Spring! and Sad News

Spring is finally here; I mean really here, and I think it's here to stay. It was a little touch and go this past weekend when I woke up last Friday to a bit of snow on the ground, frozen water buckets, and a (oops) frozen hydrant (I left the hose attached). The beginning of the week was even sketchy as it was rainy, and the highs were in the (maybe) mid 40s. But today, folks.....today the sun is shining bright, and the temperatures are in the mid 70s! Rumor has it we may even hit the 80s but the week's end. I'm ready!

Sad news though; I woke up this morning to find my favorite brown silkie hen stone cold dead on the coop floor. I saw it coming. Well, I've been wondering if this was to be her fate. She lost her 'voice' about four months ago. I asked around about it then and some folks seemed to think that it was normal for them to make weird noises. So I left it be. But the last week she seemed more listless than usual. Didn't want to leave the nest box. I thought maybe she was broody like Eleanor (pictured above on 'her' eggs). I did more research. This sick chicken thing is difficult. I find all sorts of info, but still haven't figured out how to determine which 'disease', if any, a chicken has. My thought was the poor girl had some kind of crop worm. So sad. To make matters worse, I have another chicken in 'quarantine' with completely different symptoms. Yes, I'm a new chicken farmer. I've a lot to learn. I'm doing my best and hoping for a better outcome. In the mean time, I will be worming all of my chickens tomorrow.

On a better note: Delilah (pictured above) finally got her eggs. She WAS broody. I'd been taking her eggs because I wanted to breed her with my white silkie rooster. Time and resources were not on my side and she wouldn't leave her nest with no eggs. So my landlord told me to throw some eggs under her and that she'd happily hatch them (we rent from the best couple by the way). So I did. One dozen eggs (some were huge) under one chicken butt! She immediately organized them underneath her. Now I've got 16 peeps in the basement (I will only keep 2 or 3 of them) and possible another dozen to hatch in 3 weeks or so. And on top of that...pretty sure Mrs. Bun Buns is expecting some kits in a couple weeks. We'll see, but I'm thinking this time was a success! Come the end of April we could have all sorts of babies around the farm.