here when it is finished.

We have sold a horse and possibly another one, this requires some major attention this week because someone will be here to pick one of them up on August 4th, she will have to have all of her paperwork and Vet exam done this week.

I really need to update our website but it always gets pushed to the bottom of my "to do" list. I don't even have the new foals on there yet.

Dishes and laundry are an unending problem for me. As is Cooter who has to be moved from location to location throughout the day. Plus goats and chickens to be fed and cared for.

I spent most of the morning this morning looking for one of my Mille Fleur D'Uccle hens, she has totally disappeared orphaning her three chicks, this is the same hen that was picked up by the hawk a week or so ago. I really hate that I am loosing my broody hens but especially my Millies. I haven't been able to find any feathers anywhere, so it must have been a hawk that got her.

I am thinking about renaming our place to The Fox and Hawk Food Farm or Predator's Ranch.

Pecking Order

My chicks are getting so big and they are all different, very colorful. Only two have feathered feet and only one looks like it might be a pure bred Mille Fleur D'Uccle. It will probably turn out to be a rooster.

They are starting to get aggressive. When I turned them out this morning they where all running around my feet chasing each other and pecking each other. I guess they are trying to establish a pecking order.

These are some pictures that I took some time ago of the chicks, they are much bigger and have more feathers now.

Falcon?

I think that I discovered this morning what got away with my little red hen. I had just come in from feeding the chickens early this morning and sat down in front of the computer, when I heard a commotion outside the door in the drive through part of the barn. All of the chickens were squawking and scattering. I ran out the door but only saw all of the chickens running toward the goat/chicken house, except for the two Mille Fleur D'Uccles with their chicks.

I looked around and found that one of the D'Uccle hens was missing. Her three chicks were chirping loudly and looking for her. I wasn't sure what had happened but summoned my dear Husband from his slumber to assist. He went one way and I went another. I noticed that several crows were pitching a fit and were attacking something out in the pasture. It was too small for a hawk, unless it was a young one. It flew away and my little D'Uccle hen was staggering around in the pasture on her way back to the yard, disoriented. I picked her up and brought her back to her chicks. She was not injured that I could tell.

It could have been a falcon, we had one here once before that stayed around all day then moved on. It landed on my Husband's head, which kind of took him by surprise. It acted pretty tame, so we assumed it was someone's pet or had escaped from captivity. But we could never catch it, although we could get close to it. We didn't have chickens at the time.

Whatever this was this morning, it is a small bird of prey and flew right in the back door of the barn, grabbed the hen and flew out the front door. I told my DH that I wouldn't take a thousand dollars apiece for my Livestock Guardian Crows. I think he though might since we have so many.

Foxy

Well, my fox problems have returned. I was missing one of my new banty hens yesterday. I was hoping that she was sitting on a hidden nest somewhere but I think that I got an answer today at noon.

I just happened to be looking out the window and a fox came running down the hill in a blur of speed, right into the front door of the barn, that is where the two Mille Fleur D'Uccle hens stay with their broods. I heard startled chickens scattering and Angel started barking.

I grabbed my rifle and flew out the door, I must have clicked the safety off as I ran out. The rooster was chasing him out the front door with me right behind him. The fox made a beeline up the hill, then stopped and turned around. He didn't have anything in his mouth and he was a perfect target. I pulled up and took aim but the trigger wouldn't budge. I guess I must have clicked the safety on again as I pulled the gun up. By the time I clicked it off, he was gone.

This was not the same fox that we have been having trouble with. This fox was a beautiful little animal. He is dark red with a pretty coat, fluffy tail with a white tip on it. The other fox looked like he was a halfbreed, he was tall, long bodied, light colored with a rough coat and no white on his tail.

When we first got Angel I had wanted her to stay in the goat lot with no roaming around the farm or neighborhood. That didn't work out because her coat was so thick that she just went under the electric fence, like it wasn't there. I had gotten use to her coming to the barn/house with Cinder when I milked and liked the idea that she could be more of a protector if she wasn't confined to the goat lot. On several occasions she has run off foxes and dogs.

Then summer arrived and she lost her heavy coat and got some mats on her back that I had to cut off. She started getting shocked when she went under the fence, so she has stopped getting out. My DH is thrilled and says that I will have to keep the hair on her back shaved. But I am thinking today that I may have to fix a special place in the fence where she can get out without being shocked. Just don't tell my DH.

Results are in

My Mille Fleur D'Uccle hen has left the nest, she offically hatched out 11 chicks. 2 drown, 4 were killed by the big Rhode Island Red broody hen, who got confused because she heard the chicks and thought they were hers and run the little Millie off to set on her nest instead of her own. We took the nest to the barn/house to protect it from the Rhodie and the Millie stopped setting on the remaining eggs and at this point has 5 live chicks, probably all roosters with my luck.

Several of the Millie eggs that were left are at different stages of development because my other two banty hens continued to lay eggs in her nest after I set the original eggs under her, plus one big hen slipped an egg in there also. We took the remaining unhatched eggs and put them under the Rhodie and are watching them closely, if any of them hatch we will put them with the other chicks. When moving the remaining eggs my DH broke one of them and it had a live chick in it but it did not survive.

My Husband brought home four new banties that someone gave him, two roosters and two hens. One pair appear to be the same breed, they are very pretty. As soon as I get some time I will try to do some research and identify them.

No Phone

I don't know if our phone was down because of thieves again or if it was something else but we didn't have phone service when we got up yesterday. If we don't have phone service then we don't have internet service, because we live out here in this third world country with no modern conveniences like city water or high speed internet options.

Someone is stealing our old phone lines for their copper content. This is fine with me because if they continue to steal it then we will eventually get all new phone lines and maybe better service and maybe even DSL. It is pretty annoying because it is happening so often and we are without service for the whole day. They told the people who called it in that we wouldn't have service back until Monday but they did have it fixed yesterday evening. I hate not having a phone or internet but I can live with it if it is for the greater good.

When I took feed out to my Mille Fleur D'uccle setting hen, she got off the nest and I counted six babies and two more that were in the process of hatching. The problem is that the little tiny chicks are jumping out of the nest and they can't get back in. I had to rescue them several times yesterday by putting them back in.

Peepers

I am going to try to squeak one in here before midnight, so that I will have a blog for today before it is tomorrow. I hear thunder, so I will have to make it quick before the storm hits.

Jasper and Onyx went to their new home this morning. Since Jasper had partial horn growths on both sides, I got to burn his horns again. It went very smoothly and hopefully he won't have scurs. It was the first time that I had ever actually used the iron, I usually just hold the kids while my DH does the burning.

I checked my Mille Fleur D'Uccle's nest yesterday and she had no baby chicks but when I went out to the goat/chicken shed this morning there was a little peeper looking out at me from under the hen. This evening we picked the hen up and she has three little peeps under her. Hopefully some of the other eggs will hatch out in the next couple of days but three is good if the others don't, because I was afraid that none of them would hatch for her.

I also set seven large eggs under my broody Rhode Island Red. Since she is bound and determined to set, at least now she has some eggs to set on that should be fertile.

Weaned

Jasper and Onyx are officially weaned and they aren't real happy about it. Their mother doesn't seem to mind much. We milked Cinder at 7:00 this morning and got 1 1/2 quarts. We will probably get more than that this evening.

Still haven't gotten Zinc and Copper's horns taken care of. We don't want to do it when it is raining and it has rained for the last two days.

We checked under my little D'uccle hen last night and no babies yet. It did look like one was in the process of hatching. She has a ton of eggs under her, the other hens must have continued to lay in her nest after we moved her, the sneaky things, one of the eggs is from one of the big hens. I don't know how she managed to get into the nest, the door is tiny. Maybe we will have some chicks today.

One of my Rhodies has gone broody now also, I have put in a request to my cousin for some eggs to set under her.

I know that I didn't blog yesterday because I got an e-mail asking me if I was alright. For the last three days I have been nursing a kidney stone I believe. This is the first one that I have ever had and the pain comes and goes. I am currently trying some home remedies. I don't like going to the Doctor.

Still Setting

Or is it still sitting? My faithful little Mille Fleur D'uccle hen is still warming her eggs. I just hope that she gets a reward for her suffering. We had to move the nest and there was some confusion about just whose nest it was there for awhile. Two different hens were fighting for possession. The eggs were sometimes abandoned for half a day at a time. Also with the bigger hens trying to slip their large eggs into the little nest, those eggs have been through some tough times. If any of them hatch out it will surely be that the good Lord watches over little eggs.

Jasper was back to his playful self today, moving around much better. The pain from the banding is usually only bad for one day. Both of Jasper's horn caps have fallen off from when we disbudded them and one of Onyx's has fallen off also. It seems like they stayed on much longer this year than they usually do.

When Jasper and Onyx move to their new home, I am thinking about what I am going to do with all of that extra milk. I have discovered that you cannot legally sell raw goat's milk in Indiana, but you can sell shares in a dairy goat. Then feed, care for and milk that goat for the shareholders. This may be something that I have to look into more carefully, because I don't want to have a bunch of extra milk sitting around. Another possibility that we are considering is getting a pig to fatten out.

Setting Eggs

On Sunday evening my cousin who has Mille Fleur d'uccle hens like mine, told me that one of his hens had gone broody. So he came to my house and I gave him the 6 newest d'uccle eggs that I had to put under his hen. Then on Wednesday one of my d'uccle banty hens went broody. She had only 3 eggs under her, so on Thursday I set some more d'uccle eggs under her that I had gathered and had in my refrigerator. I took eggs right out of my refrigerator last year and they hatched out without any problems.

So, we now have a nest of 11 eggs with all three of my Mille Fleur d'uccles taking turns setting on it. Even my d'uccle rooster takes his turn, to let the hens go for a drink and a bite to eat. That's real teamwork. They should start hatching out in 21 days, which will be on the 27th or 28th of this month.

Calico looks like she is about to pop. We feel so sorry for her, but the weather has cooled down some and that will help her, those hot, sunny days were hard on her, she just laid in the shade and still panted like a dog. I have her turned loose in our yard and she can come and go as she pleases but she is staying inside in her stall today, she isn't wanting to move around much. I wish she would hurry up and kid. I am getting concerned about her, she may have triplets. or very large twins.

The mule foal died, his mother just didn't have any milk. When we were there on Sunday we couldn't catch her to see if she had milk and she doesn't belong to us or we would have pursued the matter. Now we feel bad because we didn't, he probably wouldn't have survived anyway without colostrum and no one was sure when he was born, but we could have tried to save him.

Back To Normal

My whole life has been obsessed with Miracle for the past week. But life has continued without my 100% attention.

My twin kids are growing like weeds and I am using the same naming theme for them that I am using for the foals, I named the black doeling "Onyx" and the dun colored buckling "Jasper".

I am trying to sell both of the kids in order to give their milk supply to Miracle. I was not planning to keep them anyway, because I don't need anymore goats and I was wanting to use the milk for us. But now I need to use the milk for Miracle.

I am also missing a hen, one of my Barred Rocks didn't show up to roost last night. We looked for her then and again today and can't find her. Either something has gotten her or she has gone broody and hidden a nest full of eggs somewhere that is very private and we can't locate it. I really didn't want any baby chicks this year unless it was from my Mille Fleur D'Uccles.

We had a visit from the neighbor's dogs today and I know without a doubt that they would be chicken killers, if given the chance. Angel stood her ground and barked at them but they didn't seem afraid of her because there are two of them. I went out with my BB gun and took a shot at one of them and she actually acted like I hit her, unbelievable because I can't hit anything with that gun. We talked with another neighbor tonight and he said that those same two dogs have been chasing his calves.

Spring is Here

Spring has arrived and we have survived the winter. The rain cleared out of here and the sun is shining just for the occasion.

My little orange Mille Fleur D'Uccle hen went missing last night and this morning. I hunted for her today and found her under the goat/chicken house all covered in mud and acting puny. I had to get down on my knees in the mud and take my handy dandy chicken catcher to get her out, it is a long metal wire with a crook in the end that will snag a chicken by the foot. I caught her on the first try and drug her out. I cradled her in my arms and looked her over but could find no injuries. She must have just had a hard night out in the cold being wet and muddy.

I put her out in the dog kennel with the other banties and they all attacked her viciously. I must admit that I don't understand chicken psychology, they don't have any compassion. They are pecking at her and plucking out her feathers and chasing her. With friends like that, who needs enemies?

In Like a Lamb

March came in like a lamb, which means that it will go out like a lion. That is why I had a hard time blogging today because I was outside enjoying the weather.

I kept a close eye on my Chickens today and am convinced that they are not hiding their eggs. I got 2 eggs early in the morning. Then around noon, one of the Rhodies went into the goat/chicken shed and set on a nest for a long time but didn't produce anything. They don't seem to be molting, so I don't know why they have stopped laying with the nice weather that we have been having.

My cousin's D'uccles have started laying eggs for him, but mine are still not laying. I bought some oyster shell to put out for all of my hens but I think they are laying less since I put it out.

My mud turned slightly solid today, it was nice to walk on top of it again. However, our driveway has fallen completely through. We have put tons and tons of gravel on that thing throughout the years and it has just eaten it up or hard rains have washed it down the hill and out into the pasture. This is the first time that it has gotten so bad that you have to have a 4-wheel drive just to get up the hill when it doesn't have any snow or ice on it. It is also starting to get ruts.

The weather forecast is for hard, heavy rain for the next few days, so we need to get gravel on it Monday, but all of our savings are in our horse's bellies and we hate to put gravel on it only to have it washed down into the pasture again. Hard rains will wash even the biggest sized stone down that hill. It looks like we have no choice but to go ahead and gravel it or some unsuspecting visitor, like the Mailman or the UPS guy, is going to get hung up right in the middle of our driveway. They both hate coming down here already.

Mille Fleur d'uccle

Here it is, the moment that you all have been waiting for, the introduction of my new Rooster. I haven't named him yet, as a matter of fact, I haven't even named my other rooster yet. The new rooster needs a French name. The other rooster is a Booted Bantam, so I guess he needs a Pirate, Cowboy or Harley Rider name. Any and all suggestions would be appreciated.

He spent the night with Maude and Ethel, they are my big cornish hens, he has never had his freedom, so he didn't know that he just needed to fly up and out of the pen. Maude and Ethel are too heavy to fly, so that is where they live full time. All of my other Chickens are free rangers, but they do get in and out of Maude and Ethel's pen occasionally.

Maude and Ethel

New Member

I have a new member in my farm family, a Mille Fleur d'uccle rooster. I already had two Millie hens, so come spring, I hope to raise some purebred chicks. Both of my little hens are very broody and one of them hatched out 3 eggs last spring, all roosters.

My sweet cousin bought two hens and two roosters off of my neighbor, I knew that he had them because he gave me the two hens that I have now. My husband wouldn't let me get a rooster because we already had a rooster and I don't think that he wants me to get into raising chicks. So, being the perfect wife, I didn't whine much.

Anyway, my sweet cousin didn't need two roosters, so for some unknown reason my husband asked me if I wanted one and of course, I did. I plan to try to raise my sweet cousin a hen in the spring to pay him back for his generosity. Hopefully I won't get all roosters again.

My little bantam Mille Fleur d'uccle rooster, is just adorable but he is as wild as he can be and a real loud mouth. You would think that he was a wild bird the way he acts, which is strange because my hens are so sweet and friendly. This breed is known for there tameness. They are also known for the rich eggs that they lay, tiny but delicious.

His continuous crowing is extremely annoying, it sounds like a scratchy record but of course most people now-a-days don't know what a scratchy record sounds like. This younger generation has missed so much.

I will try to get some pictures of my new guy, as soon as I can get him tamed down some. Here is a picture of my Millie hens: