Poor thing. Mourning dove.

Mourning dove.....I think the van hit it. 

My Chickens: Sad happening.

The new Phoebe nesting in Caps nest has been murdered.

I arrived to find all her eggs on the ground, smashed, and her dead in the yard.
I don't know what had happened, she didn't have a mark on her and wasn't mangled at all.
Maybe Cap killed her for some reason, if she didn't want a stranger in her nest.

Like before:
'The life of a wild animal always has a tragic end.'

My Chickens: Jeannie's foot?/New Eggs!

Jeannie has recently started limping, badly.  She hops on one foot all the time.
I don't know how that happened, but Sweetie Pie is taking good care of her. He won't let her out of his sight!

Jackie. Don't you want to hug her!!!!

And a new bird is nesting in Cap's nest!  It's another Phoebe, but bigger than Cap.  It's eggs are huge, and there's only four.
I cant wait to have more chicks in there!

My Chickens: Life or Death.

Sorry chicken pals, this is about Cap.

Today paid a toll on Caps three remaining chicks.  One, who fell from the nest but didn't die(I call him Buffy), had an obviously broken leg.  The one I called Flip is the only known survivor, but let me start from the beginning.
 When I climbed the ladder and looked in the nest, I frightened the chicks and the flew.  Buffy hit the side of the shed and slid to the floor. Flip was luckier, and flew out the door, landing in the yard.
The third chick also made it outside, only to disappear into the thick bushes, never to be seen again.
I rushed down and scooped up Buffy, who settled down and sat in my hand without a struggle.
Then I caught Flip and stroked him until he perched on my finger quietly.
I could not find the last chick.
I did look hard.
Really hard.
Cap was screeching and screeching in a tree. Flip flew to her, or tried to.  Falling short, he sat in the grass, peeping.
"Calm down, chickie," I picked him up and boosted him into the sky.  He turned in mid-air and landed on my shoulder.
"No! Go to Cap!"  This time, he zoomed across the yard and perched in the brush.  Cap and her husband swooped over Flip, encouraging him to follow them to safety.  He did.               I never saw him again.
And Buffy, poor Buffy, with a broken leg and no sense of balance,  could not fly and flopped helplessly around.  
He died a little while ago.  

Well that's the story of Cap's family.  I still do not know where that third chick is, or if he survived, but I hope he did.
Flip is most likely going to grow up.                                




In the words of the author of  Wild Animals I Have Known:
'The reason this story is tragic is because it is true. The life of a wild animal always has a tragic end.'

My Chickens: Raced today/ Poor chick!

IT. WAS. SO. HOT. TODAY!  I had to get up eeeaarly to go run the Freihofer's Run.  It was ssoo deathly hot!! I finished in 29minutes38seconds, despite an embarrassing trip to the medical tent with the help of two race officials. :)

Ah.......the chickens only laid three eggs today. Wonder why.

Something really sad happened when I went to check on Cap's chicks.  One of the chicks had fallen from the nest and was on the floor!  It was hurt badly not to mention the fact that Zesty had stepped on it while she was pestering me. 

Its neck wasn't broken, so I returned it to the nest, hoping it would be okay.  But when I came back and looked in the nest, the chick was dead.   Poor Cap now has three chicks.  Hopefully the others will be okay.  Oh, and another bird(a house wren) is nesting in my bird house in the woods! I hope she hatches her chicks soon!

Well, bye! Here's some pictures of birds and chickens.

I just love this picture!

Nice.

Some chubby chicks!

Not my chickens

Half'n'half

                               

My Chickens: Rollin' Hens and Desperate Phoebes.

It was extraordinarily hot today and the hens were happy to lay in the shade or roll in the cool dust.  Zesty was, sadly, not very welcomed to roll with the others, as they pecked her continuously on her sore spot(the bare, picked area on her back).     She did get to roll for a while though. All the pullets, but Chestnut, rolled for a long, long time!! I had an enjoyable time watching them fight over the deepest dusting spots and lay with their legs stretched out. 

"Stay away from my dirt or else!"

That's what Half'n'half says to the others! 

Oh, and about Cap.   She was busy searching for food.  It is so hot, no worms were out and her chicks were hungry. When Cap left the nest to find food, I climbed up and fed the chicks some worms and bread. Okay, okay, I know I shouldn't of interfered, but Cap was having trouble and the smallest chick was starving to death.  I wouldn't want any of her chicks to die.   Anyway, in worked out and they're all fed now.  My chicks are huge and I'm working on introducing them to the hens!

My Chickens: I Need Your Help!!

Well, first of all, I had a great memorial day. I even held a flag in a parade!
But here's my issue.........Sally is a rooster!!!!  Sally Sussex is A ROOSTER!!!!
(So is Sweetie Pie, but I don't need to rename him.)
I need your help to think of an alternative name for "Sally"!

Well, now that that's taken care of, here's some pictures for you to enjoy. :)

Here's a good picture of Caps chicks!

Cranky....

And this pretty girl....

Um...wipe your beak, please.

And just a little something........

Gotta laugh!!

Bye!  "Sally" is waiting!!

My Chickens:Are CRAZY!!

One of my hens is scared of eggs! I always can tell when there's an egg, because I can hear her screaming as though there's a fox out there!! HA! She is CRAZY!!
And I checked on Cap. There are three chicks now!! One egg that didn't hatch. I told her congratulations!!  I couldn't get a decent picture of them, though. Sorry!! That nest is high!!

My Chickens:Cap's Chicks Have Hatched!!!!

Hi everyone!! I'm back!! And guess what!!!! Cap, the Phoebe, has hatched her chicks!!! Or chick.
I heard peeping that was NOT my chicks and went to investigate.  Then I realized the noise was coming from the shed! 
I climbed the terrifyingly tall ladder and ducked as Cap whirred out of there. She landed a short distance away and watched my warily, but I've done this every year for awhile so she wasn't too frightened. I had to use a mirror, but finally I saw what I'd been waiting for: A tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny chick!!! It must of hatched this morning, for the other chicks still weren't out of their eggs.  It was so cute-quta even!!! Regardless of the fact that it had no feathers or down, it was still adorable!!
Oh! And the chickens now lay seven eggs a day!! WOW!!

My Chickens: Cap and Tarpie.

Of the late, I've been getting three eggs a day.  But this post is mostly about my wild bird friends, Cap and Tarpie.
Tarpie is a robin. He always comes around to eat any spilt seed.
Cap is a phoebe. She's been around for years and always nests in the shed.
 A couple days ago, there was an uproar amongst the robins. Tarpie was trailing a long piece of tarp fiber from his leg!(That's why I call him Tarpie.) I tried unsuccessfully to catch him and get it off, but it's nearly impossible to catch a wild robin who is frighted by a strange snake clinging to its leg. So I gave up and a day later, it was gone. I still don't know how he got it off.  And about Cap. Today she layed her eggs and is snuggled on them as we speak!  I now will peek at her every day 'til the hatch. It is most interesting.   And highly educational.