Silver Laced Wyandots

This is a Silver Laced Wyandot hen.





These are the SLW pullets I recently purchased.
Do you think some day they will look as beautiful?

Chick Surprise

Our broody hen, whom Cami named "Grace" (because she's nice and will let you pet her), has hatched herself a brood of 10 chicks! We thought we lost her, as we couldn't find her or her nest. Sometimes when you think harm has befallen you, it is really God making an improvement in your life. That's the lesson I learned from the chick surprise.

New Puppy

Isn't he adorable! We're calling him Jack. He is a 6 week-old Great Pyrenees male. We've had him for 2 days, and he has already won our hearts with his intelligence and gentle temperament.
This is Cam feeding the one and only duck.
After our broody hen failed to hatch her nest, we picked up a few chicks at a nearby farm for her. She did not like them even though we snuck them under her at night. So we will have to raise them ourselves. Well, at least one of the cats likes them.

With no tractor of our own, we had been looking for someone to cut our 10 acres of pasture. Not so much for hay (there's a little), but for weed control. So yesterday this Amish boy comes over with a team of two horses and a generator powered mower and does an excellent job.

birds, blooms, skinks, and dogs chewing gum

Our dog, Flomar, found a piece of freshly discarded gum on the ground today and proceeded to chew it. I watched her chew and chew and chew-- she didn't eat it, just kept chewing it. She may still be chewing it now. I've never seen a dog do that before. Flomar caught a skink today also, and I got it away from her before she killed it. The tail was off, but the little girls made a nest for it in a small bucket and are planning to rehabilitate it.

The black locust trees are blooming and exuding an intoxicating scent. Our little road is lined with them.

Remember those cute little chicks? Here's one with Grandpa's dog. (He's a special dog, as you can see.)

And here are the chicks now, about half grown. We have three reds, two whites, and two barred rocks. We lost a few to a fox, so we have been making improvements to the portable cage.

Baby Chicks

There have not been chickens on this farm since our small flock was massacred about a year and a half ago. So we are finally starting over with 8 chicks from Tractor Supply. They are Rhode I. Reds, and probably all roosters, but we are hoping for a few hens. They are living temporarily in my laundry room in an old laundry basket.
We gave our old homemade portable coop a remodeling. We stripped off all the old plastic wire, tightened and repaired all the joints, repainted, rewired, and added a new door. This was a family affair, as you can see in the first picture. This coop is very light, and will be moved to a new patch of grass every day. We will put a nesting box in when the chickens are old enough to lay. I can't wait for those fresh eggs! Next-- fresh milk. Stay tuned...