I’m back! I can’t tell you how many times over the past week that I’ve thought “This would be a great blog post!” I should’ve written some of those ideas down but didn’t so maybe I’ll remember some of the good stuff.
How about a chicken report to start with? Our family is growing! Or at least the hens are trying to enlarge the chicken family. I got back from Chad and Nicole’s on October 19. I went out and got eggs from the bantams but the next day, Louise wouldn’t get off the nest. She began setting on the 20th and it takes about three weeks so this weekend, we could welcome new baby chicks.
Then on November 1, Tiffany, the other Silky, decided to start setting. There are three nests in that coop and look at them!
They are all snuggled in there together in the same box. Tiffany is almost under Louise. Tiffany is the tiniest little chicken. Louise isn’t much bigger than a big cotton ball and look at how much smaller Tiffany is. And goofy! That is the goofiest chicken ever. When she gets excited, she screeches almost like an owl. The rooster is a spitting image of Louise but he’s bigger so there’s no telling what Tiffany’s babies will look like. Tiffany’s eggs should start hatching on Thanksgiving Day! If you’ll remember from previous blog posts, last time I looked, Louise had 8 eggs under her and she was “stealing” Tiffany’s eggs. Since they weren’t being incubated as long, I doubted they would hatch. I’m wondering if, once Louise’s eggs hatch, will Tiffany take over the unhatched eggs and will they hatch? Chicken gurus? Heck, from the way they’re snuggled up there, I’m not real sure who is setting on which eggs.
And poor Thelma. He doesn’t know what to do. All his girls have abandoned him.
Mostly he stands halfway in and halfway out the coop door. He just doesn’t know what to do with himself.
Every now and then, he ventures out, looks around and . .
. . then he heads back into the coop. He’s such a cute little guy but pretty unlucky for him that both his girls decided to set on the nest at the same time.
One Dominique hen is still setting on a nest somewhere out in the woods. She comes in every day for food and water. Sometimes we see her and sometimes we don’t. We saw her Sunday and then I didn’t see her yesterday but since I’m not outside at all times, we go for days that we don’t see her but I’m always happy to know she’s still alive. If all these hens end up hatching eggs, we’re going to have a whole lot of baby chicks around here soon.
Judy D in WA says
Welcome back. I missed you.
I can’t wait for the baby report and pictures. 🙂
Thelma is a pacing father….
Bobbie Whittington says
Glad you are back. Missed you and your chicken stories 🙂
Shirley Albertson Owens (sao) says
This is pretty exciting for sure!
sao in Midlothian, VA
Susan Torrens says
Welcome back! Missed your posts, but understand the need for a rest/break! Can’t wait to see if and when any baby chicks arrive……
Becky G says
So glad for an update on your comic birds. I have to laugh tho…. For someone taking a bloggong break, you still posted quite a few! Btw, your post on Nicole’s quilt showing ALL those triangles is visually very appealing & the volumn is most impressive. Oh, and congrats on being in Quiltmaker’s upcoming release. B
Mary in VA says
I had a hen that was “stealing” eggs from the other hen. Then the 2nd hen decided to set as well. They ended up taking turns – the 1st hen hatched the early eggs while the 2nd hen hatched the “late” eggs. I ended up with a beautiful batch of chicks from the pair of them. I noticed that they would take turns minding the chicks as well.
JudyL says
I was wondering if that was possible. Surely hope it happens here too. Thanks for letting me know about yours.
Vicky says
I think Thelma should cool his jets. It’s all his fault there are no ladies to play with these days!
JudyL says
Really! Men and their macho attitude!
Krista says
Welcome back! I was about to go into withdrawl 🙂 Thanks for the update on the chickens. I hope you do get some babies out of all their work.
Freda Henderson says
Welcome back Judy. Thanks for the chicken update, we all love them.
Linda Steller says
LOL – Well, for a rooster with a name like Thelma, no wonder the poor guy is confused! ;P
JudyL says
Not my fault she turned out to be a he! 🙂
barbara says
is there a usual time of the year for chickens to lay? is it usually with winter coming on like this? i would have thought in the spring would be better, with bugs and wild greens and all.
Sue H says
Welcome back! You were missed. So nice to hear about the chickens, and it will be fun hear about the new chicks arriving on the ranch.
JudyL says
I can hardly wait til an egg or two hatches.
Kim W says
Welcome back. Hope those eggs hatch soo and that there are pictures to share. Nicole’s quilt is stunning. One of the first quilts I made was a bear claw in Holly Taylor flannels for my son. I have always wanted to do another and setting on point looks great.
Nancy says
What a nice surprise to find you posting. Glad you’re recharged.
barbara says
how nice that louise and tiffany are such good friends. maybe they can swap recipes and babysitting duties, too, while daddy wanders around in disbelief.
can you be sure that the eggs are fertile?
Rosalie says
So glad that you are back and recharged!
How is little Roscoe doing?
carolyn says
Daddy needs to go boil some water! LOLSo cute that you are possibly going to have some baby chicks soom.
Jo says
Love hearing about the chicks!!! They never cease to amaze me. Went out to feed some scraps from Sunday dinner to my girls – you know what their favorite munchie was? The FISH!! Freshly caught and baked speckled trout! What we don’t do for our flock:-)