Incubating is a PAIN!

A psychic pain.

We have been incubating eggs - our Silkies, Lynda's Silkies & Mr. S.'s Showgirls - for nearly two weeks. (Don't ask who these other people are. They are internet hookups...) This incubating thing is supposed to be easy: set it up, establish the temperature & put the damn eggs in. It has been a daily struggle of adjusting the temp in the face of weather changes & household appliance temps. I wanted to chuck out the entire lot on Thursday & now I have hope! Sigh! I feel like a loser for wishing this.

But then Rose says, "Billy SHOULD be a daddy!" and I melt... Billy (above) is the most humanly cuddly & sexually aggressive thing - ever. Yikes.

Sex & the Silkies

We now have four Silkies. One, Ginger, is laying eggs. Rose & I just had to go get ourselves a gently used incubator. Now we are trying to hatch eggs in the basement. "It is science class for homeschool," we rationalize. Our menfolk are not amused.

Silkies are too cute!

New squawks in the flock.

Our nice new friend - M. - was so happy to get two new Silkie roosters for her flock. She reciprocated by giving us Angel and Cinnamon - two young Silkie hens. These girls are super-petite, true bantams. For now, they are in isolation in the polebarn. (Dad is none too happy about that!) After they are quarantined for awhile, we will introduce them to the flock. I think that our sole Silkie roo, Billy, will be happy to (finally) have two chicks that are smaller than him.

Roo too many!

This is Blue, one of our re-homed roos! He will be happy on a farm in Lapeer.

We are sorting out our flock, finding homes for roosters, since SIX was way too many. We were able to sell a pair of Polish, last month. This morning, Rose and I found a new home for two Silkie roosters (thanks, M.!) and were gifted two new pullets!

Summertime & the living's easy!

I don't know whether the "catfish are jumping," but the garden is high and the chickens are looking healthy and big. No more baby chicks, here. Lou, our Andalusian, is clearly the man of the Hen House. He started crowing last week, little raspy baby-boy crowing! Gosh, he is handsome!

Rose and I panted the coop, yesterday. We transformed the plain cinderblock and old yellowed garage door into a barn-red chickie palace!

Back from Vacay.

We went to Hawaii for a week. Came home to GIANT BIRDS!!! There's Helena on the left. She has sprouted a mohawk; looks really different than "Baby Helena." On the right is Queenie, the cochin.