Its almost chick time!

Spring is just around the corner and Im so excited! I placed my order with Cackle Hatchery last night! If you are thinking of ordering any chicks I highly recommend Cackle. They are out of Lebanon, Mo which is just a few hours from me here in Oklahoma. Its cold here and I dont want my babies to be transit any longer than necessary! I decided on all large brown egg layers, so by this summer I'll have eggs coming out of my ears! Here is my selection, 5 of each for a total of 15 hens....for now...lol
First we have the Buff Orpingtons. Beautiful blond fluffy butts!

Next are the Black Australorps. These little dudes are the cutest chicks. Black with a speck of white on their heads :)

Last are the traditional Rhode Island Reds. A popular bird with a great attitude, hardy and awesome egg layers.

These 15 will join my flock of 12. I have plans this spring for a brand new chicken "coop de ville" with an expanded area for foraging. New nest boxes. new perchs, new everything! I also have my eye on some easter eggers and some black marans. Chicken Addiction...I haz it!
As soon as Cackle gives me a shipping date, which should be in February I will blog and about it and when the chicks get here I will post pictures...many many pictures :)

Eggs I gathered today. I love the variety of colors!

I'm baaaaackkkkk!

I took a year off, worked outside the home and well..it all went to crap! I didnt have much of a garden last year, the yard was looking awful, I wasnt able to incubate any more eggs and I had no time for my crafts and my Etsy shop. So I quit the job and I'm back on track! Heres some photos I took today of my flowers and plants. I cant believe my lavender is looking so good! I didnt get one single bud last year. Looks like I may have enough to make my sachets with this year instead of buying! Enjoy... :)

Looks like a pretty flower but its actually a variety of rose.
Goldfish are doing great-going on 5 years.
Clematis come back every year, bigger and better!
My herb planter. Rosemary, sage and basil.

Final Outcome

23 of 27 hatched! Thats pretty good odds. All are healthy and happy and Im getting ready to do it again! This time Im only using eggs from my Rhode Island Red girls because they are prolific layers of large, dark brown, yummy eggs! Enjoy the pics!

WOOT! 6 chicks and counting!

Whew! It has been a day! So this morning temp and humidity was holding within an aceptable range and I had several pips. Then in a matter of an hour I had two chicks out of their eggs!

Almost there!

Its hard to take pics through the bator window.

So I left for work and I worried all day....about those two chicks that had hatched and about all the others. If you live in Oklahoma you know it got HOT today. I rushed home after work expecting maybe a couple more babies. I had 4 more for a total of 6!!!! BUT the bator humidity had risen from an acceptable 70% to a completely unacceptable 99 due to our weather! There was water dripping from the bator windows and the babys were sopping wet. I went to my friends at www.backyardchickens.com for advice. Normally you do not take the lid off the bator until all your eggs have hatched because the drop in humidity can cause "shrinkage" which means the membrane surrounding the chicks adheres to their face and body resulting in death....

DEATH IS NOT AN OPTION WITH ME! So I quickly took the lid off, removed a sopping wet sponge, grabbed the babies out, wiped the condensation off the windows, checked each pipped egg for life...each one was still chirping-very good news! Lid replaced, babies in the brooder, humidity back to normal and we are back in business! Theres lots of noise coming from the bator and several are zipping around their eggs. Should have more babies tonight :)

On the way to the brooder.....still a little damp.

Drying nicely and looking oh so sweet!!!!

Eggs are in LOCKDOWN!

Its day 18 and the eggs are on lockdown which simply means they wont be turned anymore and the lid stays put. The eggs are placed small end down in the egg cartons because that keeps the air cell at the top and thats where the chick will break through. Large end down would mean a drowned chick and we dont want that :o ! The humidity must be raised to about 70% and that what the sponges are for. There are channels in the bottom of the incubator that hold water also. See that rather large egg by the green sponge? Thats the double-yolker (twins). It has to remain laying down or the chick on bottom would must certainly drown. This egg will be quite an experiment...if the chicks survive I will have to help the one on bottom out. Thats a delicate job...if I help it out too early it will bleed to death, too late and I have a dead chick. So much could go wrong with that one that Im trying not to be overly hopeful. So between tonight and Sunday, there should be babies if all went well :) Cross your fingers! I will post progress pics and any new developments.

Check out the two bantam babies I bought a few weeks ago! So cute and they have tons of feathers on there feet

Summers Past...

I love summer...especially the planting. Every year I plant a garden of vegetables and herbs and around our pond and yard we have loads of flowers and shrubs. I couldnt wait to get started and since we are still having the occasional cold night I decided to start some seeds. See the larger plants below? Those are moon flowers. They only bloom at night and the smell is outta this world!

This is a moon flower plant in all its glory!

Here are some of my favorite photos of summers past.....

Hitchin a ride!

How dogs cool off in the dog days of summer :)

Oh yeah..we have berries too!

I bought this cute rooster wind chime to celebrate the arrival of Spring 2011!

And today I planted 3 lavender plants by the pond....Im officially ready for summer now!

10 different herb seeds started....

Double Yolkers

I got rained out remodeling a kids wooden playhouse into a new chicken summer home :) Thought it would be a good time for a blog entry!



I posted earlier about the possibility of one of the incubating eggs being a "double-yolker"...I candled it today and indeed it is. In nature these eggs never make it. The bottom twin will drown in fluids or be smooshed while the top twin sometimes hatches successfully. Want to watch an assisted hatch of twins?



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1ZeEY-kt7A