Did I mention that our chicken hatched out some ducklings? Yes, you read it right. One of our hens went broody. That means her hormones kicked in and told her to lay a lot of eggs, then sit on them day and night until they hatched. I thought it might be fun to have some Indian Runner Ducks. My friends have some and they are delightful to watch as they potter about, looking for bugs. My friend kindly have me a few eggs, and I tucked those eggs under the broody hen. And she sat. Then a few of her friends went broody, too, and the eggs got spread around under the hens. I am not sure how they do it, but they manage to steal eggs and move them from one nest box to the next. All of this without the benefit of hands! At any rate, a couple of weeks ago I heard peeping when I checked on the birds, and now we have ducklings.
Also, I bought electrified poultry netting to keep the meat birds safe. While the birds were still in the brooder, I gave the stuff a test drive by fencing off a very weedy, brushy area along the side of the road. I turned the goats out. They ate, and ate, and ate. And barely made a dent before I had to give the netting back over to the birds. But once those birds are gone I plan to set the netting up again and let the goats back at all those weeds. In my rich an active fantasy life they'll have the area looking like a manicured lawn in no time at all!
Did I mention that our chicken hatched out some ducklings? Yes, you read it right. One of our hens went broody. That means her hormones kicked in and told her to lay a lot of eggs, then sit on them day and night until they hatched. I thought it might be fun to have some Indian Runner Ducks. My friends have some and they are delightful to watch as they potter about, looking for bugs. My friend kindly have me a few eggs, and I tucked those eggs under the broody hen. And she sat. Then a few of her friends went broody, too, and the eggs got spread around under the hens. I am not sure how they do it, but they manage to steal eggs and move them from one nest box to the next. All of this without the benefit of hands! At any rate, a couple of weeks ago I heard peeping when I checked on the birds, and now we have ducklings.
Also, I bought electrified poultry netting to keep the meat birds safe. While the birds were still in the brooder, I gave the stuff a test drive by fencing off a very weedy, brushy area along the side of the road. I turned the goats out. They ate, and ate, and ate. And barely made a dent before I had to give the netting back over to the birds. But once those birds are gone I plan to set the netting up again and let the goats back at all those weeds. In my rich an active fantasy life they'll have the area looking like a manicured lawn in no time at all!
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