BIRBS~

[flock-you]

today on things I never thought I’d say:

“no, Francis! don’t shit on your girlfriend!”

the story behind it:

Big Duck was laying down trying to lay an egg, she has a bad habit of not wanting to eat enough oyster shell and her eggs are huge since she’s a large Rouen this means she has a rubber egg problem and it takes her a while to lay a rubber egg.

while she’s working hard to lay it Sir Francis, being the sweetheart he can be, is laying near her and occasionally preening her. I’m talking to them both from a little ways away and start telling Francis what a sweet boyfriend he is to Big Duck when he suddenly stands up, turns around, and his tail goes up in preparation to let out a messy duck shit.

“no, Francis! don’t shit on your girlfriend!” I exclaim just as he barely misses her.

there’s a church behind us (the east back side of my family’s lot lines up with the west back side of the church’s lot a little) and people were just heading in to a small Sunday evening service and I still feel somewhat mortified that a bunch of churchgoers probably heard me saying that.

[flock-you]

well, Nine has been occasionally going missing then popping back up. I was pretty sure she had some hidden spot she was laying her eggs in and I think for the first week it was on the other side of the fence somewhere since I spotted her back there and she got back in the fence on her own before she could be herded back in. we blocked the spot she used but she still had a hidden spot I just couldn’t find.

today I found it.

here is the culprit, Nine the silkie/Sebright cross. she feels no shame at making me have to get down on my knees and reach as far under the coop as I had to in order to get her eggs or for making me worry about her safety multiple times per week. (she also feels no shame at how she bullies the light Brahmas.)

thanks to my chronic pain it was a pain and a half at least getting down on my knees to get her eggs out from under the platform the coop is on. I’m still hurting from it.

and here’s a bonus snuggly Frosch the turkey pic

[flock-you]

the Frosch snuggling on my lap pic is from a few days ago when it was still in the low 40′s outside, the pic of the cat is from yesterday. I’ve got those pics side by side to show what my life is like outside and inside.

outside I have my hand raised turkey, Frosch, who demands snuggles.

inside I have Saya (better known as Furb’ll or Furb since she looked like an animated dustbunny when we got her), my almost 11 year old hand raised cat who was found by my late woofmutt in the backyard by the pond all by herself at barely 5 weeks of age who also demands snuggles. and unlike the turkey she drools like a faucet when she gets into full happy snuggle mode.

also, yesterday Lilan turned herself into a gray bird when she found the dirtiest bit if dirt in the yard to dust bathe in. she went back to it twice after those photos were taken too, making her even more gray. it’s not that there’s no cleaner spots of dirt for her to choose, it’s just she wanted to dust bathe in the dirty dirt.

there was also a bit of hilarity a few nights ago (while it was still getting chilly overnight). little Nine, the Sebright/silkie mix (and smallest bird in the flock), likes to use the Brahmas for warmth at night. they huddle together because those three hooligans are very close and Nine pushes herself right into the middle of them. well, while I was making sure everyone was in bed one of the hooligans decided they wanted to move away from the huddle. Nine would not allow that. she grabbed the hooligan by her hackles and pulled her right back into place.

that was something, seeing a bird that’s maybe 1.5lbs boss around a bird almost as big as the turkey like that. and those hooligans listen to her since she’s bossed them around since they were first introduced to the flock. I wish I had been able to get that on video.

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we had a limb break off the beech tree today and put a hole the size of a dinner plate in the roof. while my dad was up putting a temporary patch on it Frosch decided she had to go up and supervise.

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the three hooligans started laying again and I swear every day is like a mini Easter egg hunt since they don’t know the concept of letting the others lay their eggs in peace. this means whichever of those three has to lay tries and tries to find a place to lay her egg in peace while the others follow and crowd her until she just squats and lays it because she can’t wait anymore. I have found eggs in so many odd places I swear.

[flock-you]

This is my life now...

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when I said "this is my life now" I was wrong...

I underestimated the situation.

today I spent over an hour outside with one of the three hooligans on each shoulder, one on one knee, and my turkey on the other. so I had four oversized lap birds snuggling me at once while sitting on a chair that I can't even lay back in.

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an update from the flock!

unfortunately just under 2 weeks ago we lost the oldest bird in the flock, Honey. she was an old Orpington hen whose egg production had gotten to the point she hadn't laid an egg in well over a year and she mellowed enough she went from boss of the flock to a more passive role last year. apparently the cold snap we had was just too much for her at her age. she was going on 8 and a pampered pet so she did have a good life. we also still have her daughter, Sweetie Pie, who is half silkie and the turkey's best friend in the flock.

everyone else in the flock is fine thankfully, which isn't surprising since the setup we have this winter is a much better version of the setup we had back when I still had my first turkey (who unfortunately turned out to be a broadbreasted bronze rather than a standard one) for a cold snap that was even worse than the one we had. Big Duck seemed a little down for the first week after we lost Honey. those two kind of got close last year after they both lost their best buddies in the flock (one to a hawk, one to health complications since they were a runt). fortunately she still has Sir Francis with her and being a good drake he gave her lots of extra attention and I caught him preening her more than normal. Sir Francis really turned out to be an exceptional drake, I swear. he's always been a sweetheart to Big Duck and the late Cinnamon Roll and when we still had that silkie rooster that was, to put it bluntly, a horny little bastard who could be a little too hard on the hens he'd run him off the hens when he was getting too rough with them even tho he never put the moves on the chickens himself. (except he didn't have to do that for Honey, Honey was good at putting that rooster in his place all by herself when she had to.)

as for Frosch and her beak that she cracked in a fight with a hawk, that's almost back to normal. it's grown past where the little bit of bone could be seen and just has to even up into a proper point again. I expect once the snow clears up and she's actively scratching around again it will wear back into a normal shape. given next week it's going to be in the 40's that should be soon enough I won't have to worry about trimming/shaping it myself.

Frosch is also very upset about being stuck in the shed and coop as much as she has been while there's snow on the ground almost up to my knees. unfortunately for the poor turkey since we added Brahmas into the flock last year we want to keep them out of the snow so their foot feathers don't collect enough snow and moisture to cause frostbite. she's sassy enough she pecks me just enough to let me know she doesn't like it and then wants to be petted and pampered. she's still good enough about pecking it's 100% clear she's pecking nowhere near as hard as she could (especially having seen what happened to a mouse that got in the shed and got noticed by the flock) and I do stop her if she starts pecking too hard.

the hooligans (the Brahma trio) are starting to lay again and we're getting about 1 egg every other day now. no one else is laying yet but the other girls are a duck, a turkey, and two silkie mixes so they're probably not going to really start laying for at least another month. Nine still bosses them around which is funny since they're big old Brahmas and Nine is a silkie/Sebright mix and barely larger than a Sebright, but then her biological mom was the late Lina the Squirrel Spooker.

as for me, I've been holding up but the weather has been hard on me, with the cold snap here causing my chronic pain issues to act up (especially the night it dropped WAY DOWN overnight in my part of Michigan). it also doesn't help yesterday we had no heat since my grandpa designed this house with hot water baseboard heating and we had no water because the cold weather caused a water pipe going under the road to freeze and it literally exploded (one of the neighbors had chunks of frozen earth the size of my torso blown into their yard when it happened as well as some bits of the pipe). still, once things warm up it'll be a bit better for me.

[train-heartnet-xiii]

anyone wanna help me decide what digital game to get for my 3DS?

I’m leaning towards either Dragon Quest VII or Dragon Quest VIII but I’m open to other suggestions as well.

[flock-you]

happy Turkey Day from the flock!

here at our place this is the only way turkeys get stuffed, by stuffing nice, hot poultry grits into their craw.

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Frosch’s head had healed up nice, now all we need to wait for is her beak to grow back out. she’s still enjoying plenty of spoiling in the meantime. she’s also feeling well enough that when that hawk flew over and circled she was out walking about making herself as tall as possible, red-faced, doing her turkey war cry threatening to kick its ass again.

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well, my state is on a three week shutdown so there’s even less for me to do than normal. which is fine since I have a turkey that needs a lot of babying after she got herself a little roughed up taking on a hawk that made a go at the flock. the scratches on her are healing up well but the tip of her beak cracked a little and is a little tender. fortunately she’s still eating and she’s getting extra dried mealworms and dishes of mash soaked in hot water (poultry grits I call it).

she’s also getting extra lap time altho it’s not solo lap time since Lilan likes to join in as well. it’s kinda funny, Lilan joins in with the other two Brahmas when they start bullying the other birds a bit, but on her own she gets along with everyone practically. she even started preening Frosch today while they were both snuggling me.

while I was snuggling with Frosch and Lilan Big Duck and Honey decided to have their little siesta together. they both lost their best buddies this year and I think they kinda bonded a bit over missing their buddies. Sir Francis kept watch while they rested like the good little man he is.

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I spent some time outside today because it’s stressful here in the US right now and the weather was nice and the birds are cute. leaning back a bit immediately got Lilan, the smallest of the Brahmas, running over to hop up. since the turkey was laying an egg (yeah, she’s laying less eggs per week now, but she’s still laying) I got to take a few pictures. she still loves snuggles and pets and is so pleasantly soft to the touch.

[flock-you]

Frosch has been enforcing a “no photos” rule in the yard lately (since holding something in one hand means one less hand to use while giving her attention) so I haven’t been getting many photos lately. I did manage to get three nice photos of Frosch today since she decided she’d snuggle up to my dad while he was getting the spare tire and hitch bar off the tent camper so we could tilt it up for better winter storage. she’s pretty scruffy right now since she’s still finishing up her molting.

I also got a couple pics not too long ago (on different days). one where Lilan decided she needed some lap time too while Frosch was already napping on my lap and another of Frosch spending time foraging with her best birdy buddy Sweetie Pie. unfortunately Sweetie Pie is currently inside the house recovering from Nine being the vicious little velociraptor she can sometimes be and pecking her head badly enough to turn it into a bloody bald mess. it’s going to heal fine but until enough of the feathers grow back and the wound heals a little more I’d rather keep her inside. she’s not complaining about being inside at least, it’s been wet and cold outside lately and inside is warm and dry and she gets special treats while she’s healing.

also, Frosch apparently took on a sharp shinned hawk that made a go at Nine while I was at the store the other day. I came back home, found hawk feathers on the ground by the pond, noticed Nine had feathers missing on her neck too, and Frosch was acting rather proud of herself. going by that and the scuffle marks on the ground it looks like the hawk made a go at Nine but Frosch attacked the hawk pulling out a good beakfull of feathers in the process which saved Nine.

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not one, not two... THREE SUPER TINY EGGS today. I can literally hold all 6 of them in one hand in one layer. all were laid in the nest box too. all three of The Hooligans are laying at barely 5 months of age.

the turkey has been dropping 5 eggs a week, Sweetie Pie is still laying 4-5 eggs a week, and we have 3 birds who at 5 months have laid 6 eggs in 4 days.

what are we going to do with them all?

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another tiny brown egg today, this one we know was laid by Hydona. she found a spot to lay it, stayed there for a while, walked two feet away, and then dropped the egg. shortly before she was checking out the inside of the kayaks in the backyard too. not sure if she laid the first one or not, but we’ll just keep our eyes open and figure out who has and hasn’t started laying.

while she was working on laying that egg Filo and Lilan decided to do some bugging in and by the vines around the bit of the old fence we left standing because some of the vines growing on it are the columbine my dad planted there years back and he’d rather find a way to swap the fence for something else for it to grow on rather than just pull the fence right out and it with it.

[flock-you]

sorry for the lack of updates. life happens, you know how that is.

anywho, there is a big update. apparently one of them is an early layer! not quite 5 months old and she’s already laid one tiny brown egg. I wasn’t expecting the possibility of eggs from them until late September at the earliest given that they’re Brahmas. I swear, the last time I saw an egg that small it was one my late Sebright laid, it’s that tiny. given how earlier than expected she’s laying it’s pretty understandable it would be that small.

all three Brahmas are doing well. Filo and Hydona are getting a little more independent but they’ll still pile on me when I’m leaning back in the gravity lounger, Lilan is still the snuggliest thing and a total sweetheart.

in other news my turkey has been a showoff lately and apparently no one ever told her toms are the ones that typically do the strutting.

[flock-you]

no chick pics today, just a pic of why I needed to wait to clean the largest nest box today. apparently they didn’t mind sharing the spot despite how awkward it looks since there were no vocal complaints and no scuffle at all. to be fair they’re pretty good buddies in general so that’s probably why.

for chick news we started putting the chicks out in the coop overnight with the older birds. there have been no issues and they’re slowly working into getting use to being full flock members. they’re still teasing all the birds except Nine the Sebright/silkie mix, but the teasing is moving on to established pecking order stuff. except for with Nine, Nine still has them terrified of her despite the fact she’s the smallest in the flock and they’re less than three month old Brahmas that are already larger than her.