Chicks and silkies

Goose Eggs

My geese are laying! first goose eggs ever! very exciting! Only problem, both my geese turned out to be girls, so the eggs aren't fertilized :( Giant bummer.

In the last seven days, the two geese have laid six eggs. the eggs are huge and really thick shelled. 

Here's three of them in a large frying pan! Huge yolks! I'm cooking them up to feed to my chicken chicks as they are very healthy for them. don't want them to go to waste!

This is Popeye and Olive Oyl, now Poppy and Olive. I am on the search for a nice fella for them and will hopefully find one soon! 

Predators

The last time we got hit by a predator was in November. A hawk killed our hen Tweetie. We thankfully made it through December and January with no predator losses. Sadly, our good luck ran out and we've lost two hens in the last four days.  Both were killed right around dusk. Both hens were killed along the edge of the forest at the side of the house. both were white chickens. However, they were killed by two different predators. 

The first hen was murdered three days ago. She was, without a doubt, killed by a bird of prey. most likely the same damn hawk that killed poor Tweetie back in November. The little shit has been hanging around here all winter. We are constantly chasing the darn thing away. 

The second hen was killed yesterday. We missed seeing the killer by mere minutes. When we went out to put the birds away, we heard the murderer running away through the forest. The hen's body was still steaming. The killer was definitely 4-legged and big enough to make noise as it ran away; we could hear tree branches snapping. I have never seen such a brutal kill before. The killer ate a lot, way more than normal . I've seen fox kills, not the same. I've seen coyote kills, not the same. I've seen hawk and eagle kills, not the same. So, what did it? I'm thinking a very hungry coon or feral cat, or even possibly a bobcat (though I think a bobcat would carry off the hen, like a fox or coyote do). It's been a hard winter here; winter started almost a month early. To eat the hen within the perimeter of the house like that, its ballsy and/or desperate. 

PIC OF THE DEAD BIRD FOLLOW - VERY GRAPHIC

If you a sensitive to graphic images, please do not scroll further! 

If anyone can identify what type of predator did this, please let me know. 

We are high alert around here. Praying whatever killed the poor sweet hen doesn't come back. We are upping our security and will be trying our hardest to defend the featherbabies and keep them safe! So many predators here, it's a constant battle!

Showgirls and Silkies

My friend Melanie dropped me off two showgirl chicks today. dear Gods, they are so ugly they are cute! Showgirls are a cross between a silkie and a Naked neck chicken. They are not extremely common and are quite expensive - $20 a chick straight run! Depending on breed, most chicks cost $2-$10 straight run (straight run means unsexed). 

The fella below is my silkie roo Han. He's such a sweetie! He's my fav feathered fella :)

And the little sweetie in this pic is a silkie chick I'm hoping is female! She's about 6 weeks old. she is a blue partridge colour.

Toffee and Gus

Winter

Hi! sorry I haven't blogged in so long! Been super busy and not feeling the best.

My friend Melanie and I hatched out some winter chicks to help make up for the hens we lost to predators in the fall. At the moment, we have 9 barnyard cross chickens and 7 silkie chicks. Hopefully some of them are hens!

The guinea hens I got in the fall are doing well and have now joined the greater flock. They are funny little buggers :) I'm looking forward to a few less ticks this summer thanks to them!

This winter has been really up and down. freezing temps, lots of snow, then plus temperatures that melt it all away. Here's a photo of my best friend Taco in his snowsuit :) 

And here's a photo of Toffee. she turned one year old early Jan.  she's almost 100 pounds now! She's doing a great job helping to keep the birds safe. She chased off a coyote a couple of days ago! Such a good girl!

Hugs and love!