Broody Hen Day 14: Weather Catastrophe

It rained on our hill on June 11.  After that we had 23 days of no rain whatsoever.  Uncle Mark counted.

Finally the weather started to break.  The first week of July we had five whole drops of rain.  Perhaps I exaggerate just a bit; it may have only been 4.5.  Leeds, Alabama had enough that there were puddles on the sidewalk.  Our driveway had dry patches.

The second week of July the weather was better.  The temperatures were not as brutal and we got real rain.  Not only did the driveway get wet, there was water gushing out of the gutters.  Hurray!

Tuesday evening July 10th (that's Bible Study evening at our house in case you are interested) we had an early supper and the house was in order.  Uncle Mark and I were relaxing for a few minutes when we heard what sounded like torrential rain.  We were so excited that we ran to the porch to watch.  There was no rain, just a fierce wind.  Uncle Mark plopped down in the hammock to watch and I started pacing the porch so that I could see everything.  After a bit I went inside to check on something and as I was coming back out to watch the storm I saw Uncle Mark running at top speed down the sidewalk.  Figuring there was a chicken problem, I ran outside, slipped into the shoes and took off after him, hollering for Dan on the way.

As I raced down the sidewalk, I saw what had gotten his attention.

Can you believe that not one chicken was hurt?

Can you believe that not one chicken got loose?

And that it fell away from Big Mama Broody Hen??

That thing with the shiny roof in the background is where Big Mama is setting

Instead of studying Roman chapter 7, the women-folk had "fellowship" time.
The men-folk got busy with saws, axes and muscles.

We were able to rig a safe area for the flock; Uncle Mark was even able to get the electric fence rigged (we have a coyote problem out here).

Wednesday Uncle Mark visited our friends at Lowe's.  Thursday he reconstructed the pen.  In the meantime, Buckaroo and his girls are learning to be thankful for what they have, even though it is smaller than what they are used to.  And I am thankful that my husband and my son are so strong and so handy!

Broody Hen Day 10: Candling Catastrophe

 

There are different opinions about whether or not to candle one's incubating eggs.  Candling is the process of shining a bright light into the eggs in the dark to see what is happening developmentally.


Those in favor of candling point out that if an egg stops developing the contents of the egg could build up toxic gasses.  If the egg explodes (a possibility), those toxins are then released into the nest and could potentially infect the other eggs.

Those in favor of not candling point out that since Creation, the vast majority of broody hens have managed this whole process just fine without any human intervention.

Since this is our first broody, since we were a little concerned about a few of the eggs, and since we are innately curious (!), Uncle Mark and I decided to go ahead and candle.

Friday evening we went out after dark to see what we could see.  I was tasked with taking care of Mama.  She is used to me by now and puts up with me. We opened the nesting box, I reached in and picked her up, held her, talked soothingly to her, and petted her a little bit (True Confessions!).  As we looked in at the nest and counted the eggs, we realized that there were only SEVEN there.  Just as I was commenting...OK, shrieking, ("WHAT HAPPENED TO THE OTHER EGG???!!!!), catastrophe struck.  I did not know then that sometimes an egg or two will get stuck up under Mama's legs and feathers.  One had.  It fell.

Good news?  The egg was fertile.

Bad news? We are down to seven eggs.  Mean old Mr. Gravity!

We tried to candle them but realized that we really did not know what we were doing.  After the second egg, we put Mama back, closed the door, and walked away.  We'll find out when we find out!