My Embden Geese

 They are such big lovely geese, love them!

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!"

Garden is exploding into production

 Finally, we were slow to get the garden started this year, however it has really started to kick into gear.  So far this year we have harvested a small crop of asparagus and some salad greens.

 Spinach is looking wonderful and we will be eating next week

Our brassica bed is full of broccoli, brussel sprouts, kale and kohlrabi.  I have heads started on the broccoli and should be able to start harvesting kale next week.  Lots of great salads and fresh green smoothies!

Lovely Spring days

We have been blessed with some gorgeous weather this week and Fiddle knows how to enjoy it

 Ducks and Geese have been outside for a couple of weeks now and are enjoying roaming over the property, they graze on the grass (haven't had to mow anything in the farmyard area this year) grub around for bugs, mess up all the water bowls, generally annoy the hell out of the chickens and make me laugh every day.  I call them...'the collective' this is truly a flock, they move as one unit, if a duck or goose is accidentally separated they all work themselves into a tizzy until they are all together again.  Very different from the chickens who are much more independent of each other, choosing one or two friends that they hang out with and only getting together when I feed them and at night to go to roost.  This bird thing is all very interesting.

Goosey goosey gander

Hello Toulouse Goose

 I have been wanting to add geese and duck to our little 'farm' for the longest time.  A week and a half ago they arrived.  Three noisy funny little Toulouse goslings, two handsome Embden goslings, three Khaki Campbell ducklings and three Cayuga ducklings.  They are incredibly cute, the goslings especially are way more outgoing and interactive than the chickens ever were.
They are also incredibly MESSY, oh my goodness, they want to play in their drinking water and with that comes endless scooping up of wet shavings.  They have doubled themselves in size in 9 days and we have moved them to this big pen, about 12 feet by 4 feet which is a little easier to keep dry.  I am looking forward to the weather warming up and being able to get them out on the grass, even if only during a few hours each day.
Look out for lots of photos over the coming weeks, I think I may have to fill up the tub in my grooming room and let them have a 'real' swim soon.  I will be sure to share video of that!

Khaki Campbell Ducklings

A group shot, the black duckings are the Cayugas'

One of our Embden goslings

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!

Found feathers

Herbs and chickens

I am almost scared to hope that Spring is maybe on it's way.  I am certain that winter isn't completely done with us, but, I am going to enjoy the sunshine and receding snow and ice for the moment.  Gearing up for the coming season I have started my seedlings, tomatoes, peppers, herbs and such, they are beginning to germinate and poke their little green heads out of the soil.
In three weeks I am hoping to have ducklings and goslings arrive (big smile :-)))) I sure hope that once Spring does finally get here it does so quickly, not wanting to have to keep them inside for too long.
Hurry hurry Spring we have so many projects planned for when you do make an appearance!

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.

Autumn days

 We have had a small vegetable garden for a few years, but, this Spring we expanded deciding to grow as much of our own healthy, chemical free food.  The only fertilizer I use is from what is produced here, rabbit and chicken manures are composted along with kitchen and garden waste.  As I feed the animals organic foods even our compost is chemical free.
We had some wonderful successes in the garden this year and made some dreadful mistakes.  It is all a learning curve and every year we should be able to make better decisions based on what grew well for us the prior year, what we like and what not to grow too much of.
I have started to clean up the garden, preparing beds to overwinter, planting next years garlic, feeding the soils with nutrient rich compost.  Next Spring I will not be digging any new beds, I hope our garden next year will be far superior to this year.  Isn't that part of being a gardener, always optimistic, always planning.

Such beauty in the dying

Never have I seen the wild apple trees bearing as much fruit as this year

 I started these Cosmos from seed, they were HUGE towering high in the garden, only problem was rain and winds would blow them over.  I was going to take them off my list for next year until I saw the bees clamouring on the many flowers yesterday.  These are one of the few flowers still blooming madly in October.  I guess next year I will plant again for the bees, just have to properly stake them to avoid them falling over.

My Fall salad planting is doing well, salads and kale daily

Seeing this yesterday makes pesticide free garden worthwhile.  Ms.Mantis is heavy with eggs and next Spring we should have a new family of Pray Mantis in the veggie patch helping us to keep those annoying insect pests under control.