Happenings at the pond

Lots of activity at the pond this year! We added some fingerling bass after having a company come out to count our stock. It's a healthy pond and well stocked but we want more bass. We can catch quite a few catfish and some tiny perch most days. Our goal is to be able to go out and catch something anytime 🎣

I originally got a few ducks because I wanted them at the pond. Well, I could use some more girls. My ratio isn't ideal. I've posted a few photos of ducklings. They're so cute and fun! Watching them follow mama is adorable! Sadly for one reason or another none have survived. New mamas and cold windy weather are tough. Take your pick of predators: turtles, bass, snakes, herons, and egrets. Well, I'm happy to announce we finally have a survivor 🦆! Our Cayugas, Right, Left, and In Between (the drake) are shown here with the five little ducklings the girls co-hatched. That seems to be a trend at our place 😎 No recent photos. It spends a lot of time in the duck house and is always too far away. Here's to a long and healthy life little one!

Canadian geese that are frequent visitors. These aren't just passing through. We're told somebody raised a bunch a few years ago on the other side of town and they will now randomly show up and hang out at different lakes. We have a pair that visit us regularly for days at a time. Their current visit has lasted almost a month. Two days ago 6 more joined them. The 6 stay for the day then fly off at night and return in the morning. Love it!

Our Guinevere is happy to stay and protect his flock of chickens in the yard. He, yes he (his story here: http://lazydogranchblog.blogspot.com/2016/06/mother-goose.html?m=1), did chaperone the first ducklings at the pond for a while but was returned to the yard a couple of weeks later. He likes to play and bathe in his pool and sometimes the koi pond because he can flip upside down in it 🙃

Sprout, a crested duck, was an impulse buy at the feed store 😲 Because I've never done that before.... I wanted a yard duck. Would've worked except I have an uncanny knack for picking boys... He's a very confused duck. He tries to grab a hen by the neck once in a while but he's just not sure what to do after that. I can't exactly put him out at the pond. He'd be attacked by the others and might not survive. Here he's sitting in a nest box. He often does this in the morning sometimes joining a hen as she lays her egg. 🙄 I do have a duck I rescued one cold evening from the pond. Not sure where he/she will eventually end up once grown. If it's a girl I may let her join Sprout. Sorry, no photo. It's happily living at this point in a grow out run with some chicks though. 

I got a call one evening wanting to know if I wanted a goose. Well, I didn't want one in the yard but I was happy to take the chance she wouldn't fly away if we put her at the pond. Meet Gwendolyn, a Toulouse goose. Larger than Guinevere by a bit, she has made herself at home and keeps her distance. I hear her once in a while honking. She likes to hang out when the geese visit but seems just as happy with the ducks. 

As for the koi pond I finally ordered lilies and got them planted. Hopefully they'll all survive, fill the pond, and give us blooms all summer long 🌸 Still struggling with planting around it but I'll get there. 

Sun's almost up!

"Gosh, mom, the sun will be up in 2 minutes... where ya been?"

Elvis, Prince, and Tom meet me every morning (because they roost on top of the coop - no room inside for these big boys) to escort me through my morning routine and discuss current events in the flock. Yes, they talk quite frequently. They guard the flock by keeping watch over them. Sometimes they break up confrontations between chickens. Sometimes they do the confronting...

Tom was our first tom turkey. There was a Jerry but he got sick several months ago. Had I known I would have three they'd have been named Larry, Moe, and Curly.

The poults hatched this year are doing quite well. The mamas wanted to be moms but just weren't ready so they've been growing up with the baby chicks. It'll be interesting to see what will join the flock this year. The meanest will join us for Thanksgiving dinner!

The turkeys are some of my favorite birds in the yard ❤

Presley and her poult

After one turkey poult was hatched under a broody chicken Appalonia hatched her six. She then proceeded to move to the next nesting box to continue in her broodiness. I happily took the poults to raise. Appalonia has spent the past two weeks breaking her broodiness...

I had high hopes Presley would be a good mama. Unfortunately, only one of her eggs hatched. She then proceeded to stay with it for four days. They ventured out together but not far on days three and four. 

On day five they were happily wandering around and I was watching from the patio. Once the baby disappeared but it was just resting in the grass. I became a tad concerned at that point. She wouldn't be the first mother I'd have to remove the young from. Almost an hour later I took charge of the adorable little poult saving it from some curious guineas and an oblivious mama. Young fist time mamas don't always get it. That's why I'm here 😊

Both are well! Presley went back to a normal life. App is still attempting broodiness, crushing eggs if she gets in a nest 😕 , but I'm hoping we're about done with that. #7 poult is in a brooder with some young chicks and will soon join the rest of this year's poults. Not sure what I'm going to do with them yet. Guess it'll depends on how many of each sex there are. 

Turkey for Thanksgiving anyone? 🦃

Twins!

Last night.... no, let me back up a tad....

Appalonia hatched her poults then moved to another nest box with eggs and a hen sitting on them. She just joined in... The little ones are happily growing in a brooder. I'm slowly having to break the broody cycle in the flock because we have no eggs! Broody hens don't lay eggs...

Presley, my other turkey hen, has faithfully sat on her clutch leaving once or twice a day for food and water. She's in a medium size igloo dog house on the patio. One or two hens regularly lay their eggs in with hers. A couple of weeks ago I caught her off the nest. I candled her eggs and removed the chicken eggs to my incubator. They started hatching last week one or two a day...

So, I feel the need to explain here...

You may jump to the next paragraph if you know about hatching eggs ~ Fowl will lay an egg almost every day. Once they are happy with the number they will go broody and set on them. Going broody means their body temperature will increase and some will pluck their chest feathers to expose the skin. Then they sit until their eggs hatch leaving the nest for food, water, elimination (yes, it's huge), and fiercely guarding their young. Some breeds brood more frequently than others with or without eggs. Those eggs will wait until she starts to brood to begin developing. So, the first laid egg will hatch about the same time as the last laid egg. Chickens hatch in 21 days. Turkeys and guineas in 28.

When it's time the chick uses its beak to break through the egg shell. It usually goes all the way around then comes out the top through the hole it has made. Sometimes the cap falls back into place making the egg appear whole again. Well, sort of, at a glance maybe...

Now, back to Presley...

She's due to start hatching this Friday. I grabbed the extra chicken eggs and candled hers again this morning. Five of her six eggs are good. One more may, or may not, be a day late. The seventh isn't. Writing this I realize I probably should've removed it too... oh, well. The chicken eggs laid in her nest immediately started to develop, rather than waiting, because Presley was providing the proper environment. This explains why they were hatching daily in the incubator - because they were laid daily.

Forward to where I began...

Last night I checked and saw a foot poked out of the pipped hole of an egg.  I was excited because I was wondering what was in that large egg. Generally breeders don't help a chick because if the chick can't get out it's probably not strong enough to live on the outside. I'm not a breeder but I stopped spending so much time and effort on a weak or sickly chick months ago because I'd rather the time and energy go into my healthy flock. After consulting with my chicken angel (yes, she's the best) I decided to take off a tiny bit more shell.

This morning I check on the brooder and see the little chick calmly sitting in an egg cup (the cup that holds the egg in the correct position - pointed end down while the incubator automatically "turns" them). Yay, it made it! I turn to check on the other newbies in the brooder on the floor. All's well so I open the bator to take out the newest, love on it, and add it to the others. I see a shell with two legs sticking straight up. (Remember it's morning and this is the first thing I do after getting dressed.) I look back at the chick, then back at the legs. First thing I think is that last night's chick didn't make it and the little yellow newbie was from a different egg. The legs had folded down and started chirping! Such carrying on! I grabbed the egg and carried it to the sink to get a better look. I didn't hesitate. The egg was over half gone. The chick was just upside down and had stated pipping from the other end. The little one looked just like any other freshly hatched chick - a bit tired, wet, and glad to be out. So, I carry it back, grab the other newborn and put them under the heat lamp in the brooder.

Time to remove the shell.......... there is no shell..... Where's the second shell? I check every egg. Twice. Then I check the one I'd just helped the upside down chick out of. Oh! I get it! It was the big egg. I'd just help successfully hatch a double yolk egg! Twins!

No, they aren't really twins. One is black and one is white. But they shared an egg. It's cool! They're doing well and I'm hoping they live a long time. It's a good story 😊

I named them Ebony and Ivory.

Kai's morning

Digging for gophers and curiously watching the squirrels run around in the trees this morning. Kai leads a super stressed life guarding his flock 😂😍

Appalonia

Appalonia is a Royal Palm heritage turkey. She's one of two hens we have and I really didn't expect her to lay or much less hatch some eggs. Well, here she is with four gorgeous poults. There are still 5 more eggs. We'll see if they hatch... Presley's eggs are due to hatch in two weeks 😄