Broody

There may be a coup d'etat in the coup.

General Chao broke the news. Every time the hens go into the hen house to lay an egg in the favorite nest box...

there sits Mother Clucker...morning, noon, and night! She's gone broody. This hen's hormonal motherly instinct to hatch eggs has taken over and there is basically nothing to be done about it. She just wants to be left alone and sit on her imaginary eggs until they hatch...about 3 weeks.

And the rest of the girls are ready to vote her out of the coop. The first day of Mother Clucker's broody state, the other chickens were literally waiting in line for her to get out of that nest box.

When I open the nest box door to daily remove the eggs, this is all I see. Broody hens pick out their belly feathers so their warm skin lays directly on the eggs. Mother Clucker continually ruffles out her outer feathers so she looks BIGGER and meaner to predators and other chickens. She has not laid an egg since she started her broody habit.

Once or twice a day she comes down to eat, drink, and poop. While she's gone, another hen will lay an egg in the favorite box. Even though we don't have a rooster to fertilize the eggs, she will immediately lay on the other hen's egg until I remove them too! But on most days...she lays on an empty nest.

Say what?

Let's hope she gets over this broody thing soon!

Waking Up

Waking up to the first snowfall of the season is always exhilarating. When we crawled from our snug little beds on Saturday, 9 inches of snow covered the world outside.

Almost a foot of snow this early can often cause considerable damage. Many of the autumn leaves are still gripping the branches acting as a landing pad for the falling snow. Consequently we lost a few branches.

The chickens were as surprised as we were when waking up this morning.

Always anxious to leave the coop for a daily recess, I wondered what the girls would do when first stepping in the cold white stuff. They seem hesitant...

and then turn their tail feathers scurrying back into the coop. What a bunch of chickens!

Hopefully the bees survived this first storm and are all tucked in for cold weather. Drone bees serve no purpose in the winter and only consume precious food. So they have been voted off the island and kicked out of the hive. The remaining bees will huddle tightly around the leftover honey comb vibrating their tiny wings together. The bees will keep the hive at a balmy temperature of 94 degrees all winter.

As the sun begins to fill the morning sky, the air is still and silent; snow dampening the noises of daylight...

all too soon the silence will be filled with noise from snow-blowers and giggling kiddos.

Just don't hit the Nikon...boys!

Another check of the chickens...

"What's going on here?"

As the days grow shorter, the chickens will soon stop laying eggs for the winter.So far though, they haven't slacked off a bit. Preparing for Thanksgiving, I'm stock piling eggs in the fridge.

Thank you Mother Clucker for this gorgeous fresh egg!

Because we procrastinated putting the trampoline away, the boys need to clear the snow off the tramp and pack it up.

But not before Chet plays a new game...jump up and down on the trampoline...

letting snow and ice fly everywhere.

I do believe the teenager is enjoying himself.


Back to work!

Even the dogs LOVE the first snowfall.

Izzy's feet turn into snowballs after a morning of playing in the white stuff. She'll have to go in a tub to melt off all that snow.

Winter has made an early arrival to our valley. The next time we see the lawn will most likely be in April!

Welcome winter...we can't wait to play in you!

PS...Do you think The Red One sent the snow for my birthday?

Golden Egg

Update from the Garlick Press Ranch

Cost of seven adorable baby chicks last April...$25

Number of hours to complete the bright red coop...Elevendy Billion

Opening the side door


to find the girls had laid their first egg...priceless!


From all the excitement around our house, you would think it was a golden egg.

 Just ask the chickens biggest fan Libby!

Oh it's priceless alright!

FYI...We are almost positive Red laid the first egg.
More FYI...You should have seen her strut her stuff and cackle after laying that egg.
Still More FYI...The egg weighed almost exactly the same amount as Red did when we brought her home just a few months ago.

LOVE...LOVE...our chickens!

Omelettes anyone?

Bye Bye Birdie

"Errr, errr, Errr, err Errrrrrr!"

The hens all flocked together in the coop this week and came to a decision. He...who we once thought was a she...had to go. Penguin had been voted off the island! And Dean and I agreed! Over the past couple of weeks Penguin had been developing a Cock-a-doodle-doo-ish noise. Which sounded more like..."Errr, errr, Errr, err Errrrrrr!"

Oh, don't you dare sympathize with that cute rooster Penguin and let him deceive you too... "Errr, errr, Errr, err Errrrrrr" gets very annoying at 5:30 EVERY SINGLE MORNING!

Just ask the neighbors...

I'm surprised that the neighbors haven't made Penguin into chicken noodle soup, chicken pot pie, or "Errr, errr, Errr, err Errrrrrr" chicken nuggets.

 "Watch who you're calling annoying...Errr, errr, Errr, err Errrrrrr...you're taking me where?"

From one male to another, some parting words of advice for Penguin.  And one last photo, "Errr, errr, Errr, err Errrrrrr" as Dean imitates Penguin...or is it Penguin imitating Dean?

Loaded up in a dog kennel and it's off to a farm in Thatcher Idaho for you my dear Penguin.

Imagine if you will, driving for an hour with a rooster "Errr, errr, Errr, err Errrrrrr" in the back seat of your car for over an hour.

After what seemed like a day and a half "Errr, errr, Errr, err Errrrrr" we arrived in Thatcher just as the sun was setting on this handsome little farming community.

All it took was a single phone call to one of Dean's favorite childhood friends. "I already have 24 chickens Dean, sure I'll take Penguin then I'll have 25." JanaLe is truly as kind and genuinely happy as she always appears. Within minutes of our arrival she had invited us in to her sweet home which smelled deliciously of love and baking bread. We indulged ourselves on warm fresh homemade rolls.  

Dean and JanaLe reminisced about old times growing up, laughed and caught up on the years of details they had missed of one other's lives. She threw her arms in the air with delight after learning the charming story of Olivia and Henry. And then it was time to visit the coop. JanaLe lives on a real working farm. Along with cattle and alfalfa, they grow over 10,000 bushels of wheat every year. And of course there are the 24 chickens...make that 25.

JanaLe's youngest son Craig gave us a tour of his chicken coop and they laughed hilariously when we showed them a photo of ours. City folk...raising chickens...good grief!



 Peacefully settled in for the night...we were disturbing the chicken's evening.

 Well hello there Mister beautiful rooster on the left...what gorgeous hens you are roosting with tonight.

We gathered a few fresh eggs from the nesting boxes; naturally JanaLe sent them home with us.

Fresh omelets would definitely be on the menu following tomorrow's planned hike into the mountains.

Finding a nearby cage used on the farm to train dogs to track raccoons, we settled Errr, errr, Errr, err Errrrrrr Penguin in for the evening in his new home. After a night to acclimate, JanaLe would release Penguin in the morning to become part of the flock.

Good night fair Thatcher chickens, take good care of my Penguin will you? And I'm sorry about all the Errr, errr, Errr, err Errrrrrr that you'll hear in the morning.

If you are ever passing through Thatcher, stop in and tell Janalee hello. She will most likely make you lunch, send you home with farm fresh eggs, homemade rolls, and generally make your day a bit brighter just by being there.

"Errr, errr, Errr, err Errrrrrr"...oh and say hi to Penguin too!