the broody hen adopting baby chicks experiment

I talked to Commie, our Buff Orpington hen, about a month ago 

and let her know that baby chicks were going to be on their way...  

I told her that if she wanted to be a mamma so badly, 

she could time it just right and go broody.  

Lo and behold, I think she heeded my words 

because she went broody like clockwork, 

and she sat on her little clutch of carefully turned golf balls and infertile eggs 

with just the right amount of time 

to "hatch" her babies that were on their way to her in the mail.  

We had read about other folks who had done this experiment.

We got ready with our in-house brooder for when the chicks first arrived,

and as a back-up in case our adoption experiment failed.

All you really need for a brooder is a safe container

a heat lamp

a chick feeder and waterer

and some bedding (pine shavings or sand work well).

When we got our first chicks 3 years ago,

we hobbled this one together with an old storage tote.

Our big girl Clara got ready, too.  

She's a Great Pyrenees, a breed long recognized for their abilities as livestock guardians.   

Here is she "guarding" the brooder!

The chicks arrived this past Tuesday around 6:30pm from My Pet Chicken! 

Our friendly local post office lady told us we could come after hours 

and ring a bell to get the girls 

so they didn't have to spend the night in the mail sorting area. 

 I peeked in at the little peepers, 

and all four were alive (last time we had one DOA), 

but one of them was clearly not as vital as the others.  

We dipped each of their beaks into water so they'd start drinking after their big trip.

Taking a 1-2 day journey through the mail system is viable 

because they have "hatch nutrition" 

(i.e. just before hatching they absorbed all of the nutrition of their yolk which can keep them going until the rest of their sibling eggs hatch while mamma keeps on sitting..)

The hatch nutrition is all used up after their journey, 

so it's important to get them food and water (and warmth!) straight away.

After watching the other 3 rambunctious girls

chirping away and eating and drinking up a storm,

it became clear that our fourth girl, the little Easter Egger, was rapidly declining

despite hand-feeding and giving her electrolyte water with a dropper. 

She couldn't move the her right side of her body, 

had a strange slimy mucous, and got weaker and weaker.

It seemed very doubtful that she would survive with any quality of life, 

and in flocks there is always the concern of a highly contagious virus 

wiping out the whole flock...

So, we took a deep breath 

and euthanized her in the most humane way we found.

If you're interested in knowing what we did and how we did it,

write to me and I'll let you know.

After all of that, with nary a moment 

to grieve the poor little girl we had to let go,

it was time to try to introduce 

the remaining 3 chicks to their soon-to-be adoptive mama.

Well into the night, after the rest of the flock had been relaxed and roosting for hours,

we took the 3 babies out to the coop, and one by one we placed them gently underneath Commie.

And we made sure to take out any golf balls or eggs she had

because we didn't want her to stay in sitting-mode... 

All went smoothly, but we were nervous little Nellies.

We slept with the chicken camera on all night, 

to stay alert to any sounds of ruckus or distress.

It was quiet all night!  

Just the usual coos from the big girls.

 

Operation adoption was successful!

The next day, we closed up the coop 

so they could have some quiet bonding time together

without interruptions and any bothering from the rest of the flock.

Then we constructed a makeshift safety area for when the big girls came in at night

We had to move Commie and her babies, anyway, because she was not in a very good location 

(parked right in front of the main access chicken door).

She liked it over in her new special brood spot.

The rest of the flock has left Commie and the babies alone for the most part.

For the most part meaning, except for their natural nosiness.

Chickens are curious creatures.  

They like to get in on the scoop and see what's going on.

This time around, the collective attitude seems to be:

"Oh, Commie's at it again...  whatever...  She was never quite right in the head..."

and

"Why don't Commie's babies ever look like her?"

and

"At least these babies don't waddle and quack and dive into puddles..."

There's little Wynonna

the silver-laced Wyandotte

peeking out from under wing

For the other girls, we haven't figure out their names yet...

but we're tossing around

 Roberta for the Barred Rock

so we can call her Bertie or Birdy for short...

and 

Koko or Camille for the Cuckoo Marans

(she should lay a dark chocolate brown looking egg, 

so Koko the Cuckoo might be appropriate...)

Or if we give up our quest for alliteration paired to their breed names,

we could just call her Mabel or Henrietta,

thoroughly excellent names for hens.

We shall see.

After just one day in the coop,

Commie decided to take her little troop of girl scouts

and go out foraging 

so they can start earning their badges of experience and accomplishment.

(Look out, before you know it, they'll be trying to sell you cookies!) 

She's teaching them the lay of the land,

what's good to eat, what's not...

all the ins and outs of chickenhood.

Their vocalizations are amazing --

there's a sound Commie makes that lets her babies know she found something good to eat

they zip over to her and look at what she found.

She gives a warning cluck and puffs herself up big like a turkey

if any of the other hens get too close...

And the chicks have little distress calls that they peep out

if they've gotten separated or can't find her (she's never very far)

They stick right around her 

and they've learned not to  get too close to mamma's feet.

Then when the girls are tired and need a little quick nap,

Commie instinctively knows they need to get warm and huddle up under her,

so she gets ready to settle in with them.

She lifts her chest and her wings and the go under.

She rests with them until they're ready to go on another adventure..

---------

To be continued!

Jazz for Cows

slithering at the pond

I was hauling a bale of barley straw over to the pond, 

(because I read that it prevents algae growth...)

and stumbled upon some northern water snakes mating.

As someone who is generally quite squeamish of snakes,

imagine my shrieks of unpleasant surprise

when I stumbled upon this...

 

I dropped the bale I was hauling and I hauled myself straight back into the house!

Then I calmed down.

And I got the camera.

And I decided that from a distance, it was quite fascinating.

 

In my little bit of research I learned that

Northern water snakes

 nerodia sipedon

are non-poisonous and native to North America.  

They can be up to 4-5' long.

They are quick to flee from any perceived danger,

but very defensive, and they will bite.

They feed on minnows and worms and frogs 

and crayfish and salamanders and small turtles

and even mice.

They get eaten by foxes, raccoons, opossum, skunks,

snapping turtles, large birds, bullfrogs, and other snakes ...

All of this mating made me wonder about the birth process for this type of snake...

Each female can bear a whole lot of baby snakes - some sources say up to 100,

more conservative sites say up to 30... 

When they're born they're about 7"-9" long.

They fend for themselves from birth.

I can't really deal with the thought of having hundreds of snakes in our little pond.

That just seems crazy...   they can't all possibly coexist.  

Maybe some move on to other areas, and some get eaten by predators.

But most sites say that snakes are a good sign in your pond 

and that you should let them be...

They're part of the ecosystem, 

an essential link that keeps everything in check.

Last summer I injured a frog with the lawn mower.

I was so upset, I didn't know what to do for the frog,

I thought maybe I should kill it 

because it might be in awful pain and there was almost no chance it would survive... 

While I was trying to decide what to do,

the water snake wasted no time,

maybe it sensed the frog's injury or smelled it's blood.

It slithered right up through the water lilies and

swallowed the injured frog whole within a few gulps.

Somehow brutal and merciful at once.

Nature is a wild thing.

 

garden boot camp and... home calamities

Oh, dear readers...

I'm behind on my blogging -- there's just been so much to do...!

It's been like garden boot camp around here since mid-April, 

and then as if that wasn't enough to handle, 

we got very sidetracked by some major home calamities

like needing a new septic system

having our well pump frazzle out

and having our driveway entrance start to collapse into the culvert

$!#%

The bulldozer above has been our garden sculpture.

I can't wait for Mr. Bulldozer to go on his merry way to a new construction site. 

oh yes, AND we had  to hire a carpenter to remove part of our front deck and back deck because apparently that's where our well and septic were ingeniously covered up back in the day.

All such super fun stuff, n'est-ce pas?

The caution tape was a nice touch.

Nothing like feeling  like you're living in a crime scene or a demolition site.

 I just gotta say -- life without running water and plumbing was such a drag.  

Computer chips and internet aside, 

I'm now convinced that the greatest achievement of all time 

is indoor plumbing. 

But I digress.  

-----------

 

Here's a little taste of what we've been up to here at homeowner crisis central / garden boot camp,

with some promises of blogs to come:

- hugelkultur concepts and basic applications

- making woodland paths / walls / brush habitats for wildlife

- clearing invasive species (asian honeysuckle, buckthorn, multiflora rose - ouch!)

- deer exclusion fencing that totally works and isn't an eyesore... though it sure ain't cheap...

- planting a raised mound backyard orchard

- planting a nut grove (hazelnuts and pecans, yeah!)  

- growing king stropharia mushrooms and shiitake logs (thanks, Sean!) 

- sheet mulching garden paths (i.e. no mowing or weedwacking around all those raised beds!) 

- preparing gardens for growing

- soil testing for nutrient density and applications with the High Brix garden system

- feeding seaweed broth to seedlings, and hydroponic transplants!   

Soon!