Just where do those eggs come from anyway?

Red Sex-linked Hen

Right now the farm has 500 laying hens.  We have 350 Red Sex-linked hens and these are the most prolific. The sex-linked has nothing to do  with their romantic capabilities but that the color of the chicks is on the sex-chromosome. This allows the hatchery to distinguish the boys from the girls. The Red Sex-linked are a cross between a Rhode Island Red and a White Leghorn. The second breed are Black Sex-linked and are across between a Rhode Island Red and a Bard Rock. They are a slightly larger bird and lay slightly larger eggs but not quite so many. We have 100 of these. And the third type is a less common breed,  the Araucana. They lay blue eggs. They don't lay so many eggs but they are a pretty bird.  

Black Sex-linked Hen

Araucana Hen

Araucana Rooster

Rhode Island Red Rooster

          

Thanksgiving Turkey?

 A local radio station dropped of this fine looking turkey, but made me promise she would not be Thanksgiving dinner. Her name is Matilda. The station had offered a free Thanksgiving turkey in a contest. The winner was expecting a nice frozen Butterball and didn't know what to do with a live turkey. So here she is. I am beginning to feel like Noah and the Ark. Two rescue dogs, two rescue mules, a rescue duck and now a rescue turkey. Happy Thanksgiving!

ZEUS, MIA and BUSTER the duck

Zeus, Mia and yes Buster the duck are pretty much on their own today as the chickens have been moved to the barn for the winter (they still go out during the day for the grass, or what's left of it.) Soon I will move them out with the sheep in the back pasture. But first I have to teach them not the chase the sheep so they will be on a lead for about a week. I wonder if they know it is thanksgiving. Gosh, they are such good dogs. I feel very lucky.

Thanksgiving 2010

Well it is now November and the hens are scrounging every little bit of green grass they can find. They have already eaten up my back yard. I then moved them out to the spent garden to finish off the last bits of lettuce, clover and weeds. They made quick work of that so now I am leading them out to the back pasture. It's the green grass (beta-carotene) that makes the yolks nice dark yellow. 400 chickens makes one impressive foraging machine!

The Moms and their Lambs (Catherine, Aesop, Candy, Tim,  Alice, Anne, Lucy, Ali, Lila, Lola, and Lucinda)

Tim

Lila, Lola and Lucinda

Aesop

Ali

Candy

The Moms and all their "Babies"Heading for the Barn

As I said, the sheep have grown, not quite as big, but almost as their moms. Also, feeling bad for the unnamed, I named them all this morning as I took their pictures. So....Cathering begat Aesop and Candy; Anne begat Lucy and TIm; Lila begat Lola and Lucinda; and Alice be gat Ali. Here they are in all their glory.

Gosh! It's September already

 dgacent

Heavens, it is already September! It's starting to get cooler at night.We were essentially untouched by Herb (it was Herb, wasn't it?), just a lot of much needed rain. Well, all the lambs are big now (pictures to follow) though they still hang near their mothers. I have had less time to spend with them so only three have names. When they are bold enough to get close enough to get a tummy scratch they get a name. Three have names: Lucy, Aesop and Tim. I am up to 17 sheep and my pasture is starting to show it. Fortunately I am  renting an a adjacent field so I can give my pasture a bit of a rest. Of course, now I have two small mules (Molly and Sally) and they are hard on my pasture as well.  I am also up to about 850 hens. Good lord, how did this all happen?  Oh, did I mention that we adopted a goat as well, Henry the goat.

Spring is Here!

Well spring is definitely here. Nothing like having a few younguns around to cheer you up.