Thursday, August 12, 2010
Summer on the Farm,
Here is Barbie, she is my young Delaware hen, same as Pearl below, Barbie is huge and being only 6 months old her feathers are just brilliant white
This was Barbie in June, same hen as above, note how small and pale the comb was
my two younger Buff Orpington hens
another group of hens resting in the shade, July was a very hot months with temps over 110 degrees for several weeks and at night it often didn't go below 85, the last few nights have been in the 50s and this morning I put on a jacket because it was a bit chilly, of course it warmed up and in the afternoon it was blazing hot again and I had to turn on he misters for the chickens
hens taking a break under a tree
this is what the plum tree looked like before I took down all the plums, these are Santa Rosa plums but they were very small, this was the first year this tree has produced any fruit worth talking about, so I am not sure if the size is due to the tree being so young or if there were too many plums and not enough nutrients and water for them.
the apples, one tree I have harvested a couple weeks ago, I waited a bit too long and the apples were rather sweet, the chickens really liked them
Pearl my 3 1/2 year old Delaware hen, she is the top hen around here, she has been going very strong ever since her illness last year, and she continues to give me about 2 eggs a week, sometimes 3, her comb and wattles have grown rather large, she is pretty heat tolerant.
One of my Buckeye pullets, she laid her first little brown shiny egg today
I got lots of plums this year, most of them went into the freezer, I was glad I only have one tree, I picked a bucket full on several days until the tree was empty and only a little left for the birds
Here comes Ayla, she is 5 years old this month
She is moving towards Nanuk here and I caught a nice sequence of male and female interaction
so here is Nanuk, he is 9 years old now, he greets Ayla who likes him a lot
they both make happy faces, tails are relaxed
Nanuk thinks he can get a bit frisky
but Ayla didn't think so, note Nanuk's corner of the mouth and the ears, very submissive body language, and Nanuk has the habit to act playful if a female gets a bit "bitchy", that works every time
look at his mouth and their tails, both are on friendly terms, he is still trying to win her over
still trying, now Ayla gets her little look of "don't you dare"
here he is getting the cold shoulder treatment, he hasn't given up yet
Cici on the left and her momma Leydi on the right
Prince at 2 1/2 years old, he was 119 lbs and just under 33 inches tall
Prince recently got his hips certified with OFA and got an excellent rating, he also had his thyroidfunction checked which is normal and a local orthopedic vet reviewed his elbows, wrists and knees and found everything okay, so yay, I am very happy to know that all his joints are in good working order and that the strange movements I am seeing from the accident and surgery he had as a pup have not affected his joints.
Hackles up, keeping an eye on the happenings in the neighborhood
here he was peeing while keeping an eye on whatever it was that had his attention,
and off he goes again
Prince looking at the situation standing in the cool grass and shade of the tree, this was a 110 degree day, so he wasn't too thrilled having to deal with some neighborhood issue
these pictures were taken in June and I don't remember what had Prince so upset that day
Prince at 2 1/2 years old
here comes Sam
This must be the first nice picture of Samantha standing with her head up
the flighty little Silver Spangled Hamburg pullet. She is so small compared to the others, but such a pretty little thing, I knew this was a small breed, but I didn't realize they are as small as they are
I have the gates to the goat pen propped open so the chickens can squeeze through, but not the goats. This allows the chickens to go everywhere. This year has been a lot better with the flies, the fly predators didn't work for us, my guess is because of too many neighbors with livestock and also I had a lot of the fly traps up which have a fly attractant in them. So this year, no fly traps, I have put a metered sprayer in my barn and some insecticide strips in the smaller shelters so if flies go in there they should get killed. Additionally I keep the goat area swept once or twice a week and what I do is I have 3 little heaps of dropped hay and manure and the goats mostly go to those areas to pee and oftentimes poop there too. The dry ground doesn't attract the flies too much and the chickens keep those manure piles turned over and checked for fly maggots. And it has not rained for a long time, my guess is that if it would start raining the flies would multiply quickly. So I am hoping it won't rain.
Here is Barbie, she is my young Delaware hen, same as Pearl below, Barbie is huge and being only 6 months old her feathers are just brilliant white
This was Barbie in June, same hen as above, note how small and pale the comb was
my two younger Buff Orpington hens
another group of hens resting in the shade, July was a very hot months with temps over 110 degrees for several weeks and at night it often didn't go below 85, the last few nights have been in the 50s and this morning I put on a jacket because it was a bit chilly, of course it warmed up and in the afternoon it was blazing hot again and I had to turn on he misters for the chickens
hens taking a break under a tree
this is what the plum tree looked like before I took down all the plums, these are Santa Rosa plums but they were very small, this was the first year this tree has produced any fruit worth talking about, so I am not sure if the size is due to the tree being so young or if there were too many plums and not enough nutrients and water for them.
the apples, one tree I have harvested a couple weeks ago, I waited a bit too long and the apples were rather sweet, the chickens really liked them
Pearl my 3 1/2 year old Delaware hen, she is the top hen around here, she has been going very strong ever since her illness last year, and she continues to give me about 2 eggs a week, sometimes 3, her comb and wattles have grown rather large, she is pretty heat tolerant.
One of my Buckeye pullets, she laid her first little brown shiny egg today
I got lots of plums this year, most of them went into the freezer, I was glad I only have one tree, I picked a bucket full on several days until the tree was empty and only a little left for the birds
Here comes Ayla, she is 5 years old this month
She is moving towards Nanuk here and I caught a nice sequence of male and female interaction
so here is Nanuk, he is 9 years old now, he greets Ayla who likes him a lot
they both make happy faces, tails are relaxed
Nanuk thinks he can get a bit frisky
but Ayla didn't think so, note Nanuk's corner of the mouth and the ears, very submissive body language, and Nanuk has the habit to act playful if a female gets a bit "bitchy", that works every time
look at his mouth and their tails, both are on friendly terms, he is still trying to win her over
still trying, now Ayla gets her little look of "don't you dare"
here he is getting the cold shoulder treatment, he hasn't given up yet
Cici on the left and her momma Leydi on the right
Prince at 2 1/2 years old, he was 119 lbs and just under 33 inches tall
Prince recently got his hips certified with OFA and got an excellent rating, he also had his thyroidfunction checked which is normal and a local orthopedic vet reviewed his elbows, wrists and knees and found everything okay, so yay, I am very happy to know that all his joints are in good working order and that the strange movements I am seeing from the accident and surgery he had as a pup have not affected his joints. 
Hackles up, keeping an eye on the happenings in the neighborhood
here he was peeing while keeping an eye on whatever it was that had his attention,
and off he goes again
Prince looking at the situation standing in the cool grass and shade of the tree, this was a 110 degree day, so he wasn't too thrilled having to deal with some neighborhood issue
these pictures were taken in June and I don't remember what had Prince so upset that day
Prince at 2 1/2 years old
here comes Sam
This must be the first nice picture of Samantha standing with her head up
the flighty little Silver Spangled Hamburg pullet. She is so small compared to the others, but such a pretty little thing, I knew this was a small breed, but I didn't realize they are as small as they are
I have the gates to the goat pen propped open so the chickens can squeeze through, but not the goats. This allows the chickens to go everywhere. This year has been a lot better with the flies, the fly predators didn't work for us, my guess is because of too many neighbors with livestock and also I had a lot of the fly traps up which have a fly attractant in them. So this year, no fly traps, I have put a metered sprayer in my barn and some insecticide strips in the smaller shelters so if flies go in there they should get killed. Additionally I keep the goat area swept once or twice a week and what I do is I have 3 little heaps of dropped hay and manure and the goats mostly go to those areas to pee and oftentimes poop there too. The dry ground doesn't attract the flies too much and the chickens keep those manure piles turned over and checked for fly maggots. And it has not rained for a long time, my guess is that if it would start raining the flies would multiply quickly. So I am hoping it won't rain.// posted by ZaltanaAnatolians @ 2:21 PM 
