The First Peep of Spring!

On Friday (4/24), while I was away at the Spring Pilgrimage, Tay informs me that our mother hen, Churkey, hatched her first peep of the spring. Here are the first pictures. She was sitting on 4 Buff Orp eggs, 3 EE eggs and 8 other assorted eggs from our flock. After collecting 15 eggs like an Octo-mom, I set her up in a brooder in the garage, so she could get down to business.

Update: Late Sunday night 4/26, two more Buff Orpington peeps are hatched! Pictures to follow.

Buster and Baxter

We accidently ended up with two extra peeps that are a few weeks younger than the "four amigas" Tay and I got last week.

We keep them separate from the older peeps because one of them, who we call "Buster", won't stop pecking the older birds, nor will she accept her place in the pecking order and back down.

Baxter, on the other hand, is a good little peep and very docile in her dealings with the bigger birds in comparison.

We do not know what breed they will be as of yet. I think that they were chick breeding school projects.

Hopefully, this will round out our flock and I don't expect any more additions. I'll have to start the work to add a few more nesting boxes to the coop this weekend.

The Four Amigas!

"Chicken Farmer" Bluey has got some new peeps. We got them from a local chicken farm. They were born on 4/1.

The two brown chicks are Rhode Island Reds and the black chicks are Barred Rocks. All four should become prolific egg layers and at $3 dozen, we should never have to buy overpriced eggs again once they are mature.

Tay and I are making a real effort this summer to become as self sufficient as possible given the huge jump in food prices. Our garden will probably end up being pretty huge.

So, along with his debilitating case of gout, in which his utter inability to drive is thus far preventing his pilgrimage attendence, he may have to contend with not catching the Asian flu while tending to his flock!

Anybody want to take odds on how long it takes before he develops some exotic fowl disease?

Mother-flocking gout!