Cherry Rainbowfrost

My friend Jill posted a link on Facebook where you could get your fairy name.  Cute and silly, I thought at first.  Then I started liking the idea of a fairy name and wanted one of my own.

http://fairy.namegeneratorfun.com/F/noelle/haggerty

Click this link to read about the fairy me, Cherry Rainbowfrost.

From there, you can get your own fairy name.

It's fun to read these things.  They spark your imagination.  They break us of the habitual thinking.

She brings good fortune.  My farm fresh egg business is supplying many with a delicious breakfast while funding my need for hen feed.

She lives in fruit orchards and vineyards.  Certainly that explains my enjoyment of a good wine.

She can only be seen during the first snow of winter.  Well yes, because if it snows more than that, I'll hibernate with the bears.

She wears red, cerise and purple berry colors and has multicolored wings like a butterfly.  A true red is flattering as is a purple or blue.  My wings guide me around the ranch all day doling out little butterfly kisses to all my animals.  They lend air to my smooth glide across the dance floor.  They bring me back home safely so I may recharge my battery to glow like a firefly, a welcome beacon for living creatures.

So, as I bid adieu, I am lifting my satin satchel of prosperity upon my gentle wings of the rainbow.  I shall gradually empty my satchel of prismatic dust flakes on the shoulders of those with space to catch them.

Ahhhh, what a better frame of mind to have when leaving the house!







 

What's Up With That?

This is what I asked the universe yesterday. What's up with that?

Esperanza was our darling Ameraucana chicken who layed dainty blue-green eggs. Well, she was never a steady layer, but when she was on a roll, she would gift us one of her pretty eggs every other day. She frequently went on hiatus for weeks at a time and then out of the blue, there it would be in the nesting box, her blue-green pearl.

When she was a baby chick, she had a lame leg. Throughout her life of almost 2 years, she got along just like the other hens, but with one eye. She was bullied as a chick and we wondered if she'd make it as she often set herself apart from the other 5.

Her early childhood experiences made her the fiercely independent and almost fearless hen she lived to be. She made me laugh many times.

Just yesterday I was at the duck pond giving out the left-over brown rice tortillas. The ducks were swimming in closer to get theirs and the 4 hens and Red, the rooster, came to my feet asking for their share.

As Esperanza, which means hope in Spanish, couldn't always see what was thrown to her, it depended on which way she was looking, I put pieces down just right for her. The other hens are quick to grab. She gave up on them and walked to the pond.

There she was, chest high in the water, picking pieces of tortilla out of the pond. I had to remind her, she was a chicken after all. She came running out of the pond and scooted across the drylot toward the creek where the other hens had relocated themselves.

Coming out of the house from a cookie break with the dogs shortly after, I heard Red's alarming call. I hadn't heard that call before, but that's what told me something wasn't right. It was a constant and higher pitched call than his typical call to gather his flock.

Alice was with him tucked under the Juniper and with his eyes wide open darting from east to west, he drew me in to his dance of urgency. I looked to the west and saw a reddish dog running off through the neighboring field. The horses were all at the west fence, looking. Immediately I went off in search of my 3 other hens. I have been down this road before and if there was any chance of finding them, it was now.

With Alice and Red accounted for, I then checked off Baby and Juanita but was missing Esperanza. I called and called and walked the creek next door shaking a plastic bag of Dole prepared salad that she loves. (On a side note there are still some feathers from my dearly departed Black Top.) I couldn't find her.

Trying to remain optimistic as she could be almost anywhere on the ranch, I returned to my task of poop scooping, keeping my eye out for her or the returning dog. Then, Pinkie was trying to get at something on the other side of the fence. In fact, it was just under the noses of where the horses had been standing.

Oddly enough, right before this, I swore I heard this throat sound that the hens make. I looked and saw the hens off on the other side of the lawn, so it wasn't them. I spun around the other direction looking, could it be Esperanza?

I don't know if I heard her last call for help or her coo to me as she transitioned into a chicken angel or if I was just hoping I had heard her. I did find Esperanza, lifeless. A dog had attacked her from behind, bit right into her back. Coward dog.

My only hope is that she didn't see it coming, that she was being her happy chicken self with her good eye to the ground, relishing in a new find of hatching bugs. Please universe, let it have been that way.

We have now lost 3 chickens to other people's dogs. Why?

We have 9 new baby chicks, 2 of them are Ameraucanas, like Esperanza. They are named Marilyn and Squirrel, one for her blonde feathers and light eyes and the other for her puffy cheeks seeming like they are filled with a stash of goodies.

It's a tough reality with these animals, as I've said before. I try so hard to protect them and I care for them to the best of my ability. Yet in a minute they can be taken from me in the most abrupt and violent fashion.

What's up with that?

(Esperanza is the light brown hen in the foreground of the photo.)

The Duck Situation

The duck situation needs a little updating.

As you know, I picked up 2 eggs a few weeks back. After reading about federal law and that the Mallard doesn't sit on her eggs until she has laid her full clutch, it made sense to return the eggs to her nest. I checked on her nest every day as she added an additional egg. She was up to 6 eggs!

The next morning I went out to admire the arrival of number 7 and found that some critter had raided her nest and eaten the eggs! Just a mess of shells on the ground.

Calcium devastation: destruction of 6 precious eggs and the calcium she depletes herself of as she lays her clutch. Honestly, I'm not cut out for the occasional cruelty of nature.

She started another nest with one egg. I thought I was doing the right thing by trying protect the egg and I put a bucket over it at night. I ran out at 7am the next morning to remove it so she could add her next egg. She didn't.

I guess she wanted to lay before I got out there, so she has abandoned that nest. For a few days I searched for her new nest but couldn't find where she was laying. I thought maybe she had given up.

Then the other day, I was out looking around...surely there has to be another nest somewhere. There are at least 20 female Mallards and our 4 domestic females. Someone has to be laying!

I found two new nests in a thick of cut tree branches. As of this morning, one nest has 5 eggs and the other has 3. But here's the thing, 1 of those 3 looks white like a domestic duck egg. So, if this is the case, whose nest is it? Who will sit on the eggs? If it's the Mallard, will she accept the domestic duck?

Lesson learned: I must admire from afar. No touching. No protecting. But there is that 1 lone egg that still sits up by the pond in the once bucketed nest.

I think when her nest has at least 8 eggs, I'll add that loner. I do believe it's hers.

Oh, and we did get 1 white domestic egg sitting on the ground by the pond. Those we can eat.

What is the Fine?

As you may recall, we have a rather healthy wild Mallard population taking residence at our irrigation pond--strike that--duck pond. All but about 4 fly off each evening but they are back here bright and early the following day.

Yesterday I was walking the perimeter of the pond and came across a duck egg! Our first duck egg. And I had no idea from which duck it came. I picked it up and brought it in.

Not quite knowing what to do with a duck egg, I started my internet research on duck eggs (I sure do miss pulling out a hard-bound encyclopedia, but I think this time, the internet may have served me well.)

First, the blue green egg is from the Mallards. A wild Mallard? Or our domestic Mallard, Mallory? They lay their eggs in ground nests, which in our case is a burrowed hole. This is impressive as ducks have webbed feet, not talons like a chicken or claws like a cat or dog.

Then this morning I found another egg. I wasn't sure if I just overlooked it last night or if it was from this morning.

After scooping horse poop for 2 hours, I came in to eat and I continued my internet reading.

Second, in the UK it is illegal to cull wild Mallard eggs. Gulp. What about Oregon?

Third, the shells of duck eggs are thinner than chicken eggs so the eggs tend to be flavored with the surroundings and possibly with the diet of the layer. So would that make these duck eggs sweet grass flavored? Hen crack flavored? Or with the taste of whatever more the duck eats when not eating at my pond?

Fourth, they say that because the shell is thinner, the risk of salmonella is present. So wash that egg nice and good!

Fifth, most research talks about incubating the eggs. Yes, duck eggs are fine to eat it seems, but incubating seems to be very popular.

Sixth, a clutch of Mallard eggs is 8-12 eggs and they lay one brood a year. Have I just reduced that number to 6-10?! Incubation is 24 - 28 days.

Seventh, our other domestic ducks, Blue Swedish, lay white eggs. I now am sure the eggs I collected are not from Fletcher or Max--well because they are drakes-- nor from Tuxedo Tina, aka Tuxey, Diana, nor Sophia.

Now I am in a pickle. What do I do with the two eggs I culled from the pond? Do we add them to our chicken eggs and eat them? I think I'm too late to incubate them. I can't really return them to the pond, can I?

And do I leave any new eggs that are laid? What about predators that eat duck eggs, such as cats (with the good quality feed these feral kitties get, I hope they wouldn't go after the duck eggs,) raccoons, dogs (they'd be in big trouble with momma,) birds of prey, fox, coyote, etc. We have these critters around.

I've been working on getting Larry to build a proper duck laying house that sits out over the pond. This would help protect them from predators, but can the ducks dig a nest inside a house?

I guess I have to let nature take care of itself on this one. Upon further research, I have discovered that I am in violation and would be in further violation of federal law if I intervene.

Shhhhhhh, please don't tell.

Check out this website: www.wildliferehabber.com/modules/wildlifesection/item.php?itemid=7

It's Not Easy Waking a Sleeping Chicken

A typical ranch day, if there is such a thing, concludes with counting all six chickens and locking up their pen.

Just before dusk they all make their way back to their hen house and climb in, make a heck of a ruckus organizing themselves, and then they settle in for the night. I count them up just to be sure all have returned, and then close their gate so no night-time predator can create its own ruckus with my hens.

It has been getting darker earlier and I was behind in my evening duties. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. 5? 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Hmmmmmm. It's Alice. Where is she? It was hard to see and to top it off, Alice is black and white.

I set out calling her, looking in all the places they visit throughout the day, under tree roots, under cars and trailers, in the creek, by the horse snack dishes (see photo.) Was it that monster hawk who got her?

Lately, my hens have been laying their eggs up in my hay bales. They have 4 perfectly comfortable and sheltered nesting boxes, but apparently they've tired of them. For days I was wondering if they had stopped laying eggs as there weren't any in the hen house when I would go collect them. It didn't make sense. My hens weren't quite a year into their laying.

Then one day I followed the hens out of their pen in the morning and watched one head straight for the hay shed, hop up a few bales, climb onto a wood post (see another photo) and then go down between the wood sides and the hay bales and tuck herself into a hole created in the hay bales (see other photo.) When she finally came out, I looked in and found 5 eggs! The jackpot.

So now, I climb in between the wood sides and hay bales and slowly lower myself down as to not catch myself on the snags on the wood and reach in, blindly because the space is so tight I can't turn my head, and retrieve the eggs.

Well, back to this evening of missing Alice. It dawned on me, maybe she's in her nesting spot. I look in from the horse lot beside and there she is, sleeping. I can't leave her there overnight, she'd be exposed to the feral cats, raccoons, and whatever else would climb in to bother a chicken. I couldn't climb in to get her because I had seen Bodie climb in there and a startled chicken fly out and that wasn't pretty on account of the lack of room to maneuver.

So there I stood, on the other side of the posts calling to the sleeping chicken: "Alice!" "Kiss Kiss Kiss" "Wake up girl!" "yooooo hooooo!"

It's not easy to wake a sleeping chicken. In fact, they tell you that the easiest way to catch a chicken or rooster is at night...if you can reach them.

So I took a stick and pushed it through to the hay and got her to perk up a bit. Then I had to scare her to get her out. Ugh. She jumped out, over the bales, down to the ground and ran straight for the hen house--and they can run as fast as 9 mph.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Clink went the gate lock.

Now, we have 6 ducks and a goose. They swim in the pond. Can you imagine what it's like trying to round them up to get them in at night? There is an owl that perches overhead; they seem oblivious. I have spent lots of time going from one end of the pond to the other trying to get them out. And look! They can swim clear to the middle! (see duck photo)

Despite how it may appear, my days are never the same.

Just Like a Strand of Pearls

One of the friendly guys at the feed store told me that chickens have a finite number of eggs to lay. He said, "...think of them like a strand of pearls."

What an analogy.

Yesterday, Alice, one of our Barred Rock hens, laid her first egg! I was sick in bed so Larry went down to collect Juanita's daily pearl and came back to tell me we were blessed with two pearls!

I thought it was pretty grand to have hens laying eggs. But now--we have Bend-cultured pearls. Perfect small, brown, smooth, sometimes warm, and laid with love pearls.

Tiffany's ain't got nothin' on this hen house!