May 19, 2013

Not much happening in the rabbitry.  I have 2 broken babies in the box, and they just opened their eyes.  That's about it for news there.

The chickies are growing fast and keeping me busy buying to keep up with them.  I only buy 20 lbs of chick starter at a time so I'm not feeding it longer than necessary.  I kicked the adults out of the pen so the chicks could have the run of it.  I moved the PVC feeder so the outside birds could reach it but I could still fill it from inside the pen.  It's sticking through the chainlink.  Because of the way it's hung, a couple of the feeder holes are inside the pen, and the older chicks are eating big bird food as well as the starter I provide in another feeder.

The oldest ones are getting on the highest roost already.  The one at the front of the line is one of my favs.  He's half Silky, half Cochin.  Super fluffy!

I decided to revive the garden blog.  From now on, garden and nature stuff will go there.  Natureschild Gardenworks

tnt

4.6.13

I got more chicks since the last post.  There's now 9.  First there was another Silky/Cochin and another patterned white.  I raised them alone until they were big enough to join the week older chicks in the big bin.  That went well.  The S/C is different than the 1st one, more gray than brown.  It's so cute!  There's just something about it.  It kinda reminds me of a dwarf.  Round fluffy head and big eyes.  I think it's the sweet eyes that are getting me.

Then I found another Silky/Cochin the same color yesterday.  Just one.  The poor little thing cried and cried all alone in its bin.  Hoping for more real soon so it can have clutch mates.  In the meantime, I moved the 2nd S/C back to keep it company.  It will teach the little one where the water and food is, and if there's more, that one can do the same.

The oldest S/C is now looking like it will have Cochin feathers, but with the head pouf.  That should be adorable!  Can't say for sure what color it or the others are, but I'm going with birchen for now.  The white patterned ones, I don't have a clue.  Their wings and tails are coming in dark and patterned.  Pretty sure about the buffs, but not so sure about the lightest one.  It could turn completely white.  It's a good thing showing birds is not my goal.  My goal was a pretty flock of varied colors and I got that.

I'm starting to guess gender based on comb and wings.  If that's correct I only see 1 or 2 roos.  Good ratio.  The silky things are probably going to throw a wrench in that.  I have no idea how silky combs develop since they are so unlike the cochin combs.  And there's that pouf to hide what's happening.

I've talked before about how I give does more chances.  Many breeders are strict in their "3 strikes and out" rule.  I'm not and it usually pays off.  Babe is the latest doe like this.  No, she hasn't yet given me a litter but she almost did this time.  It was her 4th attempt.  She had 3, one was alive, and I think another might have been at birth.  Since the singleton wasn't a color I wanted, I left it with her to practice her mother skills.  As expected, it died by the next day, most likely to cold.  I take this as a very good sign she'll get it right, and it should be warmer by the time her next litter arrives.  I'm not giving up yet.

Speaking of warmer.  Yeah, not so much.  Spring is so unsouthernly this year.  The cherries in my yard, and the Bradford pears elsewhere (I don't have any) are starting to bloom.  I don't know how these continued frosty mornings are going to affect that.

There's a weed I've come to appreciate.  I believe it's Hen's-bit.   It's a short groundcover that blooms now in reddish-purple.  It's very pretty in the lawn and gardens.  The nice thing about it and why I don't object to it in the gardens is that when it finishes setting seed, it disappears for the rest of the year.  It doesn't take over the garden and it helps suppress other spring weeds.

In the front yard just outside the boundaries of the Bird Garden, muscari (grape hyacinth) has escaped and joined the large swathe of hen's-bit.  There's lovely pops of bright blue scattered among the purple.  I like to plant muscari around the base of daffodils because they bloom at the same time and look wonderful together.  But muscari has a mind of its own and sends seeds wherever it wants.

There's quite a few Peewees flitting around the yard.  Actually, I'm not positive they're Peewees   They might be Phoebes.  According to my book, Peewees are smaller and have a prominent crest where Phoebe is shown with a smooth head.  These have a crest.  Without seeing and hearing (calls are similar) them both at the same time, it's hard for me to say.  I'll go with Peewee until proven otherwise.

Anyways, there's more Peewees than I've seen before.  They seem to be looking for a place to nest.  They're looking real hard at the wind-wrecked shed.  I hope they don't go there.  I've set up a guy to tear it down next week.  Oddly, they also seem to be looking somewhere under the gutter on the back of the house.  The only thing they could possibly build on there is the light fixture on the wall.

There were a couple Rufous-sided Towhees under the feeder a week ago.  That's always a pleasure because I hardly ever see them, but they sometimes appear for a short time in the spring.  Mockingbirds have been cleaning up the nandina berries.  I don't see any other birds eating these berries.  I love mockingbirds.  They're the quintessential southern bird to me, and their songs are wonderful.  They don't really stick around here all year.  I don't know why.  For a long time, I only saw them in the spring, but in town, they were more common than robins.  I guess they're city birds.  But the last few years, I see more for a longer period.

There was some grossness this week.  I noticed crows in the backyard and when I watched more closely, I saw them carry off what looked like red meat.  Went out to investigate and found some fur near the house.  Abby the cat often eats her kills in that area, and unfortunately, doesn't always finish it.  Going by the fur, and the size of the meat the crows were taking, it was a cottontail.  I don't know how it ended up scattered all over the yard far from the fur, but since the crows were cleaning it up, that worked for me.

Another gross thing.  I found some yuck on the porch.  It looked like cat food and snake.  Yeah, half of a little snake.  I wouldn't think there were snakes out and about this early, especially when it's been so cold, but that's what it was.  I've noticed Abby often pukes after eating her ration of cat food and then a kill.  Time to cut back on cat food.

Supposed to be real nice this weekend.  Hope it stays that way from now on.  I need to get stuff done outside, and it has to be warm enough.  I could handle the coolth for working outside, but my sinuses can't.  My nose runs like a faucet if it's less than 60.  That can turn into a full-blown sinus attack and I'll be down and miserable until it's over.  So I wimp out and only spend a short time outside until it's warmer.  So come on, Spring!  Get warmer!

tnt

Chicks, man.

Fun!  In the last post, I mentioned a chick that was found later in the day after the first 5.  This is it.

It's a bit lighter than the other patterned one.  A thing I noticed was that its beak is colored.  The other one, even though it's darker, has a pink beak.  Got me wondering sooo.....

Looky there...5 toes.  I think this is a Silky Cochin.  Silkies have black skin which is why the colored beak caught my eye.  That's definitely possible, I have the one partridge Silky hen.  I got rid of all the other odd breeds so my Cochins could mingle freely, but decided I didn't mind if there were Silky/Cochin crosses.  Can't wait to see what this looks like later.

Got a better idea of colors and maybe sexes.  Looks like 2 buffs, 1 white, 1 birchen (the aforementioned darker patterned), and the white patterned one.  I think now that it will be patterned and not pure white (yay!) because the wing feathers are coming in very dark.  And whatever color the Silky Cochin is.  I'll say birchen or partridge.  Cool!  Lots of pretty colors.  As to sexes, I'm using a hint I read that the ones that have wing feathers at hatch or before others are hens.  If so, got plenty of those in this little clutch.  We'll see how accurate that is later.

A friend blogged about how she raises chicks.  Thought I'd talk about how I do it.  This might not work for anyone who raises a large number of chicks but it works for my small scale operation.  I can raise 6-8 bantam chicks at time in this smaller bin.  I have had more, but it does get crowded after a while.  I do have 2 of these so I can split them up if necessary.

This is set up in a back bedroom.  I like having it near to keep an eye on things.  I'm changing water several times a day for the first few days because the water dish is so small.  There's actually stages for the dishes.  The first day or so, the water is in a small plastic jar lid.  They can't drown in it.  Once they are drinking and walking well, I move up to a small pet dish.  I think it was meant for hamsters or something.  It's flared at the bottom like a dog dish so it won't tip over.  The food dish is a shallow plastic thing.  I don't remember what it was originally.

I start the chicks on newspaper at first.  I know this isn't recommended because it can cause leg problems as the chicks move around on the slippery paper, but it hasn't been a problem for me.  They are only on the paper for 3 days.  I discovered I hated raising them on shavings.  I tried shavings on top of paper, and it ended up in the water and food dish.  I was cleaning out the water dish too many times a day.  And it got stinky real fast.  I tried a piece of wire on top of shavings to keep it from being kicked around and that was a little better but still way too smelly.  There is also a risk the chicks could become trapped under the wire.  That happened with the guinea keets.

After 3 days, they're strong enough to go on wire.  I made the insert to fit inside the bin.  It's rabbit floor wire on the bottom with plastic mesh forming the sides.  I had the mesh for something else and it's too small for them to get their heads stuck.  I just put paper under the insert.  Perfect!  No fouled water or food, and it's so much easier to clean.  I just pick up the insert, chicks and all, and replace the paper.  There's a flange on the floor wire to hold it a little above the paper, and they can reach the paper to peck at food that falls there.  They also graduate to the large water crock and chick feeder.  After a couple weeks, they will move into the larger bin which also has a custom insert.  That one has a hinged top as well.  You'd be surprised how high chicks can jump once their wings grow out.

The heat lamp is used for as long as I think the chicks need it.  Usually 2-3 weeks, but that depends on the weather.  When it gets warm outside, the room is also warmer.  The bulb is just a 60 watt household bulb.  It's puts out enough heat, and I always have some on hand.  If the chicks aren't huddled under it or shivering, they're warm enough.  If I see them panting, it's definitely too hot and I'll either reposition the lamp or remove it.  I keep them in the house for a while longer without the lamp.

If all goes well weather-wise, I move the big bin out to the rabbit barn when the chicks are well-feathered.  It has to be consistently above freezing at night before I'll move them out.  By this time, I'm over having them in the house because the odor is too strong.

After they've acclimated to the barn and outside temps,  they'll go out in the pen in the transition cage.  This is an old 24x24 rabbit cage.  I flipped it over so the bottom is the larger gauge wire on the top of the cage.  This gives the chicks access to the dirt under the cage.  The first thing they do when they realize there's dirt is dust bathe.  It's kind of comical to see how much they wanted that dust bath.  I guess under more natural conditions, they would have it much sooner.  They are also ready to perch so there's one in the cage.  I move the cage every day to give them clean dirt underneath.  This also saves feed.  If they scatter it on the ground, and they will, they can easily clean it up.  I give feed in an old rabbit J-feeder, and water in a clamp-on parrot cup.  They stay in the cage until I think they are big enough to be allowed out into the pen.  Then I open the cage door so they can come and go as they please.  They return to it to eat, drink, and roost, and also to escape the older birds.  The pen is kept closed during this time which means most of the adults have to stay out.  They get used to getting their feed and water outside the pen, although a broody hen might be locked up with the chicks because that's where the nestboxes are.

I'm in the process of converting an old 4 foot dog cage into a better chick cage.  They'll be able to live in that for longer, and I can take it out on the grass.  The chickies will enjoy that.  Photos when I finish it.

tnt

This week at SCG

So this happened yesterday.

What is wrong with spring this year?!  I haven't seen such a crappy March since I've been here.  It's not even the snow, that's not a big deal here, it's the cold.  I'm tired of being cold, and I've got things to do outside.  This is what spring is like in Michigan, and I moved down here to get away from that.

My poor daffs have been frozen and snowed on so many times.  They've been blooming since the middle of February!

This is also the first time in 9 years I've had spring fever.  For me, the main symptoms of spring fever are depression and sometimes unreasonable pissed-offness.  In MI, you get teased and denied spring weather well into May, and it's rough on the mood.  Here, reliably good weather comes early enough that I don't have time to get depressed about it.  Or at least it did until this year.  I get through February by believing that March will be much better, but here it is the end of March and it still looks and feels like February.  I am not content these days.

In other news.

Buffy hatched these little pretties on Sunday.  At first, there was 5, and then I found another later that day.  I can take a guess about colors.  The solid blondies are probably buff and/or white.  The lightest patterned chick (top right) might be white, too, but I hope not.  One of Buffy's last year started out a lot like that and then became pure white.

The 2 darker patterned ones might not be Buffy's.  The hens share nests.  I think they're birchens.  There's 2 birchen hens and the only roos are birchen and red.  Red is the alpha roo, but I've seen Bert hit on a hen when Red wasn't looking.

This is Buffy and her last clutch last year.  Sadly, none survived to maturity.

The other hens are sharing the other boxes and there have been PILES of eggs since early February!  What happens to them all?  It's been so freezing cold, any eggs that I don't see hens sitting on for any length of time get tossed over the fence into the field for the crows.  Yeah, the crows eat them.  A friend mentioned that she tossed "bad" eggs out into the yard for the crows.  Shortly after that, I saw my crows carrying off the eggs they found over there.  I suppose I could eat some of those eggs, but again, they've probably been frozen.  I'll only eat eggs I find fresh and I can't tell which those are when several new eggs appear in each nest every day.  When it gets to be too many, I toss them.  How many is too many?  I have chucked close to 2 dozen at a time, leaving 4 or so to keep the hens laying in the box.  That's a PILE!

Buffy is still sitting on 6 eggs that haven't hatched yet.  I'm not sure if they're bad, or if they're younger.  I did move some from the pile in another box to her clutch.  I'm also thinking about moving some more that way since she's my proven broody.  At this time, there's always 2 hens hunkered down in that other box at the same time and they get quite pissed if I try to see what's going on under them.  Buffy doesn't get as angry about it.

I also learned another thing about hens.  They talk to their babies.  The day I discovered Buffy's had hatched, she was softly clucking.  A sound I hadn't heard any other time.  Sure enough, when I gently picked her up, there were chicks under her.  So now I know how to tell eggs have hatched.  I had also jotted a note about when I expected them to hatch based on when she went broody.  I was spot on, BTW.

In rabbit news, not much new.  I have to get pictures of Daydreamer's 2 little boys.  They are about 5 weeks old now.  The keeper is a nicely broken silver marten.  Not crazy about the fact that he's a silver marten, but I'll see how he grows up.  The other is an otter "hotot".  That's what I call it when they only have color on the eyes and ears.  He's the one with the type of course!  He's way too cute for something I really can't use.  I'm almost tempted to keep him for a pet, except that I can't justify keeping bunnies for that reason.  I'll see how I feel about it when someone hits me up for a pet when he's ready to go.  Been getting the usual Easter bunny inquiries, but I have nothing else available.

Baroquen's 3 are doing well and they are all nicely broken black otters.  The other doe that was due right after her failed, but she actually did pretty well for a 1st-timer.  The kits weren't mangled or stretched which is a good sign for success in the future.  Next litters are due in about 2 weeks.  Sure hope the weather gets better by then!

tnt

Oooh, what's that smell?

Late last night, I was awakened by a strong odor and Whipper carrying on.  In my sleepy fog, it took me a while to identify the smell.  I knew it, just couldn't put my finger on it right away.  Oh yeah...skunk.  It wasn't wake-up-choking strong, that's actually happened to me before.  Many years ago, I awoke gagging with streaming eyes because something that had been sprayed was right under my bedroom window which was open because it was a warm night.  There is nothing like being that close to skunk spray!  Last night was more like the sorta burnt odor you catch in your car when you go by roadkill.  In fact, when I first woke up to it, I was trying to place it as something burning.  It was still strong enough that the skunk must have been very close to my house which is closed up because it's cold out.

Since the odor wasn't debilitating and eventually faded, I think it was coming from the skunk itself (they often carry the odor), not actual spray.  I was worried Whipper had been sprayed but luckily not.  I don't think he has any experience with skunks, and I really hope the odor made him think twice about messing with it.

When I was touring houses with my real estate agent, the subject of wildlife pests came up.  She said skunks were the main ones.  Turns out that wasn't the case where I settled in.  Raccoons and coyotes are the main pests here.  This is the first time there's been any evidence of skunk in the 8 years I've been here.  Really hope it was just passing through.

Here's another skunky story from my past.  I was living in a single-wide mobile home.  We had built skirting from T1-11 (grooved plywood) and tacked fiberglass insulation to the inside.  This was Michigan, you needed every bit of help against frozen pipes.  We included a couple of access doors in the skirting because you do need to get under there.  I used to store stuff in the one in back.  One day I opened it to put some stuff in and was shocked to see a skunk curled up all cozy in the insulation it had pulled down!  Whoa!  It sleepily looked up at me and I immediately shut the door before it woke up fully.  It left, I think that night, and I scattered mothballs in that space and any other access points I found in the skirting.  Mothballs really do work to repel many pests.

Another time, my neighbors were all excited when I came home from work because they saw a skunk and 3 little ones go under my house.  They insisted I get the park manager to set a live trap.  I said oh no...I DO NOT want to piss off a mother skunk under my house!  Since this happened in broad daylight, I was sure she'd take her little family elsewhere after dark and I was right.

I posted this to Facebook, but I'll talk about it more here.

This is a better chicken feeder.  I've seen variations of this online, and one guy on Craiglist was selling them for $35.  I made it for about $18.  It's 2" PVC pipe and fittings.  I wonder if anyone wondered what I was doing in Lowes as I picked and tried parts to see what would work.

It was my hope that it would minimize waste and it did.  The hopper style feeder I was using just wasn't very efficient that way.  Too much feed ended up on the ground, and to force the birds to clean it up, I had to leave the feeder empty for a day.  This rig is harder for them to scatter it around.  I used my little Dremel tool to cut the holes and sand the edges smooth.  The 45 degree elbow is attached with a couple screws in each end because the weight caused it to fall off.  I didn't glue it so I could take it apart if necessary.  I left the end fitting loose to make cleanout easier.  There's holes drilled in the bottom for drainage in case water gets in it.

I added this fitting to the top to serve as a funnel.  There's a heavy end cap sitting inside although it might not really be necessary.  I thought it would help with any rain that might hit it since it doesn't go all the way up under the roof.  Rain doesn't usually drive in from that East side.

I had to make an adjustment in the design since I took these pix.  Feed wasn't coming down on its own.  I had to reach into the elbow with a tool to scrape it down into the feeder part.  It was about the angle.  I added a block behind the top to create more incline in both ends.  I also recut the hole at the elbow so the birds could reach the feed laying at the bottom of the elbow.  That fixed that, it's now coming down properly.

Not much going on with the bunnies.  I have a litter due from a 1st-timer but so far no signs she's nesting.  The rest are due next week.  I had to pass on Spartanburg because of the ice storm.  I've only missed it one other time due to weather, and that time the club cancelled it because of the snow that happened over the whole region.  I heard they delayed it a couple hours this year to give everyone more time to be safe on the roads.  I believe all of us Tennesseans opted out rather than risk icy mountains.

It was a good thing I stayed home.  I don't remember this much accumulated ice since I've been here.  It's usually either rain or snow...too warm or too cold for freezing rain.  I expected the power to go out but happily it didn't.

I'm going to try for Fairview the end of this month, and definitely Dalton next month.  My favorite jr doe (Fairlane) went senior weight but I still like her a lot so I do want to show her and her sis at some point soon.  Fairlane might be a BUD but I don't think so.  She's not humongous and her ears are 2".  I think she's just a big boned gal which is a good thing.

Even though it's been a relatively mild winter, I've had enough cold.

39 days until spring!

tnt

Rain rain rain rain rain

Never let up yesterday and still raining this morning.  It is so gooshy out there.  I almost went down yesterday while walking from the barn.  Really gotta be careful with well-worn rubber clogs on slick mud.  So glad I had the gravel driveway put in last year.  I probably wouldn't be able to get out, let alone get back in.  The last heavy rain about a week ago was the first time since I put it in that there was standing water on the low spot, but it's no biggy now.  The gravel is solid and grippy under the tires.  I'm sure there will be even more water by the time this system moves on.

Finally got all the does bred!  Mano...every single one was frigid!  I admit I didn't try every day so I might have missed their receptive days if they had one during that time, but still pretty frustrating.  The exceptionally warm weather this week motivated me to make a sincere effort, and every doe responded.  Almost every doe.  Every doe I tried.  I'm keeping one just turned senior open for shows this month and next.  I'll get her the next round.  Also didn't breed Broken Dream because she's for sale.

The other day, I realized I hadn't seen Silky.  Searched the yard for evidence and found nothing.  I did find a skull and bones out back, but they're so clean and white, it couldn't be her.  She hadn't been missing that long.  I have no idea who that was.  It must have been there under summer growth and only just now became visible.  Tried to think when I last saw Silky but realized I hadn't counted heads for a few days.  Probably due to the weather, or the fact that I've been keeping feed in the hopper for the winter.  They don't mob me for food every time I go outside, and if it's crappy out, I don't spend much time looking for them.  They hunker down under big plants when it's like that.

The day after I missed her, there she was at the water bowl in the early morning when I looked out the window.  She had a long drink and looked extra fluffy and perky.  Then she dashed into the Summer House to grab a bite.  And then dashed out and around the backside (unpenned) part of the carport.  All signs she's broody!  I hurried out to see where she went but she had disappeared by the time I got there.  Still haven't caught her in the act, but I think she's under the tractor's mower deck.  There isn't any other place back there to hide a chicken.  I had raised the deck and chute when I parked it there for the winter and apparently that's just enough room for a broody little hen.  But I can't see her under there.  I've found a few eggs in the yard here and there pretty much all winter.  I replenished the nesting boxes with hay and placed some fake eggs in each one.  Hope that gets them using the boxes.  The only hen old enough to remember using the boxes is Buffy and I happened to catch the red roo mounting her the other day.  Hope she shows the others the way.

In nature, this happened.

This is unusual because while I might see the occasional Great Blue Heron flying in the distance, I've never seen one here, and certainly not perched.  This one apparently startled the neighbor's dogs.  I don't think they knew what they were carrying on about, maybe they heard the wing beats.  It's a BIG bird and would make a fair bit of noise in flight.  I looked out to see what was the fuss, and this bird was flying low circles over the yard near the creek.  Then it landed in the top of a tree above the creek and sat there long enough for me to grab the camera and attempt to capture it.  Again, love my new camera.  This was so far away, I could barely see it with my naked eye.  Most of the shots were too blurry but this one was good enough to share.

In other nature news, I think I've finally foiled the cat.  Abby is good!  She's an excellent ratter, and too good at bird hunting.  She launches straight up and snatches birds off the feeders.  Grrr.  I attached cage wire to the bottoms of bird feeders which did spoil her aim for a while, but she is really GOOD.  At this time, I'm only filling the one feeder in the front garden, and she has honed her skills to where the wire isn't stopping her as well.  When I found too much evidence that she was taking birds again, I tried something else.  I made a barrier with some cheapo folding garden fence I had on hand.  I set it out far enough from the pole that she can't get good aim from that angle.  Of course she can walk right through the fence to wait under the feeder.  I knew that and thought about attaching chicken netting to the fence to prevent her from doing that.  Figured she'd just jump over it (it's about 3' tall).  Laid some more wire across the top of the fence so she can't jump from inside, and I do believe that has put a stop to that.  The added benefit is that the ground feeders like cardinals and juncos seem to feel more secure with cover over head.  They are spending a lot more time under the feeder cleaning up dropped seed.  I love watching my birds so I'm glad I can continue to feed them without putting them at risk.

Been trying to deal with a mess.  Wicked windstorm just before Xmas blew off the entire tin roof of the old shed.  This is the barnwood-slat thing that was here when I moved here.  In its defense, the roof was hanging on by threads and it was just a matter of time.  Mostly I just stored junk in it.  A lot of junk that, you know, never know when you might need it.  I don't even like to go in there during summer.  Hornets and spiders and snakes, oh my.  It was sort of an annual ritual to go in and straighten it up after enough cold weather had removed the creepy crawlies.  The rest of the time, stuff just got thrown in any old where so I didn't have to go into it any farther than necessary.

Thankfully the wind didn't blow it where it could do more damage, like my house or rabbit barn.  It did land on the carport but the next gust blew it down to the ground.  I decided it wasn't worth fixing it.  Hoping I can find someone to tear it down for the salvage.  I can offer a lot of scrap metal for payment.  There's an old lean-to type of barn at the back of the property that has been coming down little by little in every wind storm.  That thing is like my own personal dump.  I throw stuff up there that I don't know if the community dump will take it.  A LOT of scrap metal back there.  Before I can have the shed torn down, I have to go through what's in there and decide what to keep and where to put it.  Trying to do that when weather permits.  It has to be warm enough for me to work outside and not raining because...well...no roof.

tnt

Whipper

I just felt like devoting a post to him.  Whipper is a Smooth Collie, now about 8 years old.  I got him in Michigan just before I moved here.  He was about 4 months at the time, and came from a show breeder.  He is the best dog I've ever had.

Whipper is the guardian of the place.  It's mostly a night shift job because his main nemesis's are raccoons and coyotes.  Since I fenced the backyard, the birds and rabbits are completely protected from either of these predators.  He has a cozy doghouse on the porch with a thick bed in it, but I bring him inside on cold mornings (I'm up stupid early).

What prompted me to write about him is a behavior I occasionally see.  Smooths are rather rare in this country.  In the UK where they originated, they were the working collies where the Roughs became the more common companion dogs in the US.  However, Whipper doesn't have much opportunity to display his heritage as a herding dog here.  Except sometimes.

When he gets riled by something, he tears up and down the yard barking.  What does he get riled about?  Noise in the forest.  Often instigated by the neighbor's dogs (who run loose), but sometimes he starts it.  Any crashing noise in the woods puts him on high alert.  It could be a coon scrabbling in a tree, or coyotes running through the underbrush, or maybe even a bear.  I've never seen a bear but I've seen scat so I know they are there.  I can put him on alert by saying "Coon!".  He's so sensitive to this kind of noise, even chainsaw work sets him off.  Branches or trees crashing down, it's all the same to him.  Something is in the forest.   

When he gets fired up like this, that's when I see what I believe to be his herding instincts.  As he's running up and down the yard, he makes a quick little jog at whatever chickens are in the vicinity.  He lowers his head at the bird, and to someone who doesn't know him, it might look like an attack.  I think he's actually herding them to safety.  "Run to cover!".  He swings away from the bird as soon as it moves out of his way.

Most of the time, he ignores the birds, and I'm not the least bit worried he will hurt them.  They don't fear him and will peck the ground all around him when he's laying in the grass.  There was a time this summer when a rooster was annoying him while he was relaxing in the grass.  The bird kept trying to peck his front feet.  I don't know why the bird was so fascinated by his feet.  Whipper bared his teeth and swung his head at the bird, but that was all it was...a warning.  "Leave me alone, you annoying little chit."  

He's not what I'd call a guard dog in regards to people.  He doesn't bark when someone comes up to the house, although I wish he did.  He might bark at a passing car but not all the time.  We don't get much traffic back here other than the people who live here, so he knows who belongs and who doesn't.  The mail and paper carriers are the only other daily traffic and he doesn't react to them either.  Unlike the neighbor's dogs who are kind of stupid that way.  They chase my car, and the mail and paper carriers...pretty much everybody but their own people.

If there was one thing I don't like about Whipper it's his intense fear of thunderstorms.  I blame it on an incident a couple years after I moved here as he had never exhibited this fear before.  That July, the neighbors were shooting off fireworks.  Whipper wasn't confined to the yard, I hadn't put in the fence yet so he had the run of the place, and he spent a lot of time over there.  I didn't like it, but tying him up wasn't a good option so I didn't.  He actually learned his guardian skills from their dogs (different dogs back then), so it was good in that respect.  Anyways, he disappeared for a day and half.  I don't know where he went.  I looked for him but didn't find him in the area.  When he came back, whoever had him obviously meant to keep him.  They had given him a bath.  I could smell the shampoo.  I was so happy to see him again (couldn't help thinking "Lassie Come Home".), I tried tying him up, but that just doesn't work very well here.  It was shortly after that I invested in the fence.  And ever since, he's terrified by thunder, and gets anxious about gunshots.  I don't allow him to become a "velcro dog" when he gets like this because it just makes me tense (I don't like violent thunderstorms either).  He goes off to his "cave" under the back deck.  I don't know why he feels safe there, he gets wet when he could stay dry in his house on the covered porch.

Whipper is showing his age a little but not so much I think about the day he's gone.  He's getting a little gray about the muzzle and looks a bit stiff after laying down for awhile, but other than that he's pretty spry.  I try not to think about it.

tnt

November

I have babies!  Yay.  It's been awhile since I had anything to talk about in the rabbitry, let alone litters.

Baroquen x Smith's Lou had 4 nicely broken blacks just an hour ago.  I was so pleased to see the entire litter is broken and all have very good pattern.  I was hoping there would be chocolate, but I'll take it.  I'm actually surprised there were no chocolates since she threw it in her last litter without trying.  I was trying this time...Lou is lilac.  Also pleased the litter is live and healthy.  It's been 4 months since I bred any does so I was prepared for failure.  Good girl, Baroquen!  I didn't look to see if they are otters or selfs.  Being broken, it might be a couple days before I can tell.  Would be very helpful if the Smith's bucks carry self.

It took a while to get the rest of the does bred so the next round isn't due for 2 weeks.  I still have one who will not lift.  I had to do a lot of shuffling around to get the others bred.  No one was cooperating, so I moved the does to a different cage everyday until they did.  It's not working on the frigid one so I'll take her for a ride the next time I go to town.

It was such a great year for daylilies.  Mild winter, plenty of rain and sunshine through spring and summer, and now still mild in November.  Best bloom I can remember in a long long time.  What really amazed me is that a couple varieties not known for reblooming did just that.

Like this one.  This is Golden Gate and it has never ever rebloomed.  It's been kicking out flowers for the last month.  It's usual bloom period is early in the season (May-June) and then it's done.  Even had 1st frost yesterday and the buds still opened today.  Oh yeah, didn't get 1st frost until yesterday.

There's a few other blooms as well.  The pink Knock-Out rose has some, and the white coneflower sent up more buds that started to open.  I think the frost stopped them which made for an interesting flower.  The petals look like toothpicks sticking out of the cone.  I tried to get it with the camera when I got the daylily but I think my camera is dying.  It gets harder and harder to get decent pictures.  Seriously considering a new one in the near future.  Other flowers are still coming but that frost should put a stop to that.

Didn't get the snow they went on about out of hurricane Sandy.  It spit some mixed with a fine misty rain that day but that's all it amounted to.  I guess the highest elevations got quite a bit.  How odd that I had snow before Michigan.

I finally sold the 3 odd breed hens at a TSC parking lot animal swap a few weeks ago.  Now I don't have to worry about cross-breeds in hatches next year.  That leaves me with 8 cochins (2 roos, 6 hens), and the Silky hen.  I'll probably bring in more next spring.  I have a line to a breeder who has Mille Fleur cochins (pretty!), and I might try a hatchery order to get the colors I want.

tnt

This & That 8.28.12

In the rabbitry:  The sell-down went well.  After the last of them are delivered, I'll have 7 broken black does and a solid chocolate doe.  That's right...no bucks right now....but I'll be getting 1 or 2 new ones very soon.  In the meantime, I'm cleaning out and rearranging the barn so I'm not in a big hurry to breed does.  Everybody is out in the Summer House so I don't even have to think about running a fan or leaving the door open in the barn.  Part of the plan is to keep the numbers low enough that every bunny will move outside for summers from now on.  Better for them, better for me.

The new program will be strictly brokens.  Most likely chocolate and dilute will be part of it since most of the does carry one or the other.  I have a handle on broken pattern, now I'll concentrate on type and for that, I'll need some seriously nice solid bucks.  Which I am getting.  I won't be going to very many shows while I work on this.

And now a short intermission to show off the current stars of the gardens.

Crape Myrtle and Althea (aka Rose of Sharon).  This is the view from my computer desk and I also see it from the window over the kitchen sink.  The pink thing in the foreground is a dwarf Joe Pye Weed.  The native species grows wild all along the road but it has never transplanted successfully.  So I bought this smaller domesticated version several years ago.  Butterflies love it.  I'm going to dig up some splits to add to the Porch View Garden.

This is the Porch View Garden that I've been revamping all summer.  Everything came from somewhere else in the yard.  You might remember when I posted it in progress in the spring, there were a couple more overgrown miscanthus (the large dark green grass behind the pink althea on the right).  They were removed (not easily!) to make room for more diversity and butterfly flowers.  I still want to transplant some groundcovers, but mostly it's finished for now.  I say for now because perennial gardens are never really finished.

This scene was so tranquil and pretty.  That's the Summer House on the right.  The yellow in the middle is an enormous perennial sunflower but I can't remember just which one it is except that its cultivar name is "Lemon Queen".  I have to move it (I want that box it's in for something else) but have no idea where to put it.  I'll think of something.  Everything else in that box needs to go elsewhere, too.

In chicken news:  Sadly, too many more losses.  Poochy, my favorite mottled roo disappeared.  It was very mysterious.  He was there in the morning at least until noon.  In the late afternoon he was gone.  I found a few mottled feathers over beside the fence where they often root around, but not enough to be evidence of foul play.  In fact, he and the other older roos are molting which could explain the few feathers I found.   I think I may have solved the mystery.

About a week ago, I caught my littlest red hen outside the back gate.  A very dangerous place for a small critter to be (resident fox!).  She was just poking around back there in the undergrowth as though it was perfectly normal.  I realized she could fit through the gap at the bottom of the gate, and must have been doing it for a while.  I used to have a piece of wire there but it had got bent back by the mower.  So I put it back and then she got out again!  So I watched all day to see what she was doing and finally caught her at it.  She was squeezing through the even smaller gap on the hinge side.  So I added wire there as well and that seems to have stopped it.  I now think Poochy followed her out there before I discovered what they were doing.  He was small enough to fit through the first gap.  It never occurred to me at the time he went missing to look back there.  She knew how to get back in quickly but maybe he didn't and was out there all night, and then he was gone.

I also lost the mottled blue cockerel that I was excited about and all 3 of the partridges.  They just up and died of unknown causes.  I was pretty heartbroken by all of these losses.  All that's left of Poochy and Buffy's last hatch is 2 pullets (white and black).

It's been really beautiful for weeks.  Almost too nice, it hasn't rained in over 2 weeks.  A bit too hot in the high afternoon but mornings and late afternoons are just right.

tnt

Bio-diversity

The latest issue of Backyard Poultry has a great article about how you can keep poultry for next to nothing in feed costs.  Homesteaders know this, it's the way our great grandparents kept chickens.  I really recommend this magazine to all backyard flocksters.  I've been taking it for awhile, and learn something new in every issue.  This particular article wasn't really something new for me, it just validated what I've been thinking all along.  It also gave me ideas for how it can be done with limited space and freedom.  As a gardener and nature-watcher, I understand how bio-diversity works.  It's the key to successfully raising chickens on a natural diet.  In this case, natural means for free.

I'm lucky that I have a lot of space and freedom.  So much that I can even support multiple roosters.  They have the room to work out their pecking order and room to avoid each other, and nobody cares if they crow.  A large part of the yard is fenced with 5' chainlink, and one of the reasons I settled on bantam cochins is because they aren't likely to fly over that fence.  As long as they stay inside the fence they're safe (nothing bigger than a rat gets in without Whipper knowing) and they have nearly unlimited natural food.  They don't need much from me.  I've set up roosts under the carport behind the rabbitry and that's where they spend the night, and they dash there when it rains.  There's several bowls of water around the yard, for the birds as well as dog and cat.  I do give them some daily feed.  This is either laying pellets or cheap mixed birdseed with cracked corn.  This is mostly as a treat to keep them tame and friendly.  They get more during winter when insects aren't available, but here in the south, there's always something green and growing, and many ground-dwelling organisms are active all winter.  My very 1st chicken was an obnoxious rooster who annoyed me so much, I quit feeding him at all in hope he'd just go away.  He thrived in beautiful condition through all seasons and was as ornery as ever.  I had to give him away to get rid of him.

So what's happening in my yard that makes it so perfect for chickens?  I'm a perennial gardener and have extensive gardens all over the place.  I've been landscaping since the day I moved here.  Literally.  I brought a lot of perennials from my MI garden, and they went in the ground almost immediately.  Natural habitat has grown up all along the fence, and I don't care that it's untrimmed and messy.  You can barely see the fence except at the gates and I like that.  The lawn is not manicured in any way other than mowing it, and it's made up of a lot of different native plants.  The gardens provide protective cover and shade for the birds.  I don't use any chemicals or pesticides other than Round-Up to keep garden edges neat and eliminate the need to trim hard to mow areas.  The diversity of plant life encourages a multitude of animal life...insects, worms, etc.  I dump rabbit manure directly on gardens which invites more life.  There's a lot going on in my yard.  It's highly bio-active, and chickens fit right in.

So how can a flockster (love that word, I found it in BYP) with less space and freedom provide more natural "free" food for their birds?  There's the obvious ways that can be found on most homesteading sites.  But if you're not a flower gardener or nature-watcher like me, you might not think about bio-diversity.  You should.

Someone in a limited situation might choose the chicken tractor method.  A portable coop that gives the birds fresh pasture on a regular basis.  This is a great option, but you have to think about the pasture underfoot.  Mowed lawn is not going to provide much more than entertainment for the chickens.  New grass, maybe a few bugs or worms but they will clean it out in no time, and if you leave them there long enough, you end up with a barren patch of ground that doesn't provide anything.  Instead, think about how you can allow some overgrown areas.  Let a patch the size of your coop go unmowed for a while.  It needs time to develop a mini habitat, including letting plants go to seed.  You could even seed the areas with self-sustaining forage such as grain or legume plants.  I suggest at least 3 areas per coop.  This works like a 3-stage compost bin.  There's the "new" part, the "cooking" part, and the "done" part.  When the birds have created a new part (depleted it), move them to the done part and let the others cook.  In fact, these areas could also be used for composting.  Throw all the things you would toss on the compost pile (including rabbit manure) in these areas instead.  Decaying vegetation provides a lot of animal life for the pecking, and the birds work the compost pile for you.

If you have a vegetable garden, it could be part of the layout.  Let some areas around the garden grow up, and do double duty as compost piles.  You could even fence each area so you can just put your birds in a done part.  You'd want to include shelter as part of a permanent layout.  And of course, the garden itself can provide excellent foraging.  You could build narrow runs that fit between rows and tractor them along.  The birds will do the weeding.  Toss the weeds they couldn't reach in the cooking parts.  After the harvest, leave the garden debris right there and let the chickens have at it.  Add finished compost from the working areas.  They'll turn all that into rich soil for next year's garden, as well as adding their manure to the mix. You might not even need to till it...it's all done and ready to go in the spring.  Free food for the birds, and other than moving the coop around, it's free labor for you.

Bio-diversity.  Think about it.  Chickens that are pastured to save feed costs need it.

tnt

7.24.12

I'll start off with rabbits.  I know, haven't talked about them much lately.  Not a lot was happening there and the chickens have been more entertaining.

I got a surprise in the nestbox.  I had bred the new Smith's himi buck to broken Baroquen.  I knew it was a risk because she carries himi.  I don't recommend broken x himi, but I'm prepared to deal with the broken himis that come out of it.  Baroquen herself was out of himi x broken.  I do it for type and at that time and this time, a himi buck had needful type parts.


So there are 2 kits, almost 3 weeks old.  A nicely broken black and what I thought was a siamese sable.  Didn't really expect that, but shaded from any of my lines doesn't surprise me.  As the kits grew, the sable wasn't looking right.  I realized it's a chocolate!  Now that is just plain strange.  Not strange from Baroquen, I knew she probably carried it, but how did the himi get the chocolate gene?  That's very rare in himis since they are usually herded with shadeds and shaded breeders avoid the chocolate gene (if they're wise).  Can't wait to tell the Smiths what lurks in that line.


One of my pet peeves is when clueless breeders label a brownish himi as chocolate when it's obviously a faded black himi.  Now I have an opportunity to actually work with chocolate himis.  Do I want to?  I don't know.  I have a few young does in the wings that will not be compatible with this.  I could cut the herd even harder to eliminate those other colors and just work the himis straight.  And maybe bring back the broken chocolates.  My foundation broken herd included chocolate.  I'll be thinking about this.  BTW, the little choc kit is looking promising.  That might have a lot of say.


In the weanlings, I ended up with way too many himi bucks.  Some of those are promising so we'll see.  There's only 1 himi doe in all those litters and she's looking broody, and maybe a black carrying himi.  Haven't sexed that one for sure yet.  One of the nicest bucks has me a bit puzzled.  One of his front feet is extremely light.  I've never seen that before.  His color isn't impressive to begin with but he's young and it's hot so I'm not worrying about that right now.  But one nearly white foot worries me.  I hope it's just a weird heat related molt thing.  And no, this one is not out of broken so that's not it.


It's interesting that most of the other himis are displaying pretty good color in this heat.  2 others the same age as that one have strong black points.  All the weanlings are still in the barn where it's much hotter.  Bruin (out in the Summer House) has suddenly begun to develop dark color.  He never had it before, his color was pretty lousy, and I assumed as good as it would ever be.  He's over 1 year old and just coming out of a hard molt.  It is cooler out there, but not that much cooler.  There's more to himi color than temperature.

Observations of chicken behavior: The Group Preen.

Every morning, they gather in the Porch View garden and spend a lot of time preening together.  As others join the gather, they immediately begin to preen as well.  I've also seen this later in the day and it might be in response to me.  If I sit down near them, one might begin to preen, and when one preens, the rest follow suit.  I think this is a sign of relaxed and content birds.  The morning preen happens to be when I'm sitting on the porch with my coffee.  They know I'm there and that pretty soon I'll head out to do the feeding chores.  While they wait on me, they might as well preen.  It's calming for me to watch it, too.

This is my view from the porch.

Of the 9 hatchlings, I have 4 keepers.  Maybe less.  1 blue roo (cool) and 3 hens.  The hens are white, black and mottled black.  I don't know if I'll keep the black and white, but I've really been wanting a mottled hen so she's not going anywhere.

They are getting pretty good at catching Japanese beetles on the fly.  It's hilarious when one catches a bug and then has to run to hang onto its prize.  The others are ready to snatch it if it's fumbled.  I'm trying to teach them to hunt slugs.  Whenever I come across one in a garden, I toss it in front of whatever bird is closest.  I wondered if the slime would turn them off (I know ducks eat slugs), but they've learned it's a heckova good snack (slugs get huge down here!) and gobble it right up.  Sometimes they have to dice the slug into smaller pieces before they can swallow it which is kinda gross.

tnt

More New

The same breeder who gave me Silky sold me a pair of young Barred Cochins.  Actually it was a trade.  These pix are dreadful.  They wouldn't stand still for a second.  Most of the shots were way worse.  This barred pattern is trippy with a motion blur!  I'll try to get better ones after they've settled down.

The pullet.  She seems really sweet and friendly.

The cockeral with Silky.  I wonder if she knows them.  She seemed very interested, more so than to my birds.  Maybe she'll bond with them.  His type is a lot like the buff roo that died out in the yard last month...bigger and leggier.  I was told he's pretty sweet too, except when it comes to his hen.

That's Poochy on the other side of the fence.  There was much posturing and strutting on both sides of the fence.  This will probably be a problem when I let these new birds out to free range, and the barred's larger size and seemingly extra testosterone worries me.

Yummm!  Corn on the cob!  The sweet lady who lives up the road from me brings me stuff.  These days it's sweet corn from the farmer's market.  It's more than I can eat so I give some to the birds.  Shhh, don't tell her.

It's an odd situation.  She sneaks up the drive and leaves it on my car hood.  She always manages to do this when I'm not looking or I'd thank her and let her know I can't eat all she brings me.  But I never catch her!  For a 75 year old woman, she moves pretty fast!  Whipper doesn't usually bark at people who come to the house so he doesn't alert me.  I look out and it has magically appeared on my car.  She often leaves magazines like Reader's Digest because a glitch in the subscription department sends her 2 copies.  I do like those.

Chickens are apparently related to vultures.  Wait, what?  Back up to a few days ago.  Until now, the white Japanese has been the underdog and outsider.  He wasn't allowed to play in any chicken games.  Suddenly something changed and he went after the alpha bird spot.  He and Poochy got into it real bad, and Poochy was not holding his own.  He came away covered in blood, which in the above pic has faded to yellow stains on his neck.  I put Pooch in the pen to calm down and recover a bit in peace, and kicked the Jap out of the yard that evening.  I wasn't having that, and I don't want him covering my hens anyways.  I actually took him "up north" (back of the property by the woods), but he came back down the next day.  He's currently living in the front yard.  As long as he stays there, I'm ok with that.  I set out a bowl of water for him, but he gets nothing else from me.  Didn't take him long to discover the bird feeders in the front garden provide quite a bit.

The vulture reference?  The cat left the remains of a rat in front of the porch yesterday morning.  Gee thanks, Abby.  I scooped it up and tossed it out into the front yard (the part where I don't go much).  Sometimes she finds it and finishes it off.  The Jap found it first.  I looked out later and there he was picking at it.  He spent quite a bit of time on it.  Yeah, he was eating carrion!  I saw him return to it throughout the day.  Who knew?

It cooled off nicely for several days and rained a lot all that time.  Now we're heading into another hot spell but so far not looking to be hot as it was.  The rain sure did kick up the humidity!

tnt

Something new

When one of the buyers came to pick up her rabbits, she brought me something else.  She had read here on the blog that I lost my little Silky pullet.  So she brought me one!  Thanks, Clarissa!

I never got a good pic of the other one but she wasn't anything like this!  This looks and feels like thick fur!  I had no idea they could be so soft.  This is another example of the difference between hatchery quality and breeder quality, like my cochins.   I'm not sure how to integrate her into the free rangers.  I was told Silkies are prone to predators, especially hawks, because they can't see past their topknot unless you trim it.  I can hardly see her eyes.  That pouf is half her charm so I kinda hate to cut it off.  She may just live in the Summer House permanently.  As I was trying to get a good shot, I realized a Silky might have been the inspiration for Sesame Street's Big Bird.  You see it, too, right?

I put the partridge trio in with her the first night.  I was hoping she would bond with them so she could go out.  Didn't see any sign that she would.  I imagine the cochins don't know what to think about this odd lookin critter.  My other silky seemed to be an outsider as well.  The next day, I found a teeny tiny egg, the smallest I've seen from any of my birds, in the nestbox.  It might have been one of the cochins, but I don't know for sure.  I was told Silky (yeah, that's probably her name) is about 5 months old, which is about what my hens are, and first eggs usually aren't full sized.

This is what greets me when I walk out on the porch in the evening.  Even though I was ready with camera in hand, I still couldn't get all of them in one shot.  They mob me that fast!  You see, they usually get their bird seed in the evening and they come running.  I can barely walk out to the pen where I keep it without stepping on them.  I feel like Richard Dreyfess in "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" when he was being escorted by the little aliens into the space ship.  Yeah, I know, weird thing to think of, but that's the picture in my head when I look down at all these little beings milling around my feet.

The birchens weren't in that shot because they were right at my feet already.  That roo is going to be so beautiful!

Hardy Hibiscus in all it's glory.  Those flowers are about 8" across.  This is seen from the window by the computer desk.  Nice view, huh?

tnt

Coming Out Day

The rest of the birds were turned out today.  I just opened the pen gate and let them come out on their own. In the past, I selectively put them out.  I always clip wings before I turn them out, and I did that last night after they went to roost.  I don't think they will fly over the 5' fence, but better safe than sorry.

Integration went well.  There's was no aggression from the others that were already out.  Here, one of the Rhodies and a red greeted them as they trickled out.

These are partridges and birchens.  Or silver penciled.  I'm still not sure which.

I scattered some mixed bird seed/cracked corn to get them excited about foraging in the grass.  They love their bird seed!  In this shot, mottled roo, birchen hen and roo, partridge hen and roo, red hen, buff hen and a Rhodie hen.

Happy chickens.  Happy chicken keeper.  They should go through much less feed now.

It will be interesting to see which birds go roost in the pen tonight, and which go to the outside roosts.  I'm hoping they will split up but I'm sure the dynamics will change.

I was amused by a couple of the original free rangers chasing after Japanese beetles that are starting to emerge.  The guineas were masters at catching the beetles out of the air, but they aren't here anymore to teach the chickens. I'm pleased they figured out on their own that these big fat beetles are fairly easy to catch and make a good meal.  It's funny to watch a squat fluffy cochin waddling as fast as he can after the bugs.

Whew.  It was 101 again yesterday.  They're saying 100+ again for today, and it was 85 by 9am.  I had the chores done by then, and retreated into the house.  Sure hope this weather pattern breaks soon.

tnt

101

That was the high yesterday according to the remote digital thermometer on the porch (the readout part is in the house) which is in the shade.  It's the one I look at for the most accurate temperature.  That's the record for me since I've been here (8 years).  I don't believe I've had 100 before now.  Yesterday was supposed to be the peak of this heat wave.  If it gets no hotter than that we're good here.

I don't know what it was in the barn.  I didn't want to know as there was nothing else I could do for them.  But the gals handled it with just the fan.  There's only 8 does in the barn, and only 4 have litters 4-5 weeks old.  No losses.  I think it really helps that the cherry tree and crape myrtle on the west side are mature and providing a lot of shade on the wall and roof.  The does are all on that wall.  The rest are outside in the Summer House and I wasn't worried about them.  I've said it before, it's also the breed.  Dwarfs are so small and hardy, they can take a lot of heat as long as they have good ventilation.

I thought of some tips to help cope with heat in an enclosed rabbit barn if AC isn't an option.  You know several already.  Frozen water bottles or tiles, misters, and of course ventilation and fans.  I can't do frozen bottles.  Just don't have the freezer space.  I could maybe do cold tiles.  A mister isn't an option due to the wooden floor in the barn.  Fans is the best I can do.

1. If at all possible, reduce the herd going into summer.  Less body heat, and less waste that generates heat.

2. If you reduce the herd, you should have empty holes.  Hot air rises you know.  Move as many as possible to the lowest tiers.  I also suggest putting the most valuable players in the very bottom tiers.  You know, the ones you couldn't bear to lose.  Also put as many as possible on the coolest walls.  North and east or the shaded walls.

3.  Clean more often to control the radiated heat from the pans.

4. An outside option for a good part of the herd if you can.  A shade structure like a porch or carport is about as cool as you can get outside on a scorching day.  It provides free air flow without the need for fans.  Even a cheap portable canopy will do.  Just make sure it's big enough to shade the cages all day.  Attach shade cloth to the sides that allow the sun to shine on any cages.

5. Plant shading plants on the south and west facing walls.  I love my cherry tree.  It grew fast.  Other fast growing plants are crape myrtles, bamboo, hybrid willows, and vines.  Native wisteria or grape vine grows very fast and would cover a tall trellis structure in front of the wall in no time.  While you wait for it to take off, you can grow annual vines like morning glory or hyacinth bean.  If using wisteria or grapes, make sure the trellis is very sturdy.  These are hefty vines when mature.  Another good shade vine is called Silver Lace Vine.  It's a very robust perennial that grows very thick quickly.  It's covered in tiny white flowers like a bridal veil for a long bloom period in late summer.  It also needs a sturdy structure.  If attaching the trellis directly to the barn wall, add shims or brackets to hold it away from the wall.  The cooling comes from the air space between the plant and wall, and the more air space the better.  Of course, planting now won't help much this year, but doing it now will help next year, so make those plans.  Be sure and keep those new plants well watered through the heat and lack of rain.


The chicks are doing good.  I close off the back bedrooms when I'm running AC and it's gets pretty toasty back there.  They don't need the heat lamp unless it goes below 60 outside at night, and I don't think that will happen before they're big enough to handle it.  I'll move them out to the barn in another week or so when they are acclimated to lower night time temps.


I do believe that one is a mottled blue!  Cool!  Maybe what they call splash.  I don't know what the difference would be, maybe just the name of the color.  The 2 light ones are looking like they will be white.  I hope they are actually mottled buff because that would be pretty, but the wing feathers starting to come in are white so we'll see.


Sadly, I lost the partridge silky girl out in the pen last week.  I don't know what happened.  When I went out there in the morning she was dead.  Bummer.  I really liked her.  She was one of the reasons I hadn't turned the rest of the birds out to free range yet.  I think I'll try now.  They need to learn to forage and there isn't anything to forage on in the pen.  My plan is to separately pen up breeding groups next year.  Got a couple ideas for that which I'll work on before next spring.


Keep cool as best you can.


tnt