FarmerDenise's journal - full on harvest time = busy, busy, busy

[Beekissed]

That is soooooo sweet! How exciting! You know, now you have spoiled her for a regular nest....now she will always want the soft, towel version!

 

[Dace]

Very cute! That girl is determined!!

 

[lorihadams]

Ewwwww big fat broody poo on your towels! Naw, she looks pretty cozy! Can't wait to see the babies!

 

[FarmerDenise]

Naw, she doesn't poo in the nest. I take her off the nest in the morning and the evening and put her in the bathroom to go poo. But it sure does smell nasty. EEEWWW is right. At least the bathroom floor is easy to clean.

I managed to clean out the asparagus beds today. Good thing I did, because the asparagus has started to grow. I am going to let the chickens scratch in there for a couple of days and then we'll cover it up in order to protect the young shoots from being scratched up by the chickens. I did pick up a few tips that got knocked off and put them in our dinner.

I picked some mustard buds and garlic leaves.
I made chow mein for dinner using the mustard, garlic leaves, asparagus tips, carrots, parsley, garlic, onion and frozen sweet peppers. All from our garden. I just love it, when our meals are based on stuff we grew ourselves.

 

[FarmerDenise]

I felt fairly tired again today, so I took it easy.
I did take down all the christmas and solstice decorations and got most of them put back in their boxes. SO needs to bring one big container in the house so I can fill it up and then I'll be done with it.

Yesterday I broke up the twigs on several small trees we had cut down last summer. I filled up 5 big boxes with kindling. SO cut the bigger branches up for firewood. We also went to DD's and picked up the firewood I had stored there. It ended up being a pick-up load. This will free up storage space for her and we have a nice stack of firewood for free. We figure it'll save us about $300 on the electic and gas bill.

Susie is still on her eggs. It is amazing how that tiny hen can cover so many eggs. Every morning I throw some newspapers on the bathroom floor and put the catfood dish down there as well. then I grab a screeching Susie and set her down in front of the catfood. She woolfs it down and soon wiggles her behind and drops a stinky mess hopefull on the newspaper. Petey, the kitten usuall likes to see what is going on in there and opens the bathroom door. Susie then screeches at him and chases him out. SO yells" Susie is chasing your cat" I go "rescue" Susie before she poo's on the carpet and put a screeching hen back in the box with the nest. She jumps right onto the nest and settles herself down, making sure all the eggs are covered. As I cover half the box with a lid, she lets out one more screech to warn me off.
In the afternoons I take Susie outside, screeching all the way. She leaves her stinky mess in a flowerbed in the front yard and proceeds to dig for goodies or today she decided she needed a bath. Once I get tired of watching her or too cold (today) I pick her up (screech) and put her back in her box (screech), offer her some food (screech), let her eat, put the food down (screech) and cover her (screech). She is such a good momma

 

[Up-the-Creek]

I hope you are feeling better FD, it sounds like you are coming along.
Aren't setting hens so much fun!

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

Petey, the kitten usuall likes to see what is going on in there and opens the bathroom door. Susie then screeches at him and chases him out. SO yells" Susie is chasing your cat"

hee hee funny broody hen!

i had to check a hen for injury and brought her in the house.. so thought i'd show her to one of the little cats. this went went for about 1.2 second... then the hen tried to peck the kitty's eyes out! honestly she was almost blinded!

never underestimate an angry little (screechy) hen!

cant wait for the babies!!!

 

[FarmerDenise]

I had a hen peck me in the eye once. Boy did it hurt. And I was worried that it damaged my eye. I had a bloody spot for a couple of weeks, but luckily no damage. The hen was just curious about the shiny thing on my face, I think.
Petey has been around the chickens and knows to watch himself He loves to tease them though.

 

[FarmerDenise]

Thinking about all of you who are experiencing snowstorms and seeing some of your pictures made me think back to when I used to experience them.

 

[Beekissed]

That is a heart-warming story, FD! Thank you for sharing that.

BTW, how is your broody girl?