Dang, I am a Good Wife
July 12th, 2009There are about a million things I love about Bernie. The fact that he very rarely complains about my chickens is at the top of my list. And I will be the first to tell you that my chickens can be extremely annoying. So, despite the fact that Jethro spends the majority of his day crowing from the hood of Bernie’s back hoe, and Bernie has had to put fencing around every living plant in this yard to keep the chickens from annihilating them, he rarely complains about my chickens.
But there is one thing my chickens do that is particularly annoying and, although Bernie only occasionally mentions it, I know it bothers him.
My chickens love to dust bath under Bernie’s barn shed lean-to. They. Love. It. And, in addition to covering everything under his lean-to in dust, they leave dust bath holes. Really big dust bath holes.
And they seem to especially love dust bathing around a couple of the support poles.
So, being the wonderful wife that I am and, knowing that the future of my life with chickens may depend on it, I volunteered to help Bernie remove everything from under his lean-to, fill in the dust bath holes, and cover the whole thing in gravel. And yesterday morning, that is exactly what we did.
As we began working on it, Bernie left to go into the garage and get something. A few seconds later he yelled “Penny - come quick.” I could tell by the way he said it that there was something he wanted me to see, so I grabbed my camera and ran over to where he was, at the back of the garage. And this is what he wanted to show me.
Another rat snake! And he wanted inside the garage - so that is exactly where he went.
He also decided to check out the under side of Bernie’s motorcycle.
And when he got tired of me following him around with camera and Bernie herding him with a broom, he slipped outside and headed for the woods.
Good bye, Mr. Rat Snake.
So, with a gratuitous shot of Bernie’s cute little behind…..
we got back to work fixing up his lean-to floor. After much shoveling, gravel hauling, and raking, it started looking much better.
And so, even though every single stinkin’ muscle I possess is screaming in agony, we finished re-doing Bernie’s lean-to floor.
Shhhhhh. Don’t tell Bernie, but the chickens immediately began checking it out.
When we came inside, Elvis and Priscilla were extremely interested to learn what we had been doing, and they hung on my every word as I told them.
And they agree that I am, indeed, a good wife.
Bee Free,
Penny
Tags: lean-to
July 12th, 2009 at 8:53 am
You’re so funny. I, too, have a hubby that isn’t too keen on chickens—especially my roo. I hope the rocks work. My chickens would just scratch it out of their way.
Glad to see your cats are as interested in your life as mine is to me.
Hooray, hooray for just shooing your rat snake back into the woods. He’s a great exterminator of all things rodent.
July 12th, 2009 at 10:38 am
penny, you are indeed a very good wife. I hope the rocks help but my husband wont let mine out cause they destroy his garden and I have to not argue the point with that one.
My baby “Jack” wing is doing alot better and he is actually moving it and flapping it. I gave it a few days and on Friday i was going to wrap it up but he was moving it and by saturday he was flapping it so i guess he didnt break it. thank goodness.
My “momma” that has been laying on eggs had 21 eggs in there with her until this morning I went in there and the other chickens have destroyed her nest along with mostly all the eggs. It broke my heart and I had to find Tom to tell him because he is at his mother’s house cutting grass for her. I know I was pitiful and he said that he would make her nest more “chicken proof” . She is already in a new nesting box. It was horrible. I could see little tiny babies in the eggs she had been laying on. I have cried and cried. I have gone out there and cleaned up the massacre and lettin the box air out so that I can get her straight later on today. I wonder if maybe she got tired of laying and since I had been taking the eggs out for about 2 weeks before I started letting her actually lay on them, maybe I am to blame but none the less it is still heart breaking to say the least. Is it possible she did this because she has been so devoted to her eggs and wasnt getting up off of them even when the other chickens were climbing in with her and laying more eggs. Have you ever had this happen to you.
Oh and by the way that snake was quite long and I have definitely seen some of those around here to.
July 12th, 2009 at 11:22 am
CeeCee - I am not at all convinced the gravel will keep the chickens from scratching, but I’m a little surprised they’ve been on it (although it hasn’t even been 24 hours yet) and so far we haven’t caught them scratching. I guess we’ll see how it goes. And it’s funny to me that in the 5 years we’ve owned this land, I’ve only ever seen 2 snakes - but then you posted about the gartner on your blog last week, and I’ve seen 3 since then - one the very next day! I know we have plenty of mice and other food sources for the rat snakes, so I’m kinda glad to see them around. I just hope they leave my eggs and baby chicks alone!
Lisa - Oh dear. I am so sorry that happened to you. I know that many people do have problems with the other hens destroying eggs under a setting broody, and some have even had the other hens kill the babies when they are born. I’ve never had those issues though. I’ve taken to separating my broodies when I give them eggs to set on, and that has worked out well for me. Honestly, if it were me, I might try to break her broodiness at this point. She’s been broody an awfully long time, hasn’t she? ETA: I just realized you said they destroyed most of the eggs - so were some left that she is currently setting on?
July 12th, 2009 at 3:18 pm
penny —– she has been setting on the eggs for about a month but I was taking them fromunder her for 3 weeks. so actually she has been sitting on some for little over 1 week now. there are still some eggs that they didn’t destroy but I wasn’t sure if they would be viable at this point. she had pushed some out from underneath her. I left them on the ground by the coop when i cleaned out the mess. she has since moved to another nesting box and sitting on some new ones altogether.
Do you think that I should just let her start from scratch so to speak. My husband is going to wire the 2 nesting boxes up so that noone can get in there and i will let her out once a day but she will be totally separated from the others. We had pulled up the divider in between the 2 nesting boxes and made it 1 large nice one. she had room to lay on her babies and then on the other side she had food and water in there at all times, we had just left the top in the front open so she could get out. Now we will completly wire her inside and they can’t get to her at all.
what do you think bout the old eggs she had in the nest. I am not even sure they are good now.
sad thing is is that my son and i saw a little baby in quite a few of the eggs. a very tiny something but they were developing, so I think the ones that are left are the ones she had already pushed out because she did not have enough room for them all.
thanks for all your help and kind words,
Lisa
July 12th, 2009 at 4:42 pm
Hi Lisa - Well, it sounds like she’s been off the eggs that were left for several hours. I have had broodies get on the wrong nest in 20 degree weather and the eggs were stone cold when I went out and found them and put the broody back on them - and all the eggs hatched.
I think you have a decision - either put those eggs back under her and NO other eggs, or put NEW eggs under her and dispose of the old ones. If you mix them, she will abandon the newer eggs shortly after the chicks from the older eggs hatch. Does that make sense?
I have not experienced what you are going through, but I do know all the eggs need to have roughly the same incubation time, or she will abandon the ones that do not hatch within 24 hours or so of the others.
At this point, I wouldn’t be certain the old eggs are viable, especially since she had so many and you are not certain she had not already kicked some out. I would likely just start over with her and new eggs, making absolutely certain she is penned and no other chicken can get in there with her. If it ends up that SHE is destroying the eggs, you’ve got a bad broody and I would break her and then not let her set on eggs again. Hopefully, all will go well this time!
Maybe someone with more experience with what you are going through will weigh in. But these are my thoughts.
Best of luck to you - and (((hugs))) to you and your son for finding all those poor eggs destroyed. I am keeping my fingers crossed that things go better this time!
July 12th, 2009 at 6:34 pm
penny, ok so here is what I have done. there were like 8 or 9 eggs left that werent destroyed and I had decided that I would start over with her from day 1. my son and i had found like 3 or 4 of the busted eggs that had babies in them and then of the remaining ones there were like 4 or 5 more with babies i them. I cried because I was so scared to put them under her because I remember what you had said bout them getting up and not sitting on the remaining eggs if they had different incubation times. because some would be a week older than the ones from today. I put 6 or 8 and we have stapled wire in the front and on the side so that noone can get in there with her. she seems quite happy and content. her food and water is on her left side and she can just lean over and grab a bite to eat or take a sip of water. I just don’t want to believe that she did this to those eggs. and i myself will definitely keep my fingers crossed and pray that she isn’t. My son wants to get rid of the other 13 hens and just keep her with her eggs and then my 24 other babies that are almost 17 weeks young.
I am going to work on my father to help me build a seperate broody house so that i can put her seperate from everyone so this wont happen again.
I have faith in my heart that “Momma” will be a good mommy and she had viable babies that were destroyed so she has it in her to do it and the way she was so protective of those eggs she couldn’t have done this.
thanks for all of your wonderful words of encouragement and you make me feel so much better just by talking to you.
July 12th, 2009 at 7:13 pm
Lisa, I think you are a good chicken mommy and are doing everything you can. She will likely be ok with the eggs since you’ve closed her in alone. Please let me know how everything goes. I’m crossing my fingers and sending lots of good thoughts your way!
July 12th, 2009 at 10:35 pm
That was very nice of you to help Bernie lay all that gravel down there. It looked really good after you guys had it all done. However, if I may speak for the chickens Id have to say that a dust bath is far better than a gravel bath….
And speaking for myself, well, I dont think I really would want to be close friends with that snake.
July 12th, 2009 at 11:24 pm
Wow, that snake is so cool. I’m really fascinated by those things… I remember the first snake we ever saw on our land was when we lived in the pole barn. A big ol’ Prairie King Snake came in the door, winding back and forth, following a big toad. Pretty nifty.
I’ve only seen one black rat snake though. Tis a pity… we’ve got enough voles, mice, and packrats to feed them well.
Ron
July 13th, 2009 at 5:15 am
You be a good wifey LOL
My skin is crawling just looking at the snake photos….. sod that for a month of sundays……
Aint chickens funny when they choose a place to bath LOL….. so they dont scratch of the flowers in my little garden, I left the soil under the japonica bush bare and thats where they love to bath….. that way it saves the rest of me plants lol
cute arse Bernie lmfao hahahahaha…….
x
July 13th, 2009 at 6:08 am
Frugalmom - That is EXACTLY what the chickens think. You must be channeling for them.
Ron - the rat snakes around here are usually pretty stealth and we rarely see them. Not sure why they’ve made such appearances this year. I wouldn’t be surprised if you’ve got them around, especially with such yummy food choices
Marmy - I wish my chickens would pick just one spot to dust bathe! They don’t like any of the spots I picked out for them. I agree that Bernie does have a cute tiny hiney - and he was just THRILLED that I shared it in on the blog
July 13th, 2009 at 8:45 am
I love my chickens but I really prefer my geese. My kids would rather eat duck eggs so I think I will be downsizing one flock in favor of another flock.
July 13th, 2009 at 9:07 am
Angie - Bernie really wants to get some ducks, but it will have to wait until building a shelter for them bubbles up on his “priorities” list. My grandmother had geese, and they were mean as the devil himself. Maybe it was the breed? I have no clue what breed they were, just that they were very large, white, and mean! I’m going to head over to your blog and see what you’ve written about your geese.
July 13th, 2009 at 2:56 pm
Geese choose a person and stick with them. They are ‘mean’ to those people they don’t know. They are great guard dogs.
July 13th, 2009 at 2:57 pm
Of course that goes without saying thats a toy gun in Bernies belt right? *gulp*
x
July 13th, 2009 at 2:59 pm
ps……. duck’s poo is way to slimy and messy compared to chickens, believe me, when I use to own the plant nursery and land, we/I kept some ducks…… beautiful as they were and I loved them, they was dirty stinkie slimy poo beasts LOL and the peck up every single blade of grass…
X
July 13th, 2009 at 3:11 pm
Angie - Are they good with your kids?
Marmy - Yes, of course. That’s one of Bernie’s favorite “toys” on his hip
July 14th, 2009 at 11:06 am
Penny, you are indeed a good wife!! It looked great after you were done. And the snake?! Wow. I used to not be able to handle even seeing pictures of snakes, but in my “old age” I have become more curious about them. Saw a large bull snake on my way to the garden this a.m. We eyed each other and headed on our ways. I have pack rats, too, and would love to see them gone. Your kitties look about as interested as my Lucy is! She only wants food and attention-in that order!
Take care….
July 15th, 2009 at 7:25 am
Hi Cotton Lady! It’s nice to see you again! It’s interesting how our perspective on things change as we age. I’ve never been afraid of snakes - but I do have a healthy respect for them. And anyone that needs humbling should try living with a cat! Mine remind me, on a regular basis, how very lucky I am that they chose to live with me.
July 17th, 2009 at 12:01 pm
He had a gun but used a broom??? LOL I am so very terrified of snakes. My Mom picks them up by their tails and carries them to the field….crazy nut! I think you and your hubby are so cute! And it’s refreshing to see a couple in love these days
July 17th, 2009 at 12:07 pm
Angie:: What kind of geese?? We have Canada Geese in the apartment complex I live in and they are monsters! There’s ONE goose that has a broken beak and he’s super sweet. My daughters and I hand feed him bread (I know, I know, not great for them). When he gets hungry he pecks on my door. I get yelled at all the time for feeding him but he’s so darn cute and nice. The others just poop everywhere and hiss when you walk past them
July 17th, 2009 at 4:35 pm
Nicole - Hey my man is equally as good with a broom as he is a gun - but the gun makes his little hiney look so much cuter
July 19th, 2009 at 10:23 am
Penny- Haven’t chatted in a little while, hope all is good with you and your chickens. I have come to the decision that my “momma” will have to be moved to a totally different house altoether. the other chickens have gotten into her nesting boxes. they pushed the wire back and pulled it so they were able to get into her nest. they have destroyed more eggs and she has moved to an open nesting box with now more eggs in there. My babies that are in the other coop are now 17 weeks old and are able to eat the same food as the red stars are eating. so we have come to the decision that our mean “Jake” will be leaving and our feed store will find him a “good home” I was going to get rid of my 2 black and white hamburg roosters (that were supposed to have been females to begin with) and keep my boy “Jack” well yesterday Jack kept tripping over his feet and was basically laying around and when I went to get them straight for bed last nite he had fallen down in between the water and the door and could not get up. I picked him up and had to get my husband to help me get a crate ready for him to put into with food and water and move him into the garage. He could stand up but not walk. He was however eating and ate a whole mason jar of food. This morning he is still with us but can barely make and steps without falling over. His wings help him balance when he falls over. He is eating and pooping. I am going to take him to the feed store guy and see if he knows what is wrong with him and what we can do to help make him better. I am so scared that he wont be able walk again and there is no way I can do anything to him. I am not sure what to do.