DUCKY DID IT, FINALLY :-)

 Yesterday, Nov 27th, our little Muscovy friend, Ducky, hatched 16 little baby ducks. One was very underpowered and got left behind. I brought her into the house, put her in a box with a heating pad and mama hen chicken heater. The baby was weak and shivering. After a few hours she responded to the warmth, food and water. She cried some but was generally pretty quiet. 

Last night I prayed about her and today we reunited her with her family. Ducky immediately peeped back to her and came and gave her a kiss. After getting accustomed to being back in the real world the little orphan (who I named "Chocolate Drop" due to her coloring) was absorbed back into the rambling bunch of little day old babies. 

We were uncertain because it is such a tough world for baby ducks but after seeing CD back with her mama and brothers it was the right move. She is where God made her to be and that is fine with us. 

Good Luck Chocolate Drop...sisters and Ducky. 

This was the third time Ducky has sat on eggs in one of our chicken coops. Mary thought Ducky was incapable of hatching eggs (under humidity?). Ducky proved everyone wrong. She is the best wild duck mother ever. 

FINCHES (AKA OLD ENGLISH BARRED BANTAM HENS) MAKE EGGS

 These little eggs are so small and cute, they look like dove eggs. The photo does not adequately show the difference in size but it gives you a little feel for how small the eggs are from Old English bantams. 

Check out these eggs. The large ones are from our standard size Leghorn hens. The tan intermediate size eggs are from standard size Speckled Sussex hens. The smallest eggs which measure only 1.5-inches long are from our two birds we refer to as "The Finches" (because when they were small and very young they sang like little finch song birds. 

HURRICANE MILTON 2024

 MILTON WAS NOT NICE

This second hurricane of 2024 brought a lot of wind, more than we've known in previous storms. Fortunately our only damage was some screens torn by falling limbs. We rolled down all the hurricane shutters and felt pretty secure in our home. It's very dark inside with all the shutters rolled down. 

The Starlink antenna was not damaged in the storm so we had excellent internet throughout the ordeal. 

In anticipation for the storm we removed the canvas covers from the chicken runs. 

A massive dead pine tree fell over during the storm, the loud wind masked the boom of it hitting the Earth. 

The storm passed directly over us around 2AM, when we got up in the morning all that was left was the mess to clean up. 

We're safe and all our chickens made it through the storm safely so we're blessed.

LITTLE JOE MANNIX OUR BARRED ROCK ROOSTER HAS LEFT

Sporting a stylish 70's Botany 500 matching ensemble, it's Joe Mannix, The Rooster!

Cackle Hatchery included an extra chicken in our order (just in case one did not make it here in shipping). Our extra chicken turned out to also be A ROOSTER. We love roosters, so much so that we've made a home for 10 of them but Joe pushed us over the limit, 11 is too many! We definitely have enough crowing here. So a CraigsList ad began searching for a new home that our little guy could have an exciting life with filled purpose and meaning.

Thank you to Leisa for taking our spare rooster, Little Joe. He's a beautiful Barred Rock Bantam who needed a good home. It took almost three months to find but yesterday, Oct 19, 2024, Little Joe climbed into a box and headed to his new home in Okeechobee Florida. His cute high pitched crowing of "I'm Joe Mannix" will be remembered. 

Good luck little fella. 

PS: We named him Joe Mannix because his barred rock feathers looked a bit like the Botany 500 jackets warn by Mike Connors in the "Mannix" TV series from the 70's. 

HURRICANE HELENE 2024, coverage begins right now!

Thursday, September 26th, First Hurricane of 2024 

3:50 PM Thursday: We've been tracking the storm all day. It is hitting and flooding in Tampa area right now. We've had some gusty winds but they go away. Every now and then it starts to rain a LOT and we think "there it is" and then it stops. We've already had around 15" of rain this month so we're not short on water. 

The sky is bright white/gray, the sun is making if very bright in spite of total cloud cover. After I make this post I'm going to close the upstairs shutter. If it gets bad outside I will close all the shutters before we go to bed. 

The baby chickens are alarmed by the sound of the wind and rain. The muscovy ducks are sitting around in the yard napping. "Rain, we don't care about no rain". They ARE ducks. All rain has currently stopped here in Melbourne. 

GATOR 2024 We've Got One, just saw him today...AND HE'S GONE! NO, still here :-(

Watch where you walk, this lizard's got teeth :-)

TUESDAY SEPT 17, 2024

Mary spotted him this morning and I confirmed, there IS a MAN EATING LIZARD IN OUR POND!

Looks to be about four to five feet in length using the snout to eyeball estimating method. We noticed yesterday that ducks were not swimming in the pond, now we know why.

Is it time to call the alligator removal hot line?

CACKLE HATCHERY - DO NOT BUY UNLESS YOU WANT ROOSTERS

 In our efforts to NOT acquire more Roosters we've ceased hatching chickens and buy only sexed female hens (aka Pullets). We currently have 10 Roosters we're caring for and it's a lot of work (obviously we love them because in spite of their continuous crowing, we still have them 8-).

Our last two acquisitions came from Cackle Hatchery in Lebanon, Missouri. Just in case, Cackle includes a free extra chick with your order. Good thing because we've had several of the chicks drop dead while the others appear happy and very healthy. 

With each of our last two orders we also received a free Rooster chick. We were able to find a home for the beautiful little Buff Orpington Rooster but our Bantam Barred Rock rooster boy has not found any takers from our ads so far. 

Tractor Supply is where our five latest pullets came from and I'm happy to report, NO Roosters.

We have never received a rooster from "My Pet Chicken" so if you're looking for a baby chicken these are a couple of trusted sources.

FIRST NEW BABY PEACOCKS OF 2024

WEDNESDAY JULY 10th, amid scattered thunder showers, the first new baby Peafowl of 2024 arrived to check out the play land of P2.

One Peahen appeared to have three babies while each of the other two moms each had one. Rain condensed on the kitchen window prevented clear photos.

THURSDAY JULY 11th, Two proud Peahen moms brought their babies to the P2 "Patio of Fun".

New Beginnings, Cackle Hatchery does it again, 18 day-old chicks arrive alive

Last Sunday evening we ordered 15 baby chicks from Cackle hatchery. They took to the air Monday night and the Post Office called this morning to let us know our box of joy had arrived. 

5 female Bantam Barred Rock

5 female Bantam Dominique

5 female Standard size Buff Orpington (Mary has wanted some of these for a while)

Cackle hatchery included a free spare of each of the three breeds so we actually received 18 live baby chicks. One of the babies is extremely weak and does not look like she's going to make it but I never give up hope and the other 17 babies look strong and lively. 

RIP Speckled Sussex "Patience"

 The Lord called our sweet little "Patience" to come home so she left us on June 24, 2024. We'll remember you.

RIP MIATA

 Friday June 21, 2024

The Lord called our sweet little chicken, Miata back home to Heaven. We will never forget the little 'Ranger', with all her attitude and happy running around. She was a wonderful mate to our little rooster Punky. He was upset at sundown when she did not come home to roost. 

RIP little one. She was a Good Chicken

RIP SPECKLED SUSSEX 1 OF 10

 Today we lost another one of our girls, the Lord called her back. Nothing to signal her impending departure, she just left quietly. 

Good bye sweet little bird. 

R I P Natasha , The Shroom

 Our beloved little Shroom head, Natasha went to be with the Lord today. We had zero indicator of her impending departure. She was always chipper, alert and active. Her massive fluffy plumage was a marvel to behold and will be missed. 

We're both saddened but glad for the time we had with her. We'll never forget our little Polish hen with the Russian accent.

10 BABY CHICKENS ARRIVED TODAY FROM CACKLE HATCHERY

WEDNESDAY, MAY 15, 2024

We ordered and paid for eight, freshly hatched baby bantam hens from Cackle Hatchery in Lebanon Missouri. They were shipped on Monday by USPS and arrived in here in Melbourne around 9:30am today (Wednesday). Mary followed their journey using USPS tracking and when we saw they were at our post office I called and confirmed their arrival. 10 minutes later we were picking them up and to our surprise we received 10 little ladies which brings our total current chicken population up to 81 (we have lost our minds).

All of the baby chicks look very alive and vibrant. A couple of the black ones have some sort of wound on their head, almost like others were pecking them but once we got them all into the brooder with food and water they went nuts eating and drinking and seemed to just focus on that. They were definitely hungry and thirsty. 

We received six bantam Rhode Island Reds (aka Minkies) and four little black chicks. They are all SOOOO tiny, fragile and precious. There is nothing cuter or softer than a newborn baby chick. I love picking them up out of their shipping container and feeling their softness. 

Their first poo's are green, ewww. I don't remember previous babies having green poo but maybe they did and it just got lost in the wood chips. 

For this batch we have modified our brooder technology. Instead of a cardboard box we're using a large, clear-sided plastic box and lid. We have a Mama-hen heater in the box so the chicks can relax in 100-degree F warmth. We're also using some small glass dishes for water, the baby chicks seem to like standing in it. For now we just poured some baby chick food on the floor of the brooder and they are all eating voraciously. 

This was our first order of baby chicks from Cackle Hatchery, they could become our new favorite supplier since they delivered all chicks alive and healthy. We'll see how this goes. These chicks are supposedly sexed so we received hens. There is still a 10% chance there could be a rooster in the bunch. Like I said, we'll see.....and hear how it comes out. 

HERE IS THE BREAKDOWN OF NEW ARRIVALS - All Bantam Size Hens

Six Rhode Island Red - Minkies (Temperament: Docile)

BLACK BABY CHICKS

Barred Rock (Temperament: Active)

Dominique (Temperament: Docile)

Barred Old English Game (Temperament: Active

One bonus black bird, not sure what she is lol, just another black bird at this point

The "bantam" size chickens are 50-75% the size of "standard" size chickens. The second time we went to Tractor Supply and bought chickens (over three years ago) we got three bantam chicks that all turned out to be hens. They were straight run (no choice of what you get). We received three little chicks that all turned out to be hens and they are some of the sweetest little yardbirds on the planet. They fly up and land on your arm or shoulder... looking for treats. They were so soft and brown when they were babies, I called all three of them Minkie in honor of a weird piece of faux fur from Joanns in El Segundo. 

FREE GIFT(S) FROM CACKLE HATCHERY

Maybe they included two extra birds in our order, just in case one red and one black did not make it through the journey. Fortunately they all made it alive and lively so for us it's like getting two free birds as a thank you. We'll give them a great home. 

 

BANTAM SIZE vs STANDARD

- 6.5 lbs - Standard Size Minkie (aka Rhode Island Red)

- 30 oz - Minkies (2 lb 8 oz)

- 22 oz - Barred Old Eng Bantam (Dutchess too) (1 lb 6 oz)

RIP April 25, 2024, Shannon, she was a good chicken

Shannon was one of our first four ISA chickens. We acquired her and her three sisters to be hens for our Silkie roosters. Two of the hens managed to bond with Punky, one bonded with Orangie and Shannon finally found a home with Dusty. 

Shannon was the default matriarch of Dustyland, ruling the roost and sleeping on the perch next to Dusty every night. She was the first of the four ISA hens to cease laying eggs and begin enjoying her retirement.

Her beautiful little spirit is now in Heaven with God bringing joy to all who know her. 

She was a Good Chicken.

A Fowl Affair, Mel Blancs first voice work

 Mel Blanc's first work, uncredited

https://youtu.be/f5HstnWaKLM?si=k7YMu3PBLJXDUzHZ

MIRACLE NAPPING ON MARK'S LAP

 Mark always wanted a lap chicken.... he has one.   Miracle (aka Baby Peep) loves Mark 💗💗💗💗

 

 

 

LUCKY DUCK hatched 10 baby ducks, we stole four

Our little Muscovy duck friend, "Lucky" (who was born at P2 Spring 2023) hatched 10 baby ducks on Monday, February 19 2024. 

We immediately stole the "slowest" four babies and moved them to a wood dog box on the porch. 

As of Friday Feb 23, all six of the remaining babies in Lucky's care are still alive and doing fine. 

The four we took are also doing fine. Yesterday one of the "bumble bee" baby ducks was able to leap out of the dog box and led us on quite a chase around the porch, he's really fast.

Silkie Moms (x2) hatch six baby Muscovy Ducks (eggs stolen from "Lucky")

Thursday, FEB 22 2024 - babies begin pipping and hatching - Mary spotted two hatched by 10am, we decided to leave them to see if any of the other eggs would hatch.

Two of our Silkie hens have been incubating duck eggs we stole from our Muscovy friend, "Lucky", who was also born here last year. 

Friday, February 23, 2024 - six new baby ducks hatched under our two Silkie moms. We moved the two moms and all the six fragile babies into a wood dog crate and brought them into our porch.

ACCIDENTAL CHICKENS HAPPEN, "MIRACLE" BORN FEB 8, 2024

Meet "Miracle"

Feb 8th 2024 around 11am, "Miracle" was born.

We found her at around 1PM while getting ready to go to a doctor appt in Vero Beach. We were on the screened in porch and heard a strange, loud "Peep". Mary said "what was that?". Mark looked in the closest Formex house and saw a tiny yellow bird darting around.