One of these things just doesn’t belong here:
No, it’s not that rusted truck tool box I once used as a brooder and has now been banished to the edge of the woods. Look a little closer. To the left of the box, under that pile of brush:
And look what I found when she got up:
There were nine of those eggs in that little hidden nest. They’ve got another nest or two out there, and I’m going to find them, dammit!
And don’t you look at me like that, you little hussy.
I want to show you a few things in the greenhouse. We’re doing a little experiment and growing a couple of peppers and tomatoes in the greenhouse this year. We’re hoping they do well and have an extended season. So far, so good:
And look at this pretty little Colorado wildflower (thanks, Lilla!):
This little wildflower came from the seeds I brought back from Nebraska:
So did this Morning Glory:
Mom brought me a bunch of flowers and plants when she came to visit last month. I have no idea what this one is, but it really has a beautiful bloom:
And one of the pots she brought me had some little rogue Impatiens in them:
The Basil is starting to grow now.
The Oregano is getting a little crazy.
And the Thyme is doing great. My dear friend from Texas brought me the pot it’s in when he came up to visit a couple of years ago. I love that little pot and it makes me think of him and smile every time I look at it.
Oh, and look at these fig trees my father started rooting for me and brought up last month:
I’m hoping to get them planted next spring. Maybe if I put chicken wire around them and then fill it with leaves and straw in the fall they will make it through the winters up here.
OK, speaking of chickens, I need to go hunt for some hidden nests. I really don’t like doing that. Not only do I rarely have luck finding them, the hens laugh at me while I’m searching.
Little hussies.
Bee Free,
Penny
Tags: greenhouse, herbs, hidden nest, wildflowers
LOL, our chooks (chickens) do the same thing each day when let out, it’s almost like a game of hide and seek, only with eggs!
Hi Molly! It’s annoying, but I must say I spend a lot of time chuckling at these chickens. Little hussies indeed!
Am I the only one who thought of chickens wearing risque outfits and heavy makeup?
The flower under the morning glory is a cleome, honeybees love them. Save the seeds for the spring.
How long has it been since (was it a hamburg) disappeared? She may be out there with a brood of biddies and bring them home to you one of these days…;-) it happenend to me a few years ago, just knew something had gotten her, one day out of the blue she’s laying in my driveway, I lifted her and biddies went everywhere! Eighteen of those little adorable things!
She wasn’t a hamburg though but now that I think about it …..maybe I was;-) The pics are beautiful.
Love Ya!
Julie
Great pictures, and I am so happy to see a Colorado wildflower in there! Did you plant the seeds individually? I just took mine and scattered them in a bed and they are mixed with the weeds and grass and looking rather…wild! Some of those seeds were so tiny that I didn’t have the patience to plant them neatly, I’m afraid.
The girls would never laugh at hen mother. Snicker just a bit, but never let loose a belly roll. I love the pictures of the flowers, they are beautiful. I don’t know what the “real” name of the pink flower but we always called it “cat’s whiskers”. I have been looking for them for years. If you find out what the name is please let me know. I have described it for the young guy at the nursery, he just looks confused and scratches his head. He does that alot with me lately. Good luck with the nest hunt.
Kelly
Yep, thats for sure a cleome in the picture. Also referred to as the stink flower….they tend to be kinda stinky! AND they spread like wildfire. So, unless you are okay with them being everywhere….you may want to keep them contained!
Im not gonna laugh at all that your girls are hiding nests from you. Promise. (snort)
I want your life. Seriously. I wake up to dirty diapers and hungry kids. You wake up to animals, beautiful plants/flowers and peace and quiet. Life Swap sometime? I promise you’ll appreciate your perfect life even more LOL
We also call it spider flower. It is fun to watch the flowers open. They really pop open fast. Hens are so good about hidding eggs. Do you gather eggs, pick eggs or hunt eggs? We pick or pick up eggs in the hen house and also hunt eggs when the hens go out and hide there nests.
Nicole – most of the girls do actually wear little outfits!
Julie – Thanks for telling me the name of the flower. I should have known to ask you! I need to put little labels inside my flowers with the names on them. I am the world’s worse at remembering the names of flowers.
I was really hoping that little Hamburg was on a nest somewhere and have been praying I’d look up and see her strutting towards me with a bunch of biddies. But just yesterday we had a little bit of a gruesome experience. Bernie went with me and the dogs on our “mail run”, and along the way we noticed Dolly with something in her mouth. I made her drop it and it was a chicken foot. I have no idea exactly where she got it – they run up in the woods all along the walk. We tried to back track where we thought she was, but never did find anything. I am 99.9% certain it was from the litttle Hamburg. But it hasn’t quite been 3 weeks since she disappeared, so I’m not totally giving up yet. There is a guy about 1 mile down the road with chickens, so there is a slight possibility the chicken foot wasn’t from my Hamburg……
Lilla – all of the seeds in my packet were almost microscopic! It looked like ground pepper. I just scattered them all in a container I keep in the greenhouse. We still haven’t decided exactly what we’re doing in the yard, so I haven’t planted many flowers outside yet. I pray a lot of those Colorado flowers come up and go to seed so that maybe next year I can get a wild flower bed put in for them. There are a few other plants that have blossoms about to open up and it’s so exciting to NOT know what they are or how they will look! Thank you so much for the seeds. It’s been fun watching them grow and wondering what they will look like – and I think of you every single day when I check them!
Kelly – when I get the seeds from the cleome, I’d be happy to send some to you. I will let you know and get your mailing addy, if you are interested. And I have caught those girls in a full out belly laugh. Seriously. They try to do it behind my back and act like they are dust bathing when I look, but I’ve caught them red handed. Little hussies.
Frugalmom – Judging by all those seed pods, I suspected it may be a prolific plants! And I did notice a funny smell while watering it…. But it is so beautiful. It’s in a pot in the greenhouse right now, and sounds like that may be where it will continue to live! And don’t EVEN try to fib to me. I heard you laughing. I should be happy you don’t live close to me. You would be a very bad influence on my girls.
Nicole – You are sweet, but you aren’t fooling me. You wouldn’t take a million dollars for those two gorgeous little girls. Besides, you’d be trading poopy diapers for a poopy coop (and yard!) and crying babies for crowing roosters and loud hens
John – my friend, Charlotte, also called it a Spider Flower. It’s really beautiful. The bloom seems to last forever. And we gather eggs, hunt eggs, and just FIND eggs sometimes. I’ve actually had hens get so excited at snack time that they jump off the nest to get some of the treat and just pop an egg out while scratching around. And they are very sneaky about those hidden nests. I watched that Hamburg as she left that nest I found, and she walked all the way over to the run before she announced she had laid it. They are determined to make sure I don’t find those nests.
Oh, you crack me up. I hope you find all of your chicken nests. I don’t let mine out of the pen everyday so they don’t have time to develop new nests. Your greenhouse growings are looking great. I would love to root a fig tree. I may have to try that one.
Hi Trixi – I’m so glad to “see” you again. You and your family have been on my mind, and I was glad to see you updated your blog, but sad to see that hubby is now in Iraq
If my fig trees survive, I’ll plan on rooting a piece for you and sending it to you through the mail. Remind me, ok?
I LOVE the pink spikey flower….
That chicken is to cute for its socks
….. just look at her little face poking out 
x
Marmy – Oh she’s cute alright – and sly as a fox! She’s a little hussy. Don’t let the “Who? Me?” look fool you.
For some reason I had a bit of trouble getting to your blog, but here I am.
The thing that’s fun about those little hussy hens, is that pretty soon your place will be full of tiny fluff balls that eat bugs.
Hi CeeCee – thanks for stopping by! For some reason the only account I can use to post comments on others’ blogs is my blogspot account – and I don’t use that blogger anymore. I think it probably confuses people. But, I’m glad you found me.
My six broodies did actually hatch out chicks this year – I’m hoping we’re over the broodiness! It’s fun having several different ages peeping around, but it’s looking like at least 7 of them are cockerels
Hi basicliving- this post is a far happier one that last. I just wanted to give you a update on by broody Red Star. last Thursday July 2nd) I did give her 4 eggs which I marked with x’s on both top and bottom and she seemed content. I only work Tuesday and Thursday and the kids gather the eggs on those days, well they did not get them on Thursday and when I went outside to feed, water and love them. I found 8 eggs under her, she now has 11 and I am now sure she can sit on any more. Tonite or tomorow nite my husband is going to remove the divider to the nesting box beside where “Momma” is laying so I can easily put food and water in there at all times. I can’t stand the fact of her starving and maybe becoming dehydrated in this heat. We live in Virginia and the humidity is horrible and she doesn’t seem to be minding it, as much as i am for her. I just can’t get the other hens to not climb in there with her and try to lay while she is laying, she won’t even get up when they do that. I believe she will be a good mommy and I am so excited.
I also have the “babies” which are almost 17 weeks old. My beautiful Delaware “Jack” has somehow hurt his left wing and my guy around at the Feed sotre says to try to feel it and see if you can feel a break. I did this last nite and it doesn’t seem to feel broken but then again I could be totally wrong. His wing just won’t go up it kind of hangs down a little bit, Do you think it could be broken or do you know of something that could be wrong.
thanks
Lisa
Hi Lisa – I’m so glad your little broody is setting on some eggs now! I bet she will be a wonderful mama. The only problem with eggs of differing age is that she will only set on the remainder a short while after the babies begin hatching. So she may end up abandoning the eggs that take a day or two longer than the batch she initially started setting on. Which can be kinda sad because those eggs will probably still be viable. That happened to me with my last hatch. After 9 babies hatch, she left that nest and started another. It was kind of sad to me because there were 6 eggs left.
I don’t have much experience at all with hurt wings. My only experience has been a Hamburg that got caught up in a folded lawn chair. Her wing dragged for a while, but eventually healed. If Jack has a broken wing, you may have to rig it with a popsicle stick or something similar wrapped to it to keep it straight – and that would require putting him in a pen to keep him still for a while. Another possibility, based on the fact that it seems to be dragging, is that he dislocated it somehow. I don’t know how to treat that. You may want to go to http://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/index.php and look at the Emergencies / Diseases / Injuries and Cures forum. There are so many knowledgeable and intelligent people that post there, and they may be able to help you better diagnose and treat Jack. I frequent that website (my user name is Basic Living) and I depend on it for a lot of information.
Let me know what you find out.