Gobble Gobble Cluck

We decided that since we already had two recently hatched turkeys in our house that we would just go ahead and take care of the baby chicken inside as well. I wouldn't have done that had we not had others to put it with, but since we did I jumped on it. I am already concerned with introducing the teenagers into the coop with the moms; I was afraid that their might be more hostility if they felt they had to protect the baby from the newcomers, as well as their place in the pecking order.

Good news they get along just great!

They eat together, and sleep together.

Now let's just hope our little chicken doesn't grow up thinking it's a turkey, lol.

I am also keeping an eye out for another chick in the hen house. It would be nice to have two little ones to introduce together. Everything is better with a buddy.

A Bigger and Better Coop

Like I mentioned in my last post we have been wanting to get a bigger coop, so we can put all of our chickens together. 

We have been blessed or cursed depending in how you look at it with multiple sheds all over the property. They are all full to the brim with junk and some are in better shape than others. We cleaned this one out and went to move it up the hill to where the other coops are.

It is in pretty good condition and has the barn look like our little coop just on a larger scale. We don't have it just where we want it yet but it is in the right part of the yard now. We are also going to make a larger run for all of the coops. 

There are also a few adjustments that have to be made to make it chicken friendly: Roosts, Nesting Boxes, Chicken Door. Hopefully we will have it all ready soon!

Getting used to the youngsters

So we have been keeping the Mama Chickens separated from the teenagers, we had to wait for the little ones to get big enough to hold their own. 

So recently we have been slowly introducing Reba and Marie to their new friends two at a time. Reba has been sitting on eggs so she has been really agitated lately, however we put these two in the coop with them for 10 or 15 min and they all did really well together. Hopefully this means that when we get the bigger coop in the back yard and we move everyone in together we won't have any big fights. At least that is the goal.

A Broody Chicken

Well our hens were losing feathers due to the number of roosters that we had so we separated them. The ladies went in the coop. 

We got eggs really well for the first week or so. After a little while Reba started to get a little broody and we stopped getting eggs she stopped laying as many and wouldn't let us anywhere near them. It didn't matter if she or Marie laid the eggs Reba sat on them.

I was beginning to wonder if there was anyway they could even be fertile since they hadn't been with the gents in so long, but we marked the eggs anyway just to see what would happen. Then yesterday when we came home all the waiting paid off! :) She hatched an egg!

Meet our new chick!

New additions to the farm!

We got two turkey poults today.

they like to cuddle.

Farm Dog

Meet our newest member of the family! This is Boone. 

He is a Bernese Mountain Dog. He is little now but he wont be for long.

The boys love him and he has been doing really well with the chickens and the ducks. They aren't to sure about having a dog around but he just likes to sniff them. I think he is going to be a very good farm dog.