[Ag-eq] garden, chicks, horses

Fri Apr 26 12:32:45 UTC 2013

Susan:

What all happens at the tomato festival?

Yes, the chicks are getting quite curious.  They swarm me when I come in to feed
and I'm very careful not to step on them.

Yesterday when I went in to refill the water in the big hens run, I found my
Golden Comet dead.  I think she was 4 years old and I don't think she had been
laying much.  She seemed fine Wednesday evening when I fed, so I don't know
what happened.

The broody hen is still sitting on the nestand fluffs up real big when I reach
in to get the eggs.  Yesterday she even tried to peck me.  I thought she wasn't
laying, but there were 4 eggs yesterday, so I guess she did.

The girls have 3 nice nest boxes up in the coop, but 1 likes to lay her eggs in
the corner underneath.  The other all prefer the same nest box.  More than once
I've found 2 hens in the nest box at the same time.

Who knows what's going through their little chicken brains!

Nella

Quoting Susan Roe <dogwoodfarm at verizon.net>:

> Hi Nella,
>
> Your tomatoes are far ahead of anything around here.  Even the commercial
> growers don't have plants in the ground yet.  Our tomatoes don't ripen until
> early July.  That is when we have our anual Hanover Tomato Festival!
>
> Your chicks are at a real fun age.  You can go in their run, sit on their
> crate if it is not too poopie (LOL) and they will be all over you checking
> you out.  When my second flock of black austrolorps from Austrailia were
> about that age, I had 15 hens, they just walked all over me.  I would have
> to be careful not to step on any of them because I always seemed to have 2
> or 3 on my shoes after my shoe strings.  "Oh boy, big fat white worms!"
> They would even run up the latters to the outdoor perches and try and stand
> on my arm holding their scratch bucket up.  You will see them quickly
> develop their own personalities from here on.
>
> Your older hen that wants to set her eggs is what we call a broody hen.
> This is very common whether you have a rooster or not.  She'll snap out of
> it and not be such a fussy layer.  Sometimes I think those hens are trying
> to glue their bottoms on top of the eggs.  I have found that sometimes
> scooting up under their bottoms from the back end makes it easier to sort of
> tip them forward and scoop up the eggs from between their feet.  That coop
> has hen box access from the back of their hen boxes and you do not have to
> go inside their coop.  Of course this does not help when you have a hen or 2
> that insist on laying on the floor in the corner under all the nest boxes.
>
> Susan
> dogwoodfarm at verizon.net
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <nfoster at extremezone.com>
> To: <ag-eq at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, April 24, 2013 10:26 PM
> Subject: [Ag-eq] garden, chicks, horses
>
>
> Yesterday while watering my cherry  tomato plants I found several tiny green
> tomatoes. The rest of the plants are growing and look healthy.  I'm always
> so
> excited about the progress in the garden.
>
> The little chicks are now 7 weeks old and no longer little.  They are
> growing as
> fast as weeds!  They have their own 6 by 12 dog run to chicken around in.
> They
> also have a big wooden crate, which they like to get on top of.
>
> One of the big hens has decided that she wants to hatch out some eggs.  She
> sits
> in the nest box most of the time and complains when I gather the eggs.  We
> no
> longer have a rooster, so she's wasting her time!  I wonder how long she
> will
> keep this up?
>
> On Sunday I rode Cruiser in a 3 hour, horse and rider communication clinic.
> I
> was really nervous because there were more people than I like in the arena.
> Horses and riders kept stopping in front of us and I was worried that we
> would
> get kicked.  Cruiser wasn't relaxed because I wasn't relaxed.  The
> instructor
> spent a lot of time yelling at us; she's known me for a long time and has no
> problems pushing me when I'm being wimpy.  Half way through I relaxed and
> everything got better.  We spent a lot of time practicing smooth turns at
> different speeds and transitioning between gaits.
>
> One of the horses in the clinic was an 18.1 hand warm blood.  He is probably
> the
> biggest horse I've ever seen.  His owner had to use the mounting block with
> 3
> steps instead of the 2 step one.  I was so worried about him kicking us, but
> he
> seemed like a big sweetie.  There were also 2 Tennessee Walkers, a Quarter
> Horse
> and a Thoroughbred.
>
> As usual I loved Cruiser even more by the end of the clinic.  He has come so
> far
> in the 2 years that Mike and I have owned him.  He would be an even better
> horse
> if I were a more confident rider, but we are learning and becoming more
> confident together.
>
> Well I got all the electric fence up, with the help of my wonderful
> neighbor.
> Monty hasn't been out of the yard since the installation.  Yesterday I
> walked
> down the street and he stayed in the yard; usually this is more than he can
> handle.  I will try it again tomorrow.  On Friday we will start obedience
> classes.  Hopefully Monty can be turned into a law abiding citizen!
>
> What is everyone else up to?
>
> Nella
>
>
>
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