Vindicated By a Duck

In a prior post I mentioned that I gave 2 pre-K classes 20 chicken eggs and none of them hatched. We were so sure that the rooster, Big Foot, was not up to the job.

I knew it wasn't my fault.  And you don't know why I'm hostile.

  Then I gave them 11 of the 16 eggs that my duck, Daisy, laid.  I left 5 of the eggs in the nest.  But I had marked the 1st 4 that she laid with a big black X, because Daisy had not been sittling on them and they sat out in the freezing weather.  Then after more than 2 weeks she decided to sit on them.  I had collected the new eggs each day and saved them for the class. That was why I marked the 1st 4 with the X. 

 I felt so sorry for Daisy sitting for 28 days, barely getting up to eat, drink and take a quick swim once a day.  So on April 5th, when my grandson, Connor, yelled I see baby ducks;  I thought surely only the last egg had hatched.  So I said, "You see one duck?"  He replied, "No, there are 4."  Sure enough the 4 that I had marked with that X had all hatched; leaving just the newest egg unhatched.

I quickly texted the teacher to ask if her eggs had hatched.  None of hers ended up hatching.  So it appears Big Foot most likely does not shoot blanks.  I'm sure he is thankful to Donald for clearing his reputation.  It's still a mystery what went wrong with all those eggs at the school.  One theory is that the heating unit in the building is cut off at 3 pm each day; but I don't know if that really affected them.

Donald takes his job as protector very seriously. 

We are just happy that it is truly spring at our mini urban farm with baby chicks, baby goats and now 4 baby ducks.  Oh, and as for the 5th egg; Daisy had to move on with the 4 that had hatched.  Chase, my 12 year old grandson, understood what had happened and begged me to do something so it could hatch.  I had to tell him that I am not a mother duck and I don't have an incubator. It was just one of those tough lessons one learns quickly when raising farm animals, even as pets.

Adorable family of 6

Nothing beats a good spring rain.

The New Kids Spent Their First Night Alone

This is about 1/3 of what I bought that still need planting.

Today was a busy day.  I still have hundreds of plants to put out from last weekend's shopping trip to every nursery in town with my mother and daughter.  In fact, when we unloaded the truck, my daughter said that it looks like a nursery threw-up in my yard.

But before I could get to my landscaping, I had to milk Honey Bunny, my Nigerian Dwarf goat, for the first time.  This is very exciting for me, mostly, because I haven't had fresh goat milk to make all that cheese and yogurt I learned to make in the classes I took back in February in Waco.   

Milking Honey Bunny this morning meant that the kids, April and Minimus would have to spend their first night away from their mother.  I expected a lot of crying and that's what happened.  I decided to give Honey Bunny a bedtime snack. So I put her up on the milking stand facing away from the pen so she would not see me moving the kids into the "baby house."  That's where they were born and spent the first 10 days of their lives with their mother.  Oh! I haven't even blogged about their birth that was on April 1st.  Things move along quickly around here. 

April, Minimus and Honey Bunny

Of course they started crying when I took them to their house and their mother got upset and started crying.  I put her back in the pen and went to the babies and held them for 45 minutes until they fell asleep. Actually they were asleep after about 3 minutes.  I just enjoyed holding them.  Honey Bunny had calmed down by then. 

For her first day of milking Honey Bunny was super calm and still while I milked her.  Just the opposite of my stubborn girl, Dottie Belle.  Maybe it was good that Dottie Belle was my first goat to milk, so I can truly appreciate a great one like Honey Bunny.  Dottie Belle was a bottle baby. She was not raised with her mother. Instead I bottle fed her.  I'm not sure she has ever understood that she is not human.  So I think she cuts up  more because she is more familiar with me.  We'll have to see if Honey Bunny stays good.  Tonight the kids never cried when I moved them and they went right to sleep.  Honey Bunny still called out to them a few times, but settled quickly.

Working in the front yard allows people to stop and ask me can they see the goats.  Of course I love to do that.  So I had two sets of visitors today; both with children.  They all love holding the kids and chickens.

Gypsy Ginger enjoyed sampling my friend Lola's clothes.

  This evening it was so great to look in the refrigerator and see a jar of goat milk.  It won't be long before I can have some really great yogurt for breakfast.  Now that I have made my own yogurt, I can't eat that stuff from the grocery store.  

My Mini Urban Farm Needs a Fowl Psychologist

I had my pearls and boots on;  all ready to do my School Board Member duty of attending the Student on the Year Banquet at 6:00. 
It has been a very rainy and stormy day so that set-up a rather slippery situation.

Before I leave in the late afternoon, I have to let Big Foot the rooster out, so when it gets dark the hens can go in the coop for the night.  I have  to manage him very carefully, because he attacks females; especially me.  So I let the hens out in the morning and he only gets out at the end of the day, when I am not going to go outside again until dark.  My only other option is to get my son-in-law to kill him.  Big Foot is giant size and really wants to hurt me.

So tonight before heading out to the banquet, I had to let Big Foot out of the coop.  I always have a big stick in my hand just in case I need it; which I do at least half the time. Well of course, this would be one of those afternoons when he chases me and almost caught me.  But just as I got to the carport I started slipping and I could have landed face first on the concrete or on a large holly fern in the flower bed.  Apparently my subconscious chose the holly fern. I had just had an encounter with the sidewalk 10 days ago and I am still on the mend.  At least the rooster stopped.  He was probably laughing.

So instead of going to the banquet, I got out of my muddy clothes and watched TV in my pajamas all night with my hurt ankles, neck and right thigh; to say nothing of my pride and feelings.

My husband pointed out that both male fowls, Big Foot and Donald, have a lot of aggression toward me.  That maybe the 3 of us should get some psychological help or at least the one  that allows the other 2 to continue to live on our property? 

I need a male fowl whisperer immediately.

Come on out here so I can bite you.