Mama Hen & Baby Chicks

Our latest baby!

Happy Summer! I was up early this morning and saw the full moon just above the horizon at daybreak. Apparently, the 2016 summer solstice is extra special because the northern hemisphere hasn't had a full moon on a summer solstice since 1967! It's also the 4th full moon since the spring equinox, which isn't that common either. You can read more on it in this cool article at earthsky.org: http://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/june-solstice-full-moon-in-2016.

What it all boils down to is...my kids are finally out of school for the summer! Their last day was the 14th and my eldest graduated from high school the next day. A lot has been going on this past week, as you might imagine, and it all began on Sunday the 12th, when I went to the coop and discovered this little one peeking out from under his mama!

Exactly 21 days prior, I found Watermelon, my largest Black Australorp sitting on a couple of eggs. She was acting broody (aka hormonal and protective of the eggs)...so I put a couple more under her. The total was only 4, since we've never been through a natural hatch and I wasn't sure if she'd abandon the nest or not. A week later, I found one egg broken. I believe another hen had hopped into the nest while Watermelon was taking a water break. It's shell might have been weak too.

Anyway, we were down to three eggs. She didn't actually lay the eggs...although one may have been hers. One was a green egg from my Easter Egger named Moon and one was a dark brown egg from one of my French Black Copper Marans named Venus. The third was either from Watermelon or one of my Barred Rocks.

On the 12th, the little one above hatched, followed by egg #3. Unfortunately, that baby didn't make it. But by the next morning, the green egg hatched...

2nd baby

Now, my roosters are French Black Copper Marans, which means that this chick...assuming she's a she...is an 'olive egger'. I'm really hoping 'she' ends up laying olive green colored eggs! Her mother's eggs are a light to medium shade of 'easter egger' green and dad comes from a breed that lays very dark brown eggs, so we'll see...

First baby at day 1

Second baby on the left

Hiding under mama's wing

Watermelon is proving to be an amazing mother. She's protective, tolerant, immediately taught them to drink from a glass bottle waterer (the kind in rabbit/hamster cages)...which she remembered from her chick days. And when I took her out for a second, so that I could clean a spot, she freaked and wanted to get back in the cage with her babies. I set up a rabbit cage in the coop so that they'd be safe from trampling/pecking, yet they'd still be with the flock. Kind of a brooder/nursery.

The baby's are doing great and growing quickly. The cutest thing is that they like sitting on top of their mother, piggy-back style.

Cool view from up here! (chick #2)

Chick #1

1 week old. See those feathers coming in?

And for those of you who read my red fox post, we haven't seen the fox in a week or so. Granted, we're 'supervising' the flock's free ranging. We started by letting them loose a couple of hours in the afternoon, while three of us (two sons and myself) stayed outside on the lookout. This, obviously, isn't an arrangement we can maintain. About a week ago, I shaved my dogs and we put their hair around the fence line where the fox was coming from. I wouldn't rely on that alone, but I had spare dog hair so why not? Now, when the chickens are loose, one of us goes out and walks around or grabs eggs every ten minutes or so, just to let the fox know we're there. In the meantime, we're building a stationary, fox and predator-proof pen/aviary for times when we aren't outside to deter the fox.

That's my chicken update! I'm so looking forward to another broody hen. Seeing these babies hatch and interact with their mother has been so heartwarming.

Happy summer to all! I'll leave you with one last pic. It's fuzzy because my phone camera can't handle low lighting. This was the full moon at daybreak today from my back porch. The photo didn't capture how bright at big it was in person.

I should stick with baby chick pics ;).

My backyard chickens, coop building and hawk attacks

While helping my rooster scare off a hungry hawk this morning, it occurred to me that I never posted updated photos of my backyard flock. That handful of chicks I posted pics of back in March quickly grew to a flock of 18 chickens (they call the addiction 'chicken math'). One of them ended up being a rooster, which is fine since we live in the countryside. He has saved quite a few hens from hawk attacks, but we did lose one not long ago...and another to egg-binding complications. So our current number is 16, including the roo, Excalibur.

Excalibur, an Easter Egger

Taken when he was younger.

We have Easter Eggers, Speckled Sussex, Plymouth Barred Rock, Cuckoo Maran, Buff Orpington and Black Australorps. I'd  have to say that my favorites are the EE and Barred Rocks. This spring, I'd love to add some Rhode Island Reds to our family.

If you recall, we decided to build a coop from scratch. Yes, I thought it would save money. No, it didn't. Well, it did if you compare what we made to buying an equivalent, but it wasn't the cheapest project. I just got all HGTV with it LOL. So here are a few pics summarizing the process. It's 8 x 8 with a sealed floor covered in sand that I scoop like kitty litter. We put in sand/sweet pdz filled poop boards under the roost and every window, eave, vent etc...is covered in 1/4 in hardware cloth to keep out predators. Lots of door locks too!

Note: I now have shredded pine in the nest boxes. They thought the shredded paper was delicious. 

Cynder our Barred Rock

Zuni my sweet Easter Egger who lays blue eggs

The hen up front is Rain, an Easter Egger. She lays pinkish brown eggs. My other EE, Moon (not pictured), lays green eggs.

The nutrient difference free ranging makes. Store bought on the left. Ours on the right. See the color?

So now my biggest problem is hawks. I love all animals and know the hawks needs to eat too, but I'd rather they not eat my chickens. We have evergreen trees the chickens hide under...and plenty of other places to take cover, but the hawks have figured out that our evergreen trees have a fence near them. A perfect place to perch and wait.

That hawk I mentioned was hanging out this morning? He came back while I was in the middle of writing this post and went after one of my Buff Orpingtons named Pippa (after the little girl Pippa in The Promise of Rain). I heard our rooster alarm and ran out in time to chase the hawk away, but he did manage to peck at her comb. I now have her in our basement in a large dog crate I converted into an emergency chicken hospital a few months back. I cleaned up the blood and am hopeful that she'll be okay. She's pretty shaken though and I locked up the rest of the flock in their coop for the rest of the day.

They really love free ranging but I need to put more places for shelter up. This is their first winter with us and many of the shrubs/small trees, such as our fig, that they were successfully using as hiding places, have lost their leaves. We have large expanses of grass where I'd like to add large, ornamental grasses or shrubs where they can hide (berries to eat would be a plus). If only I could train my dogs to guard the flock and not eat them. They're still getting used to our new kitten, Grimalkin.

Predator scares or not, I absolutely love having chickens. I've done so much research on keeping free range, backyard chickens as safe as can be, but I'm off to do more. Finding that balance between giving them a beautiful life and keeping them safe isn't easy. Parenting is parenting...tough no matter what species you're caring for! Tips anyone?

I'm heading downstairs to check on Pippa. I hope you enjoyed the coop building pics!

Note: Many thanks to www.backyardchickens.com and all the backyard chicken keepers that hang out there, www.the-chicken-chick.com, www.fresh-eggs-daily.com and so many other chicken keeping sites. I'm a lurker, but without all the info and ideas shared online, plus great books and magazines, I wouldn't know half of what I do about caring for a flock of fluffy butts. Thanks!!

Where in the world have I been?

Big apologies to all for disappearing on you, except for the very occasional tweet. The bottom line is that one of my kids recently had major surgery...one that required a week in the hospital and a painful recovery that is still underway at home. He's doing well and getting better on a daily basis. Spring break has given him extra recovery time without missing more school, but we've also had a lot of family visiting (he's loving the attention ;). Needless to say, I've had to put a lot of things aside in order to focus on the family front. And I'm exhausted.

I am, however, slowly re-surfacing :). I have a post up at Revising & Editing on 'A Writer's Hindsight and the Secret that Sold' (thank you, Nas Dean of Romance Book Haven, for the blog tour!). Plus, author Kate James interviewed me recently and you can check it out HERE.

On the chicken front...they're growing really, really fast! I ended up with 18. Yes, they're addictive. With everything that has been going on, we're behind on coop building, but it is happening (because it has to ;). I'll post pics when it's done.

I've missed you all! :)

USA Today HEA Interview with Kimberly Van Meter...and baby chicks!

Happy Friday! Here's a little something to brighten the winter we've been having...

And they're mine! I have six total and I'm in love. Yesterday, I did an entire post with more pictures and why I want chickens. Check it out at the Heartwarming Authors blog here: THE BACKYARD CHICKEN BUG

To top that news, I have an interview with Harlequin Superromance and Romantic Suspense author Kimberly Van Meter up today at USA Today's Happy Ever After blog! Here's the link: HEA INTERVIEW WITH KIMBERLY VAN METER.

On that note, I'm off to figure out what chicken coop design I should build (or try to ;). I hope you all have a fabulous weekend!