Love my Geese

When they pose for the camera they make lovely heart shapes

 

Chicken, not so impressed

 My hens think the ducks and geese are a noisy waste of time.  "Humph....they don't even lay eggs for you!"

My happy girls

It maybe wet and dreary but it isn't minus twenty!  This makes our chickens very happy, they rushed out of the coop this morning into the rain without complaint.  Once more they are able to access the property, snow isn't completely gone, but they can make there way to most places without stepping on what is still here.

 Another day without snow is another great day in the hens world

I have laying boxes set up in a couple of areas, inside the coop and this one just outside that has become a favourite with a few of the girls.  Below is a pretty Wyandotte laying the first egg of the day

A little privacy please!

Spring arrives tomorrow, the start of egg season

The ladies took most of the winter off from egg laying, most weeks we had enough for ourselves, only one week did we actually have to buy eggs, that was only because I did a little baking.  Starting a couple weeks ago, with the extended daylight, the girls started to lay more frequently, currently providing us with 7-9 eggs daily, YAY!

Chickens, sunshine and winters

I opened up the big coop door this morning and the rays flooded in.  The chickens blinked and stumbled forward, seemingly blinded.

"What is this?  We are not coming out until you explain"

"Relax my feathered friends, it is sunshine and it is wonderful"

One of my beautiful Speckled Sussex hens, this breed is one of the more winter bold hens that I own

My four Wyandotte hens have been very hardy this winter and will usually make the journey down to the rabbit barn with me in all but the most bone chilling of days

My beautiful and gentle Rooster Archie has suffered the most this winter, even though we have a heat source in the coop to take off the worst of the chill he has suffered from major frost bite, I could not bring myself to include the damage in this photo.
I have learnt a lot this winter about livestock selection and how important it is to have completely winter hardy animals in our harsh Canadian winter.  I was caught off guard after the last 4-5 years of very mild winter weather.  I should know better then to every take Mother Nature for granted, it will not happen again.
I was worried at one point that I might lose my Archie, which would be a shame as it is so difficult to find a sweet natured rooster.  But, if we are over the worse, with a little extra TLC the big guy should be back to watching over his girls this Spring.

The other guy in my life

The extremely handsome....Archie.  Love my Rooster Boy

Royal Winter Fair visit

Cutter looking all rugged on my new cowhide purchased at the Royal Winter Fair yesterday.  Also a soft sheepskin for the dog bed beside him.

I went to view the poultry at the show and was overwhelmed by all the beauties and oddities

One of these is not like the others

Never thought I would be excited by a white egg, but....here it is our first white egg.  All our chickens have been breeds that lay brown eggs, I love that, and although they are all different shades of brown, I thought it would be fun to have the occasional white egg thrown in.  This was one of the main reasons I purchased our Silver Grey Dorking chicks this Spring and voila, our first Dorking egg arrived yesterday!  It is tiny, as all first eggs are, everything I read says they will always lay a smallish egg, but, look!! it is white, well perhaps a little beige when viewed on it's own, however, line it up with the rest and I call it white.

Friday Fowl

Today is all about the chickens, in particular my Silver Grey Dorkings.  Love this breed, above is one of our Dorking hens with Dorking rooster Archie, beautiful duo.

 

The dapper Archie is taking to his position as sole Rooster and guardian of his lady hens seriously. 

Brown Eggs

Our hens lay brown eggs, but believe me, they are not all the same

Chicken Run

 Finally our fencing is complete and the hens are able to free range in safety.  I know it's hard to tell, but....those are happy chicken faces :-)

A new hen (and rooster) house

Usually I am sharing photos of a litter of pups when they are moved from the puppy nursery upstairs down to the main floor of the house.  This time, I am posting photos of my chicks, almost 5 weeks of age that were moved into their own little coop and run to grow up.  They are at that post fluffy chick cuteness, but not yet totally feathered and handsome, they sort of look like spotty feathered, adolescent.... dinosaurs :-)

Well, except for this beauty

This is a beautiful Silver Grey Dorking pullet (hen) So gorgeous.  Below is one of her brothers

Yes a rooster amongst the ladies.  Will he stay?  Don't know, depends on how tame he is, and, most important, how quiet he is.

Checking out their new world and contemplating leaving their coop for the outside world

She's got my back

Olive watching me leave the house to let the chickens out.  

"Don't worry Lori, we got your back and will sort out any unruly hens!"

Chicken Feet

I have added two new breeds of chickens to the flock.  Both English breeds, the Silver Gray Dorking and the Speckled Sussex.  I wanted the Sussex last year, but, come hatching time there wasn't enough for me.  I placed my order early this year and am thrilled to have four little Speckled girls. 
The other breed, the Dorking, was a choice I made after a ton of research on breeds, I was looking for a breed that would lay a white egg, all my current hens lay brown, I loved that the Dorkings are listed as a rare heritage bird, and they have an extra toe,  only a handful of breeds possess this.  Here are some photos showing the difference between the four toed Sussex and the five toed Dorking.  I am not sure what the value is of that odd fifth toe, but it is sort of neat.

When the chicks first arrived they were almost identical in colour and markings, the toes were how I could identify them. 

They are beginning to feather out after a week and a half, losing the soft down and gaining their proper feathers.   Hopefully in a couple more weeks they can leave my grooming room and be transferred to their own area out in the chicken coop to grow up a bit before being released into our current flock.

Their here....

 Let the oohs & awes begin :-)  I love them!  Above is a Silver Gray Dorking and below a beautiful Speckled Sussex. 
Both are breeds that originated in England.  The Dorking is kind of cool it has an extra toe.  The Sussex are suppose to be very people oriented and full of character.  I have four of each and their little peeps are crazy cute.
My goslings didn't arrive, apparently fertility is low in them and their hatching didn't transpire.  I was so looking forward to geese, but, maybe in the the future, for now I will enjoy the new chicks while they are soft and sweet, they grow so fast.

I bet you didn't know that chickens have eye lashes...OK maybe you did, but, I didn't until I owned a flock.

What else I didn't know about chickens before I added them to my life, the girls occasionally get a little broody, and when they do they are not very happy to have you stealing their eggs.

Of course, because we don't have a rooster our eggs our infertile, no matter how long Ms.Broody Britches sits on those eggs they are not going to hatch.

Meet little Carrot Top, one of our rabbit babies born Easter weekend.  I have been wanting to keep a little ginger bunny and since this one has been handled lots we have named it Carrot Top and will add to our breeding stock....just need to figure out if it's a he, or, a she.