Penelope's Grand Adventure

I am going to start from the beginning  in order for you to get the full picture - so please bear with me!

Today was the first day of my Vacation. I woke at 04:00 I headed out for some relaxation with my .35cal rifle as today was the first day of deer season for me. I settled into my tree stand while watching the sun rise and the forest started to come alive with the sounds of birds and other small critters. Shortly after 08:00 I was surprised to see a large doe stand up from her bedding area off to my right. She took a few steps into an opening and I took my shot. She immediately laid back down and I figured I would wait before I climbed down and seeing that she went right down I decided there was no need to take another shot.

Fast forward 5 minutes and my decision not to shoot again would begin replaying over and over in my mind. You guessed it, she stood back up and began to walk away. It was at this point I realized I never cycled my gun and as soon as I did she made for the hills. Turns out I missed her - when the gun went off she decided to lay down to wait and see what all the commotion was. When I finally got down to see if there was any sign of blood or hair she must have finally decided to head from the hills to the next county and almost ran Seth over in the process. I took some time to survey the area from where I originally shot to where I last saw her just to be sure.

As you can imagine I was quite upset and decided to call it a morning and headed home. At 10:00 I headed to the gun range to see if there was something wrong with my gun and was both happy and sad that it still was shooting tight groups at both 50 and 100 yards. I packed up my things and headed back home.

Once home I needed something to distract me from beating myself up over missing a deer and the 3 cords of wood in the side yard waiting to be split was just the cure. Before I knew it I had almost an entire cord split and decided that I would go sit on the other side of the farm for evening stand. I put back on my hunting pants, kissed the family and before I knew it I was back in the woods and despite the morning events I was grateful that I had the day off to get some much needed rest and relaxation.

The afternoon went by in a flash and at 16:35 I climbed down from my tree stand and headed for the truck.
As I got closer to my truck I saw something moving under it. I quickened my pace and when I was within 30 feet of the truck I was greeted with much joy and song by Penelope!

Who is Penelope you may ask...She is a Chicken! I began looking around to see if there were any others because at this point I didn't realize she was one of my chickens. I reached the truck and she came running out from under my truck clucking as if to say "Hey - I know you, are you surprised?" I looked down and saw the purple leg band and realized that it was one of the girls from our newer flock.

It seems that while I was splitting wood she found that my engine compartment was warm and cozy and roosted in it for an afternoon nap. I am still amazed that she was able to hang in there for the 16 mile ride from our house to the farm. I can only imagine what was going through her little bird brain as we went down dirt roads to paved roads and then down Rt.191 before turning into the field at the farm. It's a good thing I decided to hunt where I did because I considered hunting the upper portion of the property which would have meant a trip across the river where she more than likely would have been swept away!

I am glad it was dark out on the ride home because I'm sure there would have been lots of strange looks if people realized I was driving with a chicken roosting on my leg!

Hopefully this is the last time she will hide out in the undercarriage of my vehicle but if she ever does it again and survives at least I will have another great story to tell you all about and hopefully put as big a smile on your face as I have on mine!

From stilllife to wildlife

I started learning how to use my new camera by taking pictures of objects that wouldn't run a way from me - I am proud to say that I have graduated to taking pictures of living creatures. Ariel has taken an interest in the camera too and the pictures of the cat and bunny below are hers. Since taking these I have discovered many more settings so I will be experimenting with them over the next coupled days.

 Sadie - our house rabbit

 Annabeth - Queen of the castle 

 One of our many betta fish - Thank you Seth and Sara

 Gabriel supervising play time

 Navarre and Alex playing keep away with the ball

 Our sweet lady at the door looking for a snack

Watching Alex unwrap crackers for them

Sadie looking for a treat

 Annabeth is not pleased her nap was disturbed!

My little old man

If I close my eyes maybe you will go away!

In Memory of Moo

The past 2week has been full of strife and emotion to say the least. I have been having some unexpected health issues which has weighed heavy on not only me but the entire family. Thankfully the Dr's have finally started to deal with the cause of the pain and tomorrow will be another round of blood work. During this time we noticed one of our Bunnies was having what appeared to be small seizures but she seemed normal otherwise. The other day when we were doing the daily animal chores we noticed that she had a slight tilt to her head and suspected that she must of had a stroke. Despite her appearance she was still a sweet little bunny who loved getting her daily attention which usually includes a yogurt treat and some petromalt.

Unfortunately she took a turn for a worse early this morning and sadly today we were forced to say goodbye to our sweet little "Moo-Moo" Miley. I've learned that goodbyes will always hurt, pictures never replace having been there, memories, good or bad, will bring tears and words can never replace feelings. Thankfully we have photo's, some great video's and all our memories to help us cope as time goes on.

I tend to be an emotional person and I have found that I have a very soft spot in my heart for my pets. There is truly a difference in animals that we raise for food and those that we raise as pets - I know this as truth as I have never shed a tear over an animal that was destined for my plate but as I am quite sad as I am typing this while I recall the enjoyment Miley provided me, my family, and all the people who visited our home the past couple years.

It will be strange only having one bunny but I'm sure with a little effort Alex can get Sadie to play "Bunnie Battles" with him the way Miley did. It seems like only yesterday I was posting about the day we got them in a tongue-in-cheek Post!

She was a very playful bunny and despite it looking like torture she actually enjoyed her toys and the constant challenges posed to her by Alex in his self proclaimed "Bunnie Battles" I will miss her waking me in the morning with the sound of her playing with her carrot bells.

Their not just for Pregnacy Tests any more...

In case you are wondering - Yes, that title popped into my head as soon as I realized I would post about our family outing.

Rebecca was feeling under the weather yesterday so I decided since we were not getting together with anyone today I would get up early with the kids and take a road trip to attend a Poultry Swap at the NorthEastern Avicultural Society monthly meeting which is held at the Westford Sportsman's Club in Westford, Massachusetts.

I woke the kids up early this morning and to my surprise Rebecca decided to go along for the ride. I found out about the event from my fellow BYC members and was excited to see the different types of chickens, ducks, geese, game birds, exotic tropical birds and lots of different types of bunnies.

Before departing I checked the web site one final time for the address and was thrilled to find out that they were going to have a Falconry demonstration / informational session.

We had no plans on purchasing anything today but our hearts were stolen by a pair of little girl bunnies (Yes I verified this when I got home as we don't want them to multiply!) who we named Sadie and Miley. They are a mix of Dwarf and Mini-Rex so they should remain small and seem to enjoy human interaction. Sadie is similar in color to an eastern cottontail and Miley has the white patches and blue eyes (in the pictures they are red from the camera flash.

Saying Good-Bye...

Today we said good bye to our pet house Rabbit - "Kipper"I've learned that goodbyes will always hurt, pictures never replace having been there, memories, good or bad, will bring tears and words can never replace feelings. Thankfully photo's and memories help us cope as time goes on.

Even though I am a man I tend to be an emotional person and I have found that I have a very soft spot in my heart for my pets. There is truly a difference in animals that we raise for food and those that we raise as pets - I know this as truth as I have never shed a tear over an animal that was destined for my plate but as I sit here typing this I am fighting back those tears as I recall the years of enjoyment Kipper provided me, my family, and all the people who visited our home - both young and old.
Kipper was a great little bunny and like most of our family experiences there is a story behind how we got him.

While we were in the process of building the house we decided that we would eventually like to get a bunny and decided to go and price out everything we would need and check out the bunnies available at the local pet stores. During one of our trips the moment we entered the pet shop a large white cockatoo flew across the store and landed on Ariel's shirt. It turns out the bird was quite mean and as it was clinging to Ariel's shirt it reached up and latched its beak onto Ariel's nose and began biting and clawing its way up her chest. I was able to get the bird off of her and then one of the kids working at the shop put it in its cage. Ariel was bleeding from her nose (as it had been pierced - something she might want to do when she is a teenager but not as a toddler) and when I went to talk to the young man working at the store he got me so upset I actually when to the police department and filed a complaint. The next day the owner of the store called me after finding out what happened to apologize. He asked if we were looking for anything in particular while we were there so I informed him of my plans of getting a bunny when we moved into the new house. A few weeks after moving in I received a call from the pet shop owner telling me he got a bunny from a local 4H member and he wanted me to come pick it up for Ariel.

Kipper was a great bunny and enjoyed spending time running around the kitchen, hiding behind the couch, and relaxing on the deck during the nicer weather. He loved when people would spoil him by feeding him goodies out of the treat jar and would run to the opening of his kennel when he heard the sound of the jar opening! All of us will miss Kipper as much as we miss Goliath and Britney as they were all great pets.

Movin on up - Just like the Jeffersons!

During my vacation the family and I took a trip to NY to pick up a coop I had ordered from a fellow BackYardChickens.com member. Alex and I assembled it and decided to give it a few upgrades, we installed a roost, a divider board for the coop/nest box as well as a vinyl floor in the coop, and nesting box as well as the floor of the attached run. We installed hardware cloth over the window opening and latches to keep out any nasty critters. I finally got around to leveling out the cement foundation blocks and moved the coop with Chip & Dale into it's permanent location (for now!) I considered attaching wheels to the coop and making it a chicken tractor that can be moved around the yard and into shelter during harsh winter months but I decided I can always make the changes later if needed.

Faster than construction in Rome!

It's amazing how a few hours here and there can provide one with a "work of art" like this! Chuck and I have worked on the coop on days that my work schedule have allowed and in just a couple of work sessions this is what we have accomplished.

Hopefully it will receive its certificate of occupancy this Monday as the "little girls" have begun laying!

And then there were EGGS!

I can't believe it my 15 week old little girls are laying eggs already! I knew from my research that Red Sex Links were early layers and once they start - get ready for LOTS of eggs. I know from my older flock the normal age of egg laying is between 22-24 weeks and most RSL chickens start between 18-20 weeks. Much to my surprise the other night while everyone was happily free ranging around our property one of the "little" girls decided to check out the "big" girls coop. She was soon joined by Momo (our Golden Comet rooster.) After a little while I went in to encourage her to find somewhere else to play and much to my surprise I found a warm, little brown egg! Today when I went to put them away for the night I was presented with another one. I am so glad the new coop is almost done - hopefully if all goes well they will be able to move into their new home on Monday night. Below are a couple of pictures of them "In the act" and of the yummy - although still small - eggs I have recieved from my little red darlin's.

New and Improved Egg Palace

Rebecca's father has been helping me fabricate the parts of the new chicken coop that we are building. It sure is nice to have something built the proper way! We finally had a few days without rain and even a little sunshine. This past weekend we took advantage of a clear morning and placed the floor on its foundation blocks and attached the front and back walls. There is still a lot of work to be done and we will be working on it when my schedule permits. Here are some pictures of what was accomplished today. I look forward to posting more pictures as we progress with the construction.

Saddles for riding or Aprons for cooking?

In the words of Hanna Montana - "Say What, Say What?"

My working girls (by working I mean "egg producing" of course!) are starting to look pretty shabby, partially due to molting but mostly due to playing "leap frog" with Sokka - our rooster. Their lower back feathers take the brunt of the damage and on two of the girls they are all but gone. I found on my favorite web site - Back Yard Chickens, that you can purchase Saddles to help protect the chickens during heavy breeding seasons. Some people call them aprons, hen dresses but the correct term from what I can tell is "saddles". I have found them in all shapes, sizes, colors, and of course - Price.

I decided to do a little searching and found a rough pattern on the web and after showing it to Rebecca we (and by we I mean Rebecca - of course!) decided to try to make our own and save some money as well as obtain the satisfaction of using something that is homemade.

So I guess they aren't for the chickens to use while they are cooking and even though four of our chickens are Jersey Giants they are still way to small for any of us to ride around the yard!

Rebecca has done a great job and we have found a few things we are going to change on the remaining saddles. Here are a few pictures of the first ones we made both on and off of the chickens. Hopefully this will relieve any discomfort making them into happy little chickens - and we all know happy chickens lay more eggs! Our first two lucky recipients are Penny and Guinevere.

Spoiled food

No, I'm not talking about food that is unfit to eat - I'm talking about spoiled chickens - (also know by their names - Chip and Dale.) They are our Dark Cornish Bantams, Chip is the girl and Dale is the boy.

I am waiting for my pre-fab chicken coop to arrive so I can get our spoiled bantams out of the house. Here is a picture of the coop I am getting - It is sold online for almost $500 but thanks to a fellow BYC member I am not paying anywhere even close to that!

Chip and Dale have spent so much time around us they have become "pets" and spend their nights in a brooder under the kitchen table and during the day they have the run of our deck. They are very heavy footed and sound like mini T-Rex dinosaurs running to and fro. We have had a lot of rain here in the North East the past month so on several occasions the birds get a good towel drying and lots of snuggling before they get tucked in for the night.

I am also ready for them to get moved off the deck as they have discovered my patio garden and like the rest of us really enjoy the taste of jalapenos much to my dismay! Here they are hanging out with the family during one of our brief sunny moments recently.



Here are some pictures of our other chickens - I can't wait until they start earning their keep and laying some eggs - our mature chickens have been going through their molt which has really slowed down our egg production. So far everyone has been getting along while free ranging around the property and hopefully there are enough girls that the 2 roosters will get along.



Here are our favorite chickens - Our Silkie rooster "Sokka" and our Polish hens "Shiloh" on right and "Edwina" on left.


Alex and I also took the time to bury the ashes of our cat "Britney" who died during the late winter months. As everyone knows I am not a cat person but this was the first animal I ever bought for Rebecca and she was a great pet over the years. Alex really loved her and after we buried her ashes he took the time to make a simple memorial for her and my son's kindness really touched my heart.