Relaxin' Saturday

It has been a peaceful day today. It has rained here and there but not too bad. Pup's daughters are here again this weekend, which is great. They swam some today and last night and helped with the chickens.

Havoc came up after a morning run completely soaked. I'm not sure if he went swimming in the creek or chasing something through the damp woods.

The chickens are doing great. We put them in the tractors this morning. They totally enjoyed a day of eating grass and bugs along with some melon rinds and other various scraps we threw in there. 

 I picked a small strawberry from one of our bushes and tossed it in. The chase that followed was exciting and comical! The first one grabs it. Another runs by full speed, grabs the berry without even a pause and keeps running. Two more suddenly greet her and grab the berry from her. Small skirmish and one runs off to be confronted by the first one. I'm not sure who ended up actually eating it but I enjoyed the antics worthy of a Tom and Jerry cartoon.

Roo, on the other hand, does not like us taking HIS girls out of the coop nor does he like the tractors. He fusses and crows repeatedly. Just to make sure we remember that he is a rooster and we better bring his girls back soon. 

Once we bring them back he chases and scolds the girls for even thinking about leaving his coop. He pounces on them and pins them to the ground either raping them or practicing raping them...I'm not sure which. I'm not sure I WANT to know which! 

At any rate there is no doubt who the boss of the coop is! 

All the girls back in the coop. Eating some cracked corn and scraps. I have been giving them all sorts of scraps. Onion peels, the tops/seeds of peppers, banana peels,grapes that had browned a little, crushed egg shells, stale popcorn, stale bread etc. They love melon rinds! What a great way to get rid of them! 

I still love the color and markings of the Americaunas.

Topper & Cinder spent most of the day on the screened porch because of the rain. Topper watches out to the deck in hopes for the rain to stop so he can go hang out on the deck rails.  

During one of the breaks in rain, Cinder checks out the chickens in the tractor. 

Pupp and his girls have gone fishing. I hope they have fun and catch some fish!

Lauren & Gavin made it home safely. So glad the trip was uneventful and they are home safe! Also that I don't have to attend to Loki anymore! YAY! No offense Lauren, I love your cat but he is an asshole. Just sayin.

Just some chic pics

It has been a while since I have added some so thought I would update some pictures of the chicks.

Roo is doing great. He struts. He crows. He bosses the hens around. He rules the roost for sure. 

He loves to crow!  

He is protective of his hens and keeps them in line.

This is the new one the man claimed was a rooster. I don't think so. 

A couple of the Barred Rock girls. 

Tuesday. Is it really only Tuesday??

Is it really only Tuesday?? I'm ready for the weekend again already! 

Went and bought hay today for the chickens. We will use it for their bedding and a little on the floor of the coop to dry it out some. I got 6 bales. A perfect fit in my truck without having to tie them down. Good to know!

The kittens woke me up this morning around 5am in a fierce battle to conquer the world. (my bed) They romped, attacked each other, jumped off the bed then right back on, running as fast as they could. All while I was trying desperately to get that last hour of sleep. ARGH! I'd fling them off and they would think that was part of the battle and would jump right back in.

 I love kittens but they are lucky they survived this particular battle!

I have a strange urge to wake them up every time they fall asleep!

Pup's girls came out for the weekend. 

They helped move the chickens from the tractors to the coop. 

They were great and we had a good weekend with them!

The Butterflies finally made it to the party! Not as many in as we have had in the past but quite a few are fluttering around and in the Mimosa tree. 

The chickens have been really enjoying their time in the Chicken Tractors. We tried Roo (the rooster) in it but he banged around and was not crazy about it. So now we put 5 or 6 in the big tractor and 3 or so in the smaller one. We just do it during the day on the weekends while we are around to keep an eye on them.

Topper & Cinders' favorite hang out. The deck and deck rails. 

Have a great week everyone! Lauren, Joe, Gavin & Mylaine be careful on your trip home!

Love, love, love is all it takes.

There is a new Roo in town.

I found an ad on FB about a guy that was giving away roosters. We called him and they were Americaunas and young. His batch of chicks had an abnormally large amount of Roosters.Even better he was close by, within 10 minutes of our house! He even got his at the same place we did. (Fazzio's) So Pup and I get in the truck and head over to retrieve a few. We lost our rooster, Sheldon, in the infamous chicken slaughter a while back. 

His chicks were a little larger than ours. Maybe  a week or two older. He had one beautiful rooster roaming around free and the rest of his flock were in a very nice coop. After looking and talking with him we decided to take the one that was loose and one other one. He pointed out the others we could choose from. I look at them and realize that the ones he was calling Roosters looked just like a few we had at home. Hmmmm do we have more roosters than we realized?? I'm so confused! As far as I can tell there really is no sure fire way to tell unless you are an expert at sexing them....until they start crowing! 

The is the other one the man thought was a roo. What do you think? (as it sits in the hen house)

If it lays an egg we might take it back to him. After all we have been through I hate the thought that we took one of his hens.

We took one that he claimed was a rooster and the other big fine one that had been crowing the whole time and definitely had the strut of a young roo. After a small amount of debate on whether to go ahead and throw them in the coop and see what happens or separating them for a while we threw them in and hoped for the best. Keeping a close eye on them for a good while, of course!

Mr Roo took immediate control of the coop. The hens were falling all over themselves to get close to him and flirt their feathery butts off. He crows often and struts his stuff in glorious rooster style. The other "Roo" we brought home they immediately picked on and bossed around. Typical of a bunch of high school girls they picked on the new GIRL. They chased her around and let her know that they were there first. 

Gradually the picking on her has slowed down. She will do fine and fit in eventually. They aren't hurting her...just being bitchy/bossy. 

That night Roo had all of them tucked into the hen house as he sat guard in front of it. 

Lazy Sunday afternoon updates

As Pup posted we lost another 2 chickens this weekend. First thought it was Havoc. After finding one of them torn up in the woods we now think it was something else. Raccoon or maybe a fox. Pup is furious and frustrated with losing more. 

We went today and picked up two more Roosters  a guy down the road was giving away. His were Americaunas like ours and they look to be just a week or two older than ours. He even got them at the same place we did. After looking at the ones he was  calling Roosters I'm wondering if more of ours are Roosters than I thought! LOL He either gave us another hen or we have several Roosters. Only time will tell. I'm completely confused. 

This is one of the Roos we got from him. This is definitely a Roo! He even crows already! He is not an Americauna though...I think he looks more like a Black Copper Maran. 

He is a big beautiful Roo.

The hens seem pretty infatuated with the new stud in the coop. Is she giving him a kiss?? 

 

Pup is out working on the tractors and trying to make them more secure. Wish us luck! I fed them some grapes that were getting a little old and some old hot dog buns. They seem to enjoy them.

This is the other new one. The man says this is a Rooster. What do y'all think?

So far all the other hens are picking on it. Typical of the girls not liking the new girl in town! So I personally think it is a hen. 

We shall see, I guess.

They are not picking on the Rooster! 

Minion enjoying an afternoon nap. I might join him.

We had a great weekend with good friends. My daughter's birthday is tomorrow. I wish she was here so we could celebrate it but I hope she has an amazing one in Texas with Joe and the kids. Happy Birthday Lauren! Love you!

ARRRGGHHHH! It WAS Havoc who killed the two chickens Friday night. Pup caught him in the act of trying to bust in the new reinforced tractor. 

Furious this morning.
 We repaired the chicken tractor,placed chicken's in it and smiles abound,happy chickens.Last night,I had a great idea,while we are awake ,lets let 2 bard rocks and white girl sit and work the tractor.
   Checked periodicly all should be well,right???
I should have done more pushing and pulling on the poultry netting.
  Nope,"I know what Im doing"<<<NOT>!!!
A gap is in the wire,first thing I see,20 mins or so since last check,,WTF!!!
    Now 2 bard rocks  and 1 americana are missing,a frantic search is underway.
   White girl is found and the back side of the pen.
No sign of the other 2,have wait till daylight.
   Morning,now there is sign,bad sign,feathers,trailed into the woods,followed it leads to a corps.
  The other is MIA.
Need to fortify the tractor,lesson learnd.
   Down to 4 Amercanas,4 Bard rocks.
GGGGrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11

Almost Friday!

It is ALMOST Friday! YAY! I am so ready for the weekend.

You can tell it is Summer on the Gulf Coast. So hot you melt instantly when you go outside. Even the pets would rather stay inside in the A/C. Forty to Fifty percent chance of rain every day. Which means that  it is going to rain at some point during the day/evening. 

Pup patched up the Chicken Tractor and has it ready to test out. He is so awesome!

We are nervous about leaving them in it so we are trying it out up close to the house while we are here to keep an eye on them.

We are not going to leave them in it overnight to start out with. We will put them in it and let them "graze" and them put them back into their coop at night.

They seem to enjoy the fresh grass, bugs etc. It is funny to see them chase butterflies and other insects around in their coop! 

White Chick walks around like a Princess.  

Boudreaux guarding the tractor. 

This picture gives you an idea of the size. Three or Four chickens can be pretty comfortable in it.

This is blooming soon!

Boudreaux! 

This is what Minions do when not taking over the world.