Rose Prairie Quilts and Farm

Friday I arrived home after dark, so "the man of the place" locked up the chickens in the hen house. He said when he went to do that he found a buzzard in the hen house. He was able to scoot the buzzard out the house. It just hopped over to peach  tree in the chicken yard and perched on it. I asked him if something were dead in the hen house like a chicken or something else. so  strange, that  would be the only reason  for a buzzard to fly into a  hen house He said he could not find anything, nothing was out of place and just thought it was a strange happening Heaven knows.... I have had various creatures in with the poor girls, like the time I had a hawk with them. When I went out the next morning to let the chickens out, I did not see no sign of the buzzard and just figured it flew away. But it was Monday, and "the man  of the place" told me that the buzzard was back out there. Sure enough there it was hopping along the side of

I had read somewhere on the internet that groundhogs were solitaire animals. A few days ago something dug out the dirt from the previous hole in the chicken house.  Put the cage out by the hole day before yesterday, just like the first time but didn't get any activity. I expected that to happen.  but  yesterday afternoon another groundhog was in the trap.  It's a big one. The Man of the Place thinks it's bigger and fatter than the last one. I think it has more brown near its chest.  I think they are cute and they really don't bother us much but just can't have it stealing chicken food and scaring the girls. Bad enough they are molting and that alone can lower egg production. Then being scared on top of it.... no wonder I'm getting no eggs.   So cutie here   spent the night in the back of the truck away from predators. And this morning he was move to it's new home. 

Right now what's up on my design wall is a blank wall. I had taken everything down yesterday so I could put up my collections of rainbow scrap color blocks to see what it looks like with all the various colors I have already prepared. These are what I have of the spool blocks. Over the weekend we had a series of heavy thunderstorms with a lightning which blew out my modem and router. Today I went down to the telephone company to get a new modem, because that's who provides the modem. Then I have to go to the store and buy a new router. Then I will be up again But for now I am writing this through my blogger app on my iPhone. Thank Goodness for that. So before I went for my walk, I went to let the chickens out of the house and see how everything is. "The man of the place" had over the weekend put up some wire where the chicken wire was starting to deteriorate . Had to fill in the hole again from the groundhog.  In the proces

I would like to tell you about the invaders we have in the hen house. First of all we have had many invaders into the hen house. I have written about some on the blog and some were  prior to having a blog. We have had snakes, rodents, possums, dogs, and even a Red tailed Hawk  invade their house. And then there is what they've had to encounter while roaming around looking for bugs and such. We've had bobcats, coyotes, pack of dogs and a chicken hawk.  Our latest invaders to the hen house are twofold. First we've had a groundhog that decided it needed to burrow it's house inside the hen house. hard to see but it's in the far right corner We tried to flush it out with water, which didn't work. So "the Man of the Place" shoveled the dirt back in the hole but it dug it out again. Haven't seen it myself.  Then we had an invasion of raccoon's who pulled the chicken wire (that was securing an opening for ventilation)

I have raised small flocks of chickens for over 30 years now & every now and then I'll get an egg that is not perfect.  I had one of those eggs recently. One good thing is that I had only one egg and not a series of eggs. I take that as a sign of no major infection concerns. I could be wrong but I see no signs of illness. This egg is wrinkled or  Corrugated shell ( I believe more the latter) From what I can find out... that is most likly a stress related cause by being an overly large egg (which it is) or having two yolks release by the ovary relately close together. For more imformation to can go here  that is a PDF of 20 common egg shell problems and here  at Backyard Chickens website on  Common egg quality problems. I hope this helps anyone who on occasion come across an egg that is not perfect.  I know it helps me.  Another good resource is "The Chicken Encyclopedia" by Gail Damerow. Its a good general information resource to h

I haven't given any information on my chickens lately, for one reason they haven't really been doing much. It's been cold and they pretty much just stay in the hen house and try to stay warm. Bless their hearts, they're doing a very good job of it with no help for me. I do not have a light out there in the chicken house. It's not well insulated is just plywood walls. There is straw on the ground to help with some insulation. But as you can tell from what I'm saying the poor girls are on the own. Boy are they from Hardy chickens. I have not lost one this winter. I have 13 girls, and they're all older girls, 3years and  older. I really thought I would lose some of them with this cold spell we've been having. But just proves to show you what good health and mother nature  has created can do. Okay I have to give myself a little credit I have been feeding them exceptionally well. I've been trying to keep their health the best so they can fight

In my absence of writing, "the girls" have been one of the categories or subjects that I have not written about. I want to give you some updates on "the girls". It has been a long cold winter here in the United States. A majority of us have gone through some below freezing temperatures for long length of time, and Oklahoma has been hit with it also. Not as bad as those in the North and East have had.  Poor girls they were just not happy with this weather. When it snows and such like that, they won't even leave the house, they hate the snow. I do not have a covered run for them because they spend most of their day running free around the farm. True free-ranged chicken  So I wanted to give you some update on my girls. I do not have a light or heater out in the hen house and I was so worried about how they were going to fare with the temps in the single digits and below zero we had had this winner. Well I like to tell you that they did well. I ha