Well, yesterday I managed to get 3 loads of clothes on the line and my friend called me and wanted us to go to the YMCA pool with her and the kids. Bad thing is that is cost us $15 to go swim for 3 hrs. Ugh. We had a good time though and I was exhausted when I got home.
I had to bake another loaf of bread this morning and when the kids get up from their nap we are going to play in the baby pool.
Checked on my broody a couple of times today and I am definitely going to have to move her to her own pen. Chad is going to try to help me build a small tractor for her as the other hens are getting mean with her when she tries to leave the nest to get food and water. I put her back on the nest and put some food and water directly in front of her so hopefully she won't get up again. If we can get everything built tonight we'll move her. I checked the 6 eggs that she is sitting on and one has a small crack in it but it isn't broken so I just left the nest alone. She's not aggressive but she puffs up to about twice her size and fans her wings at me to look bigger every time I open the door to check on her. Funny thing is that the chicken that went broody is a red sex link that I bought from a feed store. Go figure!
I have some beach pics, okay, a lot of beach pics but instead of putting them on my journal pages I think I am going to do a separate thread in Me & My ss family so ya'll go over and look!
It has taken me a couple of days to catch up on everyone's journals but I am glad to hear that everyone is doing okay.
Your broody hen will need an area where she can stretch her legs, do her broody poo and flap her wings a bit. If she doesn't have enough room, she may do her broody poo IN the nest (on top of the eggs).
Can I just say how much I hate stray dogs? Yesterday I was outside with the kids and the girls were free ranging around the yard. My lab Maggie started to bristle up and here comes this hunting dog out of the woods behind our house and into our yard. He immediately jumps on DD and she starts to scream. I got him off of her (he seemed sweet and just wanting to play) he didn't have a collar, was covered in ticks. He just plopped down in the yard like he was at home. Maggie backed off and they sniffed each other and settled down. About 10 minutes later one of my barred rock hens, Lucy, comes running across the back yard towards the coop and the stray attacked her. They ran into the woods and you could hear Lucy "screaming". The dog emerged with a mouthful of feathers. I went after him and chased him with a shovel. After going into the woods to get Lucy and examine her I found her hobbling and bleeding from her back between her wings. The dog had ripped open a section of skin about 3-4 inches in diameter all the way down to the muscle. I put her in a kennel and brought her into the house and after Chad took a look at her we agreed that she should be put down. I went into the woods this morning and did the deed. I got the dog warden to come and get the dog (which I had locked up on the back porch). He told me that I could press charges if they found the owner and I told him to call me.
I hate it cause she was a sweet hen and one of my best layers. I also hate it cause it all happened in front of my kids. That was the worst. She didn't suffer any more than she had to. I gave her some water last night and she seemed to sleep comfortably. The end was swift and as painless as I could make it. I told the kids that Lucy would probably die because of what the dog did to her and explained that you should always keep your animals in your own yard.
Well, despite all the trouble with the hen and the dog, we managed to have a fun weekend. We got out our 14ft jon boat and took the kids down to the James River for the Bateau festival. There were lots of people there in period costumes and they had lots of fires going with stuff cooking in big cast iron kettles. There were lots of tanned hides on display and the bateau's were really cool to see. Bateaus are large wooden, flat-bottomed boats that are steered with large poles and rudders....all human powered. We went out on a couple of the islands and watched the boats come down the river. The kids went swimming and we stayed out for about 5 hours. Here's a couple of pics of the kids and me and Chad.