I am sitting in my back yard trying to transfer a picture of my hens in the backyard sent to me on my phone by my husband. He arrived home early this afternoon and put three of our hens, Frizzle, Pepe and Canella into the herb and tomato garden to clean up the last bits of tomatoes and many, many small crawly creatures. When I arrived home all hens seemed happy and healthy. We have been struggling with our egg production as of late. Both Prezzemollo and Dragoncello are molting, which means no laying. I think Frizzle has finally tired out and has decided to leave the egg laying to the younger hens. This means only Anicia, Pepe and Canella are laying right now. We are getting only one or two eggs a day. Anicia is coming into her own and giving Canella a run for her money with being queen hen but Frizzle still pecks the heck out of her younger friends when food is involved. Frizz is still fast at the live critter catching. I am hoping to grow my flock to fifteen hens, but that would require a few life changes that my husband and I are thinking about... hopefully it will work and we will have a larger flock next summer. Our pond now has about 18 residents. We have had a few rounds of spawning because of our up and down temperatures this summer... but I am trying not to count my fish before the pond thaws next spring. It has been pretty fun watching the little frys turn colors. I think peach is a dominant color trait for goldfish and blue is recessive... or my blue guys just aren't mating because it seems as if all of our little frys are either peach or gold. It will be interesting to see their final colors. I will post the picture when it arrives. Until then, I hope your backyard adventures are as peaceful and adventurous as mine!
Just when I said that a baby fish would not be a baby at all, I had a baby fish… ok two! Yesterday my friend Sidney Dana came over to check on my recovery and I showed her my backyard. She looked into my pond and said, “You have baby fish too.” I said, “No… oh my… here is a little fish.” I named her Sidney Dana after her founder. I was hopping for joy. When Sid left I tried calling my friend Brenda (who left a comment on my previous no baby post) and the phone disconnected twice. I then called my sister Deborah to share with her the news of my little baby. I told my husband about it but when he got home Sidney was nowhere to be found. Sidney is a pale fish with big round eyes taking up all of the real estate of the front of her body. I searched and searched… after dinner I saw a dark flicker swim by and I thought I was imagining things… but then I saw the black fish dart by again. I called my husband out and he saw both fish too. My husband said, “Peachy must be the mom.” I said, “No, I am the mom, Peachy is the surrogate.” This morning I read about the crazy things that have to happen for goldfish to reproduce. My post of poor Peachy being relentlessly followed by the male fish is exactly the courting process… it is the pre spawn. When the male nudges the female the eggs are released and then the male fertilizes the eggs. For Sidney Dana to survive, her egg had to go uneaten. Eating eggs is a delicacy for goldfish. I also learned that a baby goldfish is called a fry… so I named the quick black one Small Fry. It will take them about six months to start developing colors… so I hope they live that long. Yay for babies… yay for Peachy… Yay for me! My version of an ultra sound:
I am showing you a picture of my first lily from my lily pad. Such a pretty flower! It was in full bloom when I came home from work but by the time I made it out to photograph it… it was going to sleep for the evening. If you look really hard you can see four of my fish. My they are growing!
The reason for this entry is to think about the future of my flock. I had thought that I would be getting two more baby chicks to raise from near birth. My husband made the cage that we will be able to use to keep the chicks separated from the hens until they are big enough to withstand the pecking order process. Last Sunday my friend who has supplied me with all my chickens said he wants to give away about six eighteen month old hens to make room for his chicks. I am torn. I have never had an animal as a small animal. I have adopted all my dogs at about two years (racing greyhounds) and I met Chester when he was almost three. I don’t know how old my fish are but they aren’t really any different effort from any age. Maybe getting some chicks would break me of my desire to be a mom… at nearly 47 I need to find something to break this… and since this is the anthropomorphic blog… why not give my love to a two week old chick… But alas, it is never the right time. Just like the human form of having a baby never was quite right, taking care of a chick or two with a bad foot does seem a bit problematic. The eighteen month old hens would be so much easier.
It took a while and some research on the web to finally find the method to break Pepe of her broodiness... it is the cage method. You hang the hen in the cage with food and water and the draft helps the hens temperature drop. When it drops enough, the hen will stop brooding. I was really nervous about using in on the hot days but it turned out fine.
We only had to put Pepe in for a little over a day and she was back to hanging out with her sisters. Today I was able to crutch over to their home and give them worms. It was so nice to see them... and I am sure they were excited to see me. Three more weeks until I can take over caring for them again... an eternity for both me and my animals! Oh... and the good news about the cage that my husband made is that it is the perfect size to add some little chicks to our flock. As soon as I can walk I will be getting two more little hens... maybe six if they only come by the half dozen!
We are struggling a bit with Pepe. She is one of my two speckled sussex hens. She has been broody for the past two weeks... and she is keeping the other hens from comfortably laying in the lay boxes. A few times before my surgery I actually saw the other hens laying their eggs on Pepe's head. I have read several "remedies" for a brooding hen... so far none have worked. We have tried putting her in another environment ( a neighbors back yard), we have tried lowering her body temperature by first dunking her in our pond and then showering her with the gentle stream of the garden hose, we have tried putting her into the outer part of the hen run and not allowing her back into the coup... but nothing has worked. I read that if we put her into a hanging cage with a wire bottom, she should stop brooding within three days. We are excited to try this but are now in search of a cage suitable for this task. We currently can't find one for the price we are willing to pay. Keep your fingers crossed... the gentlemen farmer of my backyard farm does not see the need for a hen that not only doesn't lay but is hindering the other hens from laying... we will break you Pepe... I just need to find a cage.
Finally I am outside after recovery from my surgery. My husband and mom have placed me so I can see the majority of my backyard. This is definitely the place in this world I enjoy most. I can see the movement of my hens through their picket fence... but I can't see their expressions. Pepe, one of my Sussex hens, has been brooding for over a week. I have asked that my mom and step daughter bring me Pepe so we can sit and brood together. Maybe sitting with me will break her of her broodiness. To my reader... yes the one and only, thank you for being patient. Hopefully I am back to blogging.
Please meet Prezzemollo. She is one of my Ameraucana hens. She lays the prettiest of my eggs. The eggs are light blue. She is a prolific layer and she is the most relaxed of the hens. When the other hens are practicing for their audition of "Chicken Run - The Sequel" Prezzemollo can be found burrowing her body into the dirt for her bath. Last weekend the two Ameraucana and the two Speckled Sussex hens took a road trip to the neighbors weed patch...while I was gathering them to come home, Prezzemollo made a run for it. She darted through some cast iron fencing. My step-son ran around to try to catch her on the other side but luckily i caught the back end of her before she made it through. Her wing got caught in the fencing and we had to maneuver her back out... ever so gently. It was quite an adventure! We boxed up the hens and put them in the back of the truck. Each hen had her own box. We put Prezzemollo in the back of the truck first. By the time we caught and boxed the next hen Prezzemollo was already out of her box and roaming in the back of the truck. I had a quick flashback of Jurassic Park. We finally had them all in their boxes and decided to stack them so they couldn't get out. However, one bump in the road sent all the boxes sideways. I wonder what amusement ride they thought they were on. We got them home safe and sound. The next day, Prezzemollo laid another one of her beautiful eggs. Thank you Prezzemollo.
The last, but no least, member of my backyard family is Chester. He is a beautiful English Setter who I met when I married my husband. Chester is a bird (and fish) dog. He spends hours slowly sneaking up on the birds that drink from out pond and the squirrels that run along the fences into the trees and hop on our roof. When Chester sets, he is motionless. He could "sneak" up on a bird in about six hours. Chester goes crazy when I am doing my hen chores... he just wishes he could be in the hen house "playing" with the hens. Chester also loves to watch the fish. I don't think he has quite figured out what they do. They catch his attention at dusk when they are most active. When the fish are playing tag, Chester puts his nose so close to the top of the water I am almost certain he is going to fall in. He never does. Chester is a love bug. He hates loud noises and nuzzles me when I seem sad. He loves to run in the hills and his is very picky about food. I am thrilled that I have Chester in my life!
I have seven gold fish in my backyard pods. My ponds are connected through an underground tunnel. There are three bluish grey fish, two orange fish, one white with orange spots and one called Peachy. Every day there are clear turf wars and fish are always changing allegiance. For the past couple of weeks it was always six fish against Peachy. If the six fish were in one pond Peachy was in the other. When the weather started getting hot Peachy was constantly being chased by all the other fish. Today when I got home there was peace. Peachy was in the smaller pond, peacefully swimming with two other fish while four other fish were in the larger pond. Perhaps we have finally gained as much equilibrium as a pond with seven fish
Every morning my routine is the same. I get home from the workout of the day between 6:45 and 7:15. I usually clean the poop out of the hen house so when my hens lay eggs they are clean. I had just finished breaking Pepe of brooding by sending her to a neighbors coop to sit on some eggs so I was used to having a hen in the laying box while I do my morning chores. This morning though, it was Frizzle in the box, not Pepe. I went ahead and started scooping poop. Frizzle got nervous, hopped out of the box and waddled out into coop. I was still scooping when Frizzle poked her head back into the hen house. She looked at me with urgency then to the laying box then back at me. She let out a little cluck saying, "Are you almost done? I can't wait!" I of course thought she was kidding. She is my oldest hen... almost four years old, but I thought of course she can hold her egg in. Frizzle looked outside then back inside. She made her way closer to the laying box and while standing between the door and the lay box let out a cluck and laid her egg. She let out another "I told you so!" cluck and stepped outside into the coop. The egg was still wet with the antibiotic fluid. I guess she showed me!