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Bruce

Bruce

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Zorra has gone broody. 3 days ago she was in the nest in the afternoon. At roost time she was still in the nest, I put her on the roost in the dark. Come morning, she was back in the box so she got a free ride to the broody buster. She was not fussy this morning so I let her out, hoped that since I caught her with less than a day of nest time, she would break quick. She headed straight for the (now occupied) box. Another free trip to the BB. Typical pattern for her, lay eggs for a few weeks, then go broody. So at the moment I'm down 3 layers. Angel has the babies and Anais is playing Auntie again.

I saw some baby faces sticking out over the edge of the barn swallows' nest today.
 
Genipher

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Bruce said:
Saw some of the minnows in the pond. I know it isn't a great picture, best I can do.
View attachment 63317

Angel took the kids out of the barn today so they have scratched in dirt (rather than old coop bedding), didn't have my camera with me.

The 4 remaining (of 7) 2015 girls.
No separate picture of Angel (White Rock) without the "kids". 2 of the chicks are WR's.
View attachment 63320

Penelope - EE
View attachment 63321

Mellori - Black Australorp
View attachment 63322

Nuit - Black Australorp
View attachment 63323

And because he was there when I had the camera out. The pair are still really nervous when I'm around which I don't really understand. They are either the same birds as last year or one of them is a bird that fledged out of the nest in the barn. Really unlikely some random barn swallows would just happen to shoe up and build a nest in the exact same place. As such, I'd think they would have figured out by now that I mean them no harm. But they still fly off the nest when I come in and if I'm there when they fly in they get all whacked out.
View attachment 63324
Click to expand...

Such pretty chickens!
 
Bruce

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The 5 remaining 2017 girls, originally there were 6
Trill - Barnevelder
Trill.jpg

Cassiopeia - EE
Cassie.jpg

Mint - Exchequer Leghorn
Mint.jpg

Oreo - Exchequer Leghorn, she looked a lot like Mint until she moulted last fall.
Oreo.jpg

Veronica - Welsummer (That would be part of Betty in the front, but she'll have to wait until the 2018's are posted)
Veronica.jpg
 
Bruce

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Yeah on snow days (ie all winter) they choose to hang in the barn alley.

MiniGoatsRule said:
Alpacas can be sweet, but weird as crud...
Click to expand...
These 2 are weird. We got them from people up the road 2.5 years ago, they were fixing to move to Florida. I don't think they handled the boys much and one of them was born at their place. They will eat maintenance pellets from my hand (that took some time!) but touch them? NO WAY, look at them straight on and they spook. I guess the only time they were touched was when it was shearing time, hoof time, Ivermectin time.
 
RollingAcres

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Bruce said:
The 5 remaining 2017 girls, originally there were 6
Trill - Barnevelder
View attachment 63652

Cassiopeia - EE
View attachment 63653

Mint - Exchequer Leghorn
View attachment 63656

Oreo - Exchequer Leghorn, she looked a lot like Mint until she moulted last fall.
View attachment 63654

Veronica - Welsummer (That would be part of Betty in the front, but she'll have to wait until the 2018's are posted)
View attachment 63655
Click to expand...
They are very pretty!
And good news! My Colombian Wyandotte is no longer broody(for almost a week now)!!! :clapHowever, she's still not laying yet.
 
Bruce

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She should start soon, I find 5-7 days is pretty usual.

So today, not only is Zorra still in the broody buster, Betty (year old Welsummer) has decided to hang in the nest box. I put her up on the roost tonight but I'll give better than even odds she will be joining Zorra in the morning :he

Thus of 16 adults, 2 are broody, 2 are raising chicks, 2 (one 4 and one 7 Y/O) are laying very thin shelled eggs that break when another hen gets in the box. Plenty of oyster shell available, must be their shell glands are giving out.

Found a dead shiner in the pond today. Don't know why it died, plenty fat, no obvious damage. Recently dead, no decomposition at all. I threw it to the chickens inside the electronet.
 
greybeard

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Bruce said:
Found a dead shiner in the pond today. Don't know why it died, plenty fat, no obvious damage. Recently dead, no decomposition at all.
Click to expand...

aliensunknown.jpg


Most common cause of dead fish with no apparent cause of death is water quality and/or water temperature. Algae bloom, being the usual cause of poor water quality mid to late summer. Life forms simply suffocate, with the weakest being the first to belly up.
 
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