Speedy the loner

When I was putting the animals to bed last night it dawned on me that Speedy is a real loner. There she was huddled next to the wall with her babies with only Blondy Bear the runt rooster for company. Even Tommy no longer sleeps near her.
Tommy has moved into the house with Miss Muffet and Lady, not to mention all of the chickens and ducks.

I'm off to Brisbane for the weekend and am leaving my brood in the care of Blu Rum 13. Sure he can rap, but can he care for the chickens and ducks? Not to mention remember to close their door at night. All will be revealed on Monday.

Tiny Town

I'm taking my house guests to Tiny Town soon. Sure, its not called Tiny Town but I think that's what they should call it. http://www.minianimals.net/
But what would I get? A Tiny Pony, Tiny Donkey or Tiny cow? So many choices.
I never thought I was a horse person until I saw the tiny ones.

Update

Miss Muffet and Lady are no longer moping about after me taking their eggs. I felt terrible for a day or two but now its fine. I nearly even hand fed Lady yesterday, it was close so maybe one day soon. Tommy is lovin it now hey are hanging out with him again. He's got his bitches back. As someone told me the other day, "he's got a girl for each nut". It looks like Lady is his favourite at the moment. They had a rocky start but now its all good.

Speedy is still with her children and is yet to reject them. I think this must be some sort of record for her. All of my parenting skills with her are finally rubbing off. I penned both the mothers and Blondy Bear in with Young Boy yesterday. It was raining so hard and the door was shut on the normal pen, so they just slept in there.

Old Boy is still kicking along, I was glad he wasn't out in the rain yesterday. He's still the most handsome rooster around. He's now gotten quite used to me hand feeding him. Now when I put the food out he just comes over to me and stands at my feel expecting food. And I'm happy to oblige.

Umm

Here is an out-take from our little photo shoot the other day. This I call 'Tommy the thinker'.

I had to pen the ducks in the old duck pen as there was much fighting and commotion yesterday, as I took the duck eggs. Both Miss Muffet and Lady were very upset and angry and I'm pretty sure they hate me. At night when everyone was going to bed, Miss Muffet was attacking the black hen who fought back and it was on. At first I thought it was Tommy and then as I got closer I thought it was Speedy but then I saw it was the black hen. You see with no eggs for them to sit on Old Boy went into the house and sat on their nest and lucky for Miss Muffet she didn't attack Old Boy, so instead she attacked the black hen.
They really didn't like being the duck pen, nor did Tommy either. I think it brought back too many bad memories of his siblings.
At the moment they are all penned in with the chickens, so we'll see how they go tonight.

Vegas

I just couldn't resist sharing this picture of Vegas, my old housemate (also known as Fatty). The poor dear tore the cruciate ligament in her knee, so she's had to have yet another operation.

As you can see from the photo she looks as pleased as punch. I especially love that cone around her head, it really brings out the colour in her eyes.

Tommy Boy

Tommy is back to being by his lonesome since the two girls are nesting. But lucky for him, he's no longer depressed and he spends his day underneath the mango tree. I love his feet in this photo. When the girls come off the nest in the morning I have to keep my eye on Tommy as he has a tendency to chase them and crash tackle them for sex. I can usually tell he's about to do this and walk him out of the pen. The other day he ran Miss Muffet into the fence, so its not really a pleasurable experience for the ladies.

Nest wars

Lady has started laying eggs and has taken over Miss Muffet's nest. I feel bad for Miss Muffet as she's been sitting here for about two weeks now. What is it with hens (and now ducks) that they always steal nests.

Crazy hen

Yesterday I managed to let all of the hens out (with babies) and pen all of the roosters up so they wouldn't attack them. They had a great day frolicking in the sun and foraging for food. BUT, there always is a but. Turns out crazy hen really is crazy. She's out and about pretending that she's got kids. She making all of these mother getting food for her babies noise and she was always following the mum with the lots of babies. On the odd occasion the babies would even think that crazy hen was their mother until she'd peck them.
I saw Lady get laid yesterday. So she's a female, case closed.

J Mag

I stand by the fact that if Tommy wasn't going through his emo phase my blog would have been mentioned in the above article. Couldn't he have just sucked it up and made an appearance outside of the chicken pen walls? But no, not Tommy, he was too busy moping around after the ducks that brown hen made it into the mag. I mean Brown hen? I haven't made my mind up on her.

Wednesday

For the one person who voted that Lady was indeed a Lady may well be correct. I think she ran off to lay an egg this morning. Case closed in my book - she's a female. Tommy had that usual look of loneliness all of the boys had about them when the ladies go off and lay. Miss Muffet is still sitting on eggs, today I counted 5.

I tried to let the hens and the babies out of the pen this morning and the young roosters went crazy for them.

I forgot to mention - the brown hen is famous. There is a picture of her in the new J Mag; there is an interview and photos taken from the ranch. Sadly no mention of the blog or the ducks. The photo was taken when Tommy was going through his depression so he didn't take the most exciting pictures back then. I'll get a scan of it, when I find a copy (I don't want to purchase it - I would if it contained a picture of Tommy, but because its just the brown hen, I'll borrow a copy).

Mmm chops

I'm making Miss Muffet pasta tomorrow and I can't wait. I've been without fresh pasta since January when the babies past away. Sure I could have gone and bought some eggs but it just wouldn't be the same. I admitted to someone yesterday that I wouldn't mind Miss Muffet having babies, I think I must be clucky for ducks. Please don't read into this - I said ducks, not babies, as in children.
I've been doing my daily ritual of going into the duck pen and picking Miss Muffet and moving her off her nest so she can get a drink of water. While she's not snapping at me, she seems to be a little more feisty. We had some carnivore's here at the ranch on the weekend and they left lots of meat leftovers. I love it, as I know all the animals enjoy it, so I get to cut it up and feed it to Ralphy and the chickens and ducks. Tommy is a sucker for lamb chops. He likes it so much he even lets other people feed him. I even fed Miss Muffet some, so I know she's eating.

Missing Beauty Sleep

Off with their heads I screamed (very silently, to myself) when I was awoken at day break this morning by our 5 roosters. Lucky for Old Boy I didn't so much as hear a peep out of him.
Those three black ones (including Lucile 2) will be first to the guillotine then next Young Boy and we'll probably keep Blondy Bear as he is the runt of the roosters.
I look forward to when I can let all of the chickens out without fear of them being attacked, plus I'd appreciate not being woken up in the morning. I know were on a farm and that I'm a practising vegetarian, but I say kill 'em.

Cock blocking beats

I picked up Miss Muffet today to see how her walking was. I took her right out of the pen. While she's not walking normally (she's very low to the ground, and still limping a little) she's definitely better. She really does just need to rest. It was good to get her out and about, as I saw her eat some food and even had a sip of water. Tommy the brute came running up to her and crash tackled her until I moved in and cock blocked him. The vet asked me if a male duck had been rough with her and I replied that Tommy was the perfect gentleman, but I'm beginning to think otherwise. Tommy is about 5 times the size of Miss Muffet. I bet he just stood on her one time to many and hurt her leg.
And, did I mention that Miss Muffet crapped on me, it was watery and it really smelt, she must have been saving that up since the vets office. But I guess I deserved it, I keep going into the pen and annoy her (which means I give her pat and talk to her).

Miss Muffet update

Miss Muffet appears to be stable, no better or worse. I'm pleased with this situation and hopefully tomorrow she'll be even better. She is still drinking water, holding her neck up and her wings are still together. She is still laying eggs and has two underneath her now.
I wonder if she's just putting this all on so I let her sit on her eggs?
Lady seems to be coming out of her shell a little bit more since Miss Muffet is chillin. Her and Tommy hung out all day today, I'm now learning towards her being a girl.
Damn, I'm indecisive.