Meet the girls May '16

We were lucky to find laying hens to replace our free range brood of last year that met their fate, one at a time from the hawk that hunts once a month.  I just hate that I lose my girls, but I love the idea of uncaged egg layers.  These new girls are good layers.  Free roaming is new to them so they are still sticking close to their house.  As they get braver they'll begin to venture out further and further.  We're getting 4-7 eggs each days so that's plenty to supply the family.  My only complaint is we have one pecker, that golf balls are not curing.  I'll try to increase the protein, but after that, it's mustard,   and my hope she'll get a beak full.

Palais de Hen is completed

In April 2014, after the buildout of the "palais de hen" was completed, we bought nine hens from the Farm Store, we were told they would be ready about the 3rd week, so we waited, put in fresh straw and wood shavings and finally went to collect our new pullets.  However the first batch only had 4 of the breed we wanted, we were disappointed but collected them to settle them in until we could pick up the other 5 the following week.

Each group had to be handled separately, given their own space in the house about 3 days before allowing them in the fenced space but after two weeks we had hens running amuck.  It was the coolest thing, pulling up in the gator and they would gather like the paparozzi at a rock star concert, waiting of course, for scratch.

Henrietta, as Cliff began calling the largest pullet, was the friendliest with the biggest personna, not afraid of anything, if you wanted the other chickens to do something, she was the ticket.  One day we discovered her staying in the house, we thought she might be nesting, ya know, getting ready to lay.  But woefully, she wasn't eating and something was wrong, she died two days later, we still don't know why.  We had chosen 3 Rhode Island Reds and only two of all other breeds and lost a Rhody too.

All the Gold in California - Water

    Raindrops fell in April thru mid May and the green metamorphosis has been delayed until later this month.  We at the Doubleb are grateful for the water droplets, the cloudy days and the work delay that a late spring means.  Watering has been delayed until this week, so that means three week more water over the damn, and back into the water supply - Every little drop helps.