This year I ordered from https://hoovershatchery.com/ Hoover’s Hatchery, Located in Iowa. All the chicks arrived alive. Overnight 3 passed away, sure the stress of travel was just too much. This happens. I still have 12 beautiful birds. Not all are named yet.

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2019 was a tough year. Despite working extra hard to secure the coops, the predators were one step ahead. Most just disappeared, which is a bit easier to accept, but then in the fall of 2019, I got hit by a fisher cat! It killed all 12 birds in the coop. I had slide though a one inch space left for ventilation, and unable to remove the birds just killed them where they slept. I’ve taken the winter off, reset the coops, and finally have ordered a new flock for 2020.

BUFF BRAHMA Female 2
BLACK SEX LINK Female 2
LAKENVELDER Female 2
OLIVE EGGER Female 2
PRAIRIE BLUEBELL EGGER Female 2
SALMON FAVEROLLE Female 2
SPITZHAUBEN Female 2

2019 saw the passing of my monarch Black Star Martha at 9-1/2 years old. A month shy of 10! ( Natural causes) .

I really loved Spot, she was a fun girl, so I ordered more spotted ones. I’ve had great results in the old flock with Blue Seal feeds, and will continue to use them. I will also continue trying to be as organic as possible. I think taking the winter off was smart, maybe the predators will move on and find they do know how to hunt. Come early spring I will really concentrate on getting it all in order.

Cheers to 2020!

What an amazing summer we’ve had! The warm days just feel so great and the cooler evening made sleeping a breeze. Life in the coop is going well. Lost one of Ladybird’s babies. It got stuck under the palette and suffocated. It was sad, I knew something was wrong when I couldn’t find her. The other one is still clinging to mama who really is done with all that but seems ok with having her around.

Watched the eclipse from the coop, as I had heard many birds go to bed when the eclipse happens, I was curious. It never got that dark and noone went to sleep. Oh well. 2024 looks like a full eclipse for us, so I’ll try and see what happens then.

Fall is in the air. September is here and the cool nights and sunny days are just lovely.

Here’s Tiny, my Millie De Fluer. I just love her she’s so adorable. And Teeny my Dark Brahma bantam. ( she was supposed to be full size) Both were so small I didn’t think they’d survive but they did ok. Teeny has won my heart, she is so friendly and sweet, I pick her up and she just loves being around me.

Here is Sunshine and Butters. I lost Buttercup to pecking, it was really tragic. She was clearly the biggest hen in there but a gentle giant and I tried to save her but she was too weakened by it. This year has been a rough one at the Fallensky.

I had the chance to buy a few hens off a breeder and took them home. 2 almost immediately went broody. After weeks of them sitting on the nest, I decided to try giving the Amerucana (Ladybird) a few chickens from the feed store. It worked! Little happy family. My other pencil barred rock finally got off the nest after a month. It’s been a very muggy July so far. We built a hoop coop this spring, add volume to the run. It’s connected to the coop and it does very well. I used pond liners on the top to keep out the weather. They get plenty of sun from the sides. Come winter I’ll use the other pond liners to cover it completely so no snow gets in. Sammi & Flower are myu only two remaining originals at 7 years old..

1. The coops suffered some losses in 2016, that have left their mark. I lost Jackie, Greta, Speckles & Funky May.  Funky May was 6, Jackie was 4, Speckles only 3 and Greta also 3. Greta lost her life to a hawk, but I was close enough to scare it off and it didn’t carry her away. That was a first for me how fast it happened.

Martha, Sammi & Flower are my only original hens left. They still lay at 7 years old and I enjoy interacting with them, as they just “know the drill” Emmy Lou is with them, along with newcomer Janis “Janny” who is a olive egg layer. She’s just a baby and started laying in Novemeber. Her eggs are amazing in color.

I began this year, buying a small 3 egg  incubator and found a man named Lou in Smithfield RI who raises Amerucana’s and Black Cooper Marans. I have received 3 eggs from him on January 9th and I have my fingers crossed this is a success. Certainly cheaper than online these days. We have such good breeders in our area seems silly to spend all the money on shipping.

So cheers 2017!

1. This year has been a rough one in the coop. I lost Clara, who was only 2 and a pretty Rhode Island Red  and then I lost Amelia my beautiful Splash Amerucana. I believe she was egg bound, and had lots of secondary symptoms from that. I tried for several days to get everything to work out, but she just was too weak and finally died.

Next year I will start again. I ordered 4 more chicks, a Black Copper Maran, An Olive Egger, a Double-Laced Barnevelder, Blue Andalusian.  I look forward to the new colored eggs.

We’ere going to try a different approach next year, when we rebuild the 2nd coop, make a “yard” area for them, and then they can go in and out freely and pick whatever coop they want to be in. Still a work in progress. I think it will help them get along better.

Finally one of the Black Stars started laying again. It’s been almost a month of no eggs from 8 hens. I told them they were all fired. Several had very bad molts, but now are recovering with shiny new feathers. I love the way the black shines green and blue.

Ginger gave me a couple of bales of hay from the Octoberfest that were up at the Jenckes store, so I will spend the weekend cleaning out the little coop, refreshing their hay, and making it more friendly for the really chilly winter months. The spring babies Emmy Lou and Greta should start laying soon also. Good news. I’ve been saying that since late Sept HA!

Supposed to be almost 60 this weekend. Crazy. But I’ll take it.

Amelia May 2013-Oct-2014

I have often seen photos of chickens with long spaghetti noodles hanging from their beaks, chasing each other around like its a prize, very hilarious. I often wondered if they’d choke with the long noodles, I assume the answer is no, as they’d eat a worm with little difficulty. But still I hesitated to feed them noodles. Then one day at a larger grocery store, I found the solution!

Alphabet Noodles! Who knew! I certainly didn’t. Clearly alphabet soup has been around for ages, but I never realized you could get the noodles. 89 cents a box.

I cooked some up this morning, and left them steaming hot, as it’s under 10 degrees here. They devoured them in 5 minutes, maybe less. Their combs were all bright red, an indication their blood is flowing into them, normally pale and dry looking in this bitter weather. Their crops were full and bulging. They were happy hens. Sorry no photo but I’ll bring my camera next batch!

Wow, this has been another winter full of weather events! The girls are holding up nicely, but I’d love to let them roam to stretch their legs, flap their wings and run around. Eggs are back, and it seems all of the girls are laying successfully now. Rosie’s eggs are by far the biggest eggs.  Nice white large eggs 🙂

I’ll have to get a photo of her, she’s turned into a funny hen. She has such a large comb it flops over.

treats of kale, corn,leftover spaghetti, and baby spinach.

This week marked the babies finally laying eggs. It’s been a long time. They were supposed to lay in October and now it’s Decemeber. On Decemeber 8th, Amelia laid her first blue egg, and then Jackie laid hers the next day. On the 10th they both laid an egg. Still waiting for Rosie to lay a chocolate egg, but all is good. At least I know they are al hens and no roosters! I waas getting a bit nervous!

 

 

Finally got the little ones outside in earnest. They still are pretty dumb on the ramp and don’t seem to understand night/day. I put in a nite lite in hopes of drawing them up there when dusk falls. They are growing big and I hear vocal changes from little peeps to a squeeky wheel.