Meet Alma and family

   
   Meet Alma! She is one of the semi-grown kittens that showed up here and I placed in crates so they wouldn't get impregnated! Obviously Alma had beat me to that. sheesh! Immediately after that I was sick for several weeks and then my mother passed away.... so its been a very busy and emotionally trying time.
    During that time the two cats got settled in on the porch and Alma started growing quite large! (The last thing we need around here are more cats.) She looks pretty miserable in this photo... but you would be too if you were hugely pregnant and living in a crate!
    Then on Sunday afternoon, that all began to change........

   I noticed her breathing hard and moving around with a confused look on her face. Then the first kitten arrived..... black with white facial markings. Then two tabbys! I call them the twins because they were so close together.

   CUTE, huh?! Then came a black one. That's #FOUR!!!  Then another black one! Oh my God, we're up to FIVE!

    Look at these markings. It looks like a funny looking chipmunk! Then almost an hour later.... she gives birth to #SIX!!! Another tabby! This one is a different shade from the twins. Alma was SOOOOOOOO TIRED! And bewildered! But she has wonderful maternal instincts, so I'm hoping everything works out for this lovely little family. Now I need to find homes for everyone when they get weaned. And a very special home for Mama Alma. She is the sweetest girl and so deserving of a wonderful forever family.

    What a picture! Look at the size of it's head. Oh my!!!

First Egg!

   Good thing I put those "nest boxes" in the coop yesterday!!! I was inside cleaning this afternoon and both dogs started barking... Blossom even came and sat next to me looking slightly scared.   When I  walked into the living room I could hear the hens making a God awful racket! Wow! This new batch of girls is LOUD!!! When I went out to check on everyone I immediately found the reason for all the noise. It was a CELEBRATION! hahahaha
   Now I got the Leghorns a week earlier than the Delawares, so they should be the first to lay. And they are right on schedule! The first egg is white and therefore from a Leghorn.     So much for giving them to someone before they got started laying. sheesh    ( I have too many hens for my living conditions!!)
  

   Archimedes found this pullet egg to be absolutely irresistible! I can only imagine how it smells to a cat! HAHAHA
    *And I think its really cool that the first egg arrived on what would have been my mother's 92nd birthday!

Just some hen pics!

Have been wanting to get back and write on some of the chick raising activity, but will just post some photos.  Here is one Leghorn,  Rose the Delaware and Hermoine this afternoon. I was cleaning and rearranging the now-way-too-small pen area!!!
 

We're getting close to THAT TIME now. So I stuck a couple of cat carriers in as "nest boxes". Boy, did that cause a ruckus!
 

One of the things I really like about the Delaware's appearance is their necklaces. Each is unique to that bird. Plus they have a nice full figure. The Leghorns are a thinner looking breed . Personally I like to see a big fat round hen poking around in the yard.

What a sweet face! Well, at least for a chicken.

Here is that svelte Leghorn body type I was talking about! hahaha  Plus they seem to be really LOUD birds. And fairly jumpy too. My nerves do not need that right now.  We''ll see how successful my attempts to rehome them are.

Hermoine was soooo lonely!

   Well I knew the day would come when the old hens would gradually die out, but what I hadn't figured on was how much the LAST ONE would grieve!! 
   Helga the hen from Hell passed in her sleep last week... leaving lovely little Hermoine all alone. And that poor hen was absolutely bereft. She watched as I buried Helga and proceeded to stay near the grave for the rest of the day. Come evening when they would normally go up to roost ... instead of heading for the little coop they had used for months... she tried to go back to the old blue shed that they had all "grown up" in. Was she trying to return to the past to find her sister? Or would she feel more secure there? I don't profess to know how a hen thinks... it was just the saddest thing to see! And the sounds she made! The keening of a mourning hen is heartrending!!!

   Sometime during the second day of her sorrow I came up with the idea to put a stuffed toy next to her at night. She sleeps in an old dog carrier (easy to clean and disinfect) and doesn't actually roost. (All those girls preferred to sleep on a big shelf in the shed.... so I just washed their fluffy butts on a fairly regular basis! 'Cause that's what a chicken-Mama will do for her ladies!) Anyway, the teddy bear didn't go over very well the first night! But by the second evening she was sitting all comfy and cozy next to him!
    BUT during the days she kept looking for Helga and making all these pitiful little cries when she didn't find her in any of their favorite spots. I couldn't take it anymore!  So I took a drastic step...........

1/18/2017  4 little Leghorn chicks are we!

      Meet our latest family members. Haven't named them yet because they look alike to me! They are too small to put in with Hermoine, but she certainly perked up when she heard all the tiny cheeping noises coming from the cage. Now that did my heart good to see! After the first day she even ventured off to hunt bugs, but would return to listen to them. Their daytime cage is up on a small table in the chicken run and Hermoine will sit underneath it and act just as contented as she could be! So hey, I feel like I did a good thing.... even if it means another batch of hens to look after. Hope Hermoine teaches them the ropes this Spring (and Summer). She will be six years old in March.... wonder how old Orpingtons get? Oh well, she is definitely in her "wisdom years" and has a lot to share with the Leghorn gals!

1/21/2017  Fourth day here!