Bitter Sweet

Well I’ve had a busy few weeks!  Actually that’s just an understatement.  Firstly, I had a semi successful hatching.  Of my 15 starting eggs I hatched out 3 chicks and a duck.  I believe the problem was a user issue, me.  I believe the temperature fluctuated too wildly OR that I didn’t have as quite a reliable thermometer as I thought. Regardless, there were 3 chicks that successfully hatched, but one didn’t make it, and there was only one duck that hatched out.  The surviving chicks are wonderfully healthy so that’s a great relief!

The big chicks have finally been hardened off.  Yay!  They go outside in a makeshift pen during the day then come back in at night.  Unfortunately due to lack of man power and rain that occurs only on my husband’s day off, we haven’t even STARTED to build the permanent coop.  Hopefully since my husband isn’t going away next month we can get a move on.  Anywhoozle, the big chicks love being outside and are almost completely feathered out.  Of my 12 chicks, there is only one roo, a frizzle!  There was even a day that got to be 90 so even the wee chicks got to go out for a little while as well.

On my birthday I woke up and looked out upon my beehives and after suffering a minor burst of terror, I ran out to see that a bear had knocked over one of my hives and just destroyed it.  I’ve never been so angry in my life those are MY bees!  Unfortunately it came back every night until finally I crumbled and sent  them 85 miles BACK to my parents where there absolutely NO bears.  I stupidly, and naively disregarded the threat of bears to my hives.  Never having grown up to even THINK about bears I didn’t worry too much.  I wish now that we had set up a chain link enclosure with electric fencing.  So someday in the future, when I have the necessary protection I will attempt bees again.  Sadly I ended up losing 3 of the four hives.

One final note, as a happy birthday gift from my pheasants I got an egg!    Since my birthday I’ve gotten about an egg a day.  There are two different colors so I don’t know who’s laying what, I can never catch them at it.  My husband and I decided that to make up a regular chicken egg we’d need about 3 or 4 pheasant eggs.  They’re just so cute!  I’m waiting for my ameraucana girls to start laying.  Then we’ll really have an aster egg party going on!

Such a day wrought with emotions my birthday was.  We no longer have to worry about the bear destroying my hives.  I have to say once my father and I loaded them up on the back of his truck I felt tremendously better.  I also don’t want a bear poking around for other obvious reasons, Penny.  Penny met with a porcupine (another animal I’ve never crossed before in my LIFE) this winter, lucky for her no vet trip for her.  Between my husband and I we were able to get all the quills out.  Small tip that would have helped greatly, take a pair of scissors and cut the end of the quill off and you should just be able to pull it out with no problem.  Ah how I wish someone one would have told me that sooner.  It’s just one of life’s lessons.  We’re forearmed for the future now.

CHICKENS!!!!!!!

I’m a little excited.  Just a bit.  This is the FIRST time in my life… that I can remember that I’ve owned chickens.  My husband spoils the crap out of me.  Our first ever poultry was an injured lady Ring-Neck Pheasant that came into my care in October.  She’s the start of my poultry-fever!  She only had a mild injuries and seemed to recover quite well.  A friend of the family who’s been raising birds and pheasants longer than I’ve been alive suspects she’s got some brain damage.  Poor Daphne.  She seems to be quite fine and I don’t notice anything really.

In February my husband and I got 4 young Ameraucanas.  I can’t wait for their gorgeous blue/green eggs in April!  Woohoo!  I first discovered the Ameraucanas and their beautiful eggs when one of my parent’s neighbors told us.  I’d come across a plain white chicken on the side of the road, in the middle of no where.  So I my hubby and I picked her up and brought her home.  What a friendly bird!  WOW!  she liked to cuddle, I never realized birds do that.  Heard it, but see it?  Totally different thing.  Unfortunately I didn’t have accommodations for a chicken, so I brought it to my neighbor.  A few months later- Bam!  She was laying eggs.  Beautiful blue eggs.  I’d heard of a chicken that laid blue eggs.  Compared to the girls we have now, I would never have suspected she had it in her.

This March I adopted 4 Golden Pheasants.  A friend of the family raises absolutely breath-taking pheasants and peafowl.  They’re kind of a little still awkward looking.  It won’t be until next year that they will be outfitted in their absolutely brilliant plumage.  Even without the plumage they’re pretty neat birds.  They’ll be laying eggs soon too!

March brought us chick days at Tractor Supply Company.  So for the first time in our lives we are raising chicks!  Holy cow are baby chicks and ducks off the cute-o-meter, especially the Bantams!  Of the 12 I’m positive of what 4 of them will grow up to be.  3 will grow up to be white Cornish rocks, and 1 will be a black Frizzle Cochin bantam.  The others are “assorted”.  It’s exciting every day we’re one step closer to solving our chick mystery!

Along with full-grown birds, nearly laying birds and babies, I wanted to try my hand at incubating.  I tried a few months ago but the eggs hadn’t been stored properly so nothing happened.  Needless to say I was a little bummed out.  BUT!  I was determined to try again!  I found someone with hatching eggs on Craigslist.  Hooray for Craigslist!  I got 7 of the Silkie/Frizzle crosses and 7 Pekin ducks.  I had Pekins when I was a baby.  So I’ve always wanted them again.  The person threw in a goose egg too.  Unfortunately the goose egg was a yolker.  Oh well.  I’ll give that a whirl some other time.  This incubating hatching eggs is super neat!  I remember when I was in second grade we learned about dinosaurs.  However, 2 years later when my sister was in second grade they incubated eggs.  Don’t get me wrong, dinosaurs rock!  But I feel that hatching eggs is a wee bit more practical knowledge.  You’re never too old to learn and experience new things, so I’m just making up for lost time.

The chicks are due to hatch on March 31st.  SO excited.  My duck babies are due to hatch April 7th.  My friend the other day asked me what I was doing for Easter, I should have replied playing with baby ducks!  This has been such an awesome little adventure.  I’m glad I’ve been given the opportunity to enjoy it.