Sing a song while you lay an Egg!

I don't think it looks very comfortable to lay an egg.  What do you think?  This lady looks like she is in a miserable position.  Hens often sing a little hen clucking song while the lay.  Maybe the tune takes their mind off of the task at hand.

Peek a boo!

Peek a boo!  We see you!

Momma hen doesn't like me to look in on her.

I LOVE AUTUMN!!

37 degrees this morning. I love autumn! Cold nights, starry skies, quiet cold mornings and perfect sunny weather with trees changing colors during the day. Hot Tubs! Warm comforters! Hot drinks! Fires! Pumpkins! Turkeys! Football! Sloppy Joes!  Roasted beets!  Hats and mittens! Hikes, horseback rides! Have a happy, cool sunny Sunday!

PS:  It took a long time and many shots to get this guy (Narragansett Tom Turkey named Cherokee) to pose next to the pumpkins!

It's someone's Birthday!

Welcome to the world little chick!

Don't count your chickens before they hatch!

I enjoyed seeing a momma hen raise her chick so much that the next hen who wanted to sit on eggs, I've let sit.  She isn't letting me get close to her.

There are really three hens sharing sitting duties on this nest and I hadn't been able to get a look at how many eggs there might be.  And momma hens are viscous.  Finally, all three cleared out for a moment and I got a look.

YIKES!  This could result in many chicks!  But you know what!?  It's true- you should never count your chickens before they hatch.  Not all of these eggs will hatch for a variety of reasons.  Some eggs just don't mature into chicks and sometimes the egg was never fertilized.  It takes 21 days from the time a momma hen starts sitting on her eggs until they hatch.  We'll see soon who shows up!

Thursday morning on the farm...resting Gandolf, fighting turkeys, nosy geese

I love mornings on the farm.  It's usually quiet with just the birds chirping- nature and farm animals just waking up.

It's hard to sneak up on Gandolf, but he was enjoying a relaxing morning in his house after protecting everyone last night.  This guy is so handsome- I just love him.  Wish you could see the size of his paws in this picture!

First thing in the morning, I open the chicken houses and the goose house.  They geese come charging out, turn the corner, flap their wings while the run for about twenty yards.  Toulouse geese are really too heavy to fly although they sometimes make it off the ground about four feet in the air before they come down.  I'll try to get a video of this sometime for you!  In the meantime, here are a couple of my geese checking me out.

This morning there was a turkey fight!  No idea why but in the end, nobody was hurt.
You can see this on YouTube at Turkey Fight!  I love how Cherokee, my Narragansett Tom (that's what you call a male turkey) watches over the fight like a referee!

And lastly, we have a little groundhog living near our house.  He's a happy guy these days because the Chinese Chestnut Tree has dropped it's chestnuts and he's always standing up in this area munching away.  I'll try and get a better picture but it's difficult to sneak up on him and get close enough.

Happy Thursday everyone!

A Squishy Egg?

http://youtu.be/GUHh4AGscC0
A Squishy Egg?

Yesterday I found a strange egg and had to make an emergency video because I wanted to show it to you!  I get no prizes for beauty nor composition in this video (yikes on both accounts) but wanted to show you this weird egg!  You'll never see this in the egg carton you get from the store!
http://youtu.be/GUHh4AGscC0