The Window

As the Queen works, I sit on the couch with the tv on in the background. I get up throughout the day to take care of chores, let the dogs in and out (and in and out), feed them, feed the chicks in the brooder, feed the chickens and ducks outside... But what probably keeps me sane is the view out my window.

I can look to the left and see clouds and trees and cows. And I see a lot of birds. But anyone who has followed me for any length of time already knows about the birds.

Yesterday I stepped up my game. I got up and managed to make it all the way to the window to get closer shots of the birds.

It's not that I haven't gotten up before... no, the problem is that they usually catch me and fly off before I can get a photo. But yesterday I apparently donned an invisibility cloak and caught them.

This is the best time of year because they are still migrating and we get birds that aren't always around.

These guys usually stick around. 

  This house finch is a serious flight risk. But they stick around, too.

The Rose Breasted Grosbeaks? They're just visiting.

They're so pretty. They have a splash of red on their chest that looks like a heart, but when they spread their wings they also have red in their armpits.

Yes. I realize they don't have armpits but wingpits doesn't exactly roll off the tongue.

It's nice to see that they all get along.

Unlike the hummingbirds who could probably eat a lot less if they just stopped fighting all the time.

And just because I'm showcasing our gorgeous birds. I took this over the winter but it's one of the best photos of a bluejay I've gotten. 

They tend to stick to the perimeter of the yard, which puts them in the shadows and makes it harder to get a decent photo... I need a better zoom lens. Don't get me wrong the lenses I have work great - but I always feel like I could use a little extra reach.

Grass is always greener, eh?

In the business world, I submitted a press release and it was picked up by 132 media outlets. I didn't get The Tennessean or The Houston Chronicle, but I got some pretty big names that I was able to post on my website.

The website is pretty much complete and I think it's the best one I've ever put together... which may or may not be saying much.

Been working on Instagram and Pinterest, deciding whether or not to use Etsy, and last night I watched some video tutorials about Photoshop effects so I understand better how to use it. I created some cool pieces and am thinking about entering one into a contest. 

The contest site is an online community for photographers and it has some pretty cool stuff so I may look further into that as well. Oh, and I set up my private Facebook page for people that sign up for my email list, Backwater VIP.

So today is about housework... laundry, dusting, trash removal... fun stuff that the Queen has to do because no one has stepped up and offered to do them for her. You're all horrible subjects... the worst... but I love you anyway.

Adieu...

Talking Turkey

A couple of days ago I went to a friend's house. She had some chicken supplies she wasn't using and decided to give them to me. AWESOME! I came home with a nice metal feed dispenser and also a metal water dispenser.

*happy happy joy joy*

The Queen got a tour of her amazing place... a gorgeous piece of property on top of a hill that's so peaceful and serene that it feels like a retreat. But a lot of that has to do with Laura. She's very relaxing to be around.

It also didn't hurt that the closest neighbor was a cow.

Who doesn't love that?

And she has pileated woodpeckers too!

I don't know where ours live, they fly around and laugh at us, but I think they live across the road.

I haven't seen any turkeys wandering around our property this year. But at Laura's house, this guy just walks up to the bird feeder.

It was a nice visit and made me pine even more for a better piece of property than what we have. Don't get me wrong, I'm thankful we're here, and we are slowly but surely making improvements... but it is slow going and what I really want is to be on a hill with lots of trees and some water nearby.

Ah well.

Today I finally got my seeds into some dirt. I planted all kinds of tomatoes, peppers, greens, radishes, carrots, and onions... Some of the seeds were older and may not germinate but we'll see.

Our neighbor came back and disc'd the ground so that the clumps are broken up, so after we add a few things to it and the King tills it all in, it'll be ready for planting... and the Queen will FINALLY HAVE A GARDEN!!!! It's really happening!!!

Plus, we have concrete blocks thanks to Holly, so we can also put the greenhouse up and maybe I can grow some lemons and limes of my very own.

As for the chickens, they're good. The tweens love life in the coop, the elders and the ducks still don't quite get it. They venture out a little, but it's like the TSC chickens aren't as smart or adventurous or friendly as the chicks we hatched.

That said, Red did gave me a scare yesterday...

I went in to check their food and water, and he was stuck behind a cross brace in the coop. I don't know how long he'd been like that, but once I got him loose he wasn't holding his head up and seemed to be even less mobile than usual.

I seriously thought I was going to have to work up the... not courage... but distance... to be able to put him down.

But I wanted to give him a chance to recover and see if he was just dehydrated. So I brought him inside and put him in the brooder with food and water close at hand. Last night he still looked bad and slept with his head pretty much buried in the pine shavings.

But this morning he is bright-eyed and moving around as much as he ever does... eating and drinking and turning so that he can gaze out the window. When I walk in the room he chuck-chucks and looks at me. He's Red again.

The pictures don't do him justice. He's starting to get some green-black feathers in his tail, and he's all nice and shiny. He's such a sweet bird, so neither of us wants to put him down if we don't have to; if he is suffering we will. At this point I think he'll go in with the Silkies because they're a more gentle breed.

On the work front, my website is 90% done. I got all the products up and then put it up for review, got some constructive criticism (all of which I agreed with). So I'm working on a couple of things and then I'll do a press release and try to launch next week.

It's terrifying.

I like my art, I hope that other people like my art. The scariest part for me is not knowing with 100% certainty that the finished product is going to look like it does on my computer screen. I'll be sending files to a printer and they do dropshipping so it goes straight to the customer... which means I kind of have to take it on faith.

That said, I did love both the prints I ordered a few weeks ago. So it's helped to know that they turned out as I'd hoped.

The website is BackwaterStills.com. I'll be doing Facebook ads and working on my Instagram, Pinterest and Facebook pages... Need to do a video or two... Still lots of work to do. AND I will be working on my next collection in the meantime.

Somewhere in there... I will find the time to sleep...

Chicken Football

Chickens are awesome.

And they get really excited about bugs. Today they ate a carpenter bee, four wasps, three earthworms and this caterpillar.

Chicken football - game on!

The last couple of days I have seen some new and interesting moths. This one looks like a clover leaf

And this one that looks like... I dunno. Some sort of crazy moth. 

This is not a moth. It's a Daisy Bear playing with her bedtime rope toy.

Some nights she's not quite ready to go to sleep so she'll chew quietly on her rope. Tonight the Queen 'helped.'

Yesterday the King and Queen started to whitewash the coop. Not only does it help keep bugs from making the wood their home, it certainly brightens the place up.

Normally the Queen is against painting wood, but...

I have to admit, it looks pretty good.

Our local Ace Hardware is really expanding their selection!
  

This was the day the Queen decided to buy her very own island. 

But seriously... it boggles the mind how not one, but two people had to let this pass QA in order for it to happen...

And then there was this...

Really? After I had to go to Carthage and pick my silkies out of the bantam bucket, they have them at my local TSC and in their own tub????

ARGH!

Yes... it was hard to walk away... but the Queen is strong...

RIP Flipper

My morning routine is pretty much the same. I wake up and let the dogs out to go potty. And ever since the last hatch, the next thing I do is look for Flipper.

Yesterday she didn't hang her head or flip over at all, so I thought she was getting better. But there must have been something else wrong. So my tiny chick with the big personality, my favorite, passed away some time last night.

Yes I know it happens, but it still sucks.

Yesterday I put the older chickens into the coop with the ducks. Today they are all still in the back of the coop. Just like the ducks. I thought they'd all be out in the yard scratching and clucking and having a good ole time but no...

Tomorrow I hope to lure them out with treats. What are the odds that they'll cooperate?

I did manage to teach them how to eat from the hanging feeder and drink from the waterer. They almost got the knack of it yesterday. One chick was almost there, but every time my hand got close enough to the feeder, Howard would come stick his bill in my hand and eat all the food, and me moving my hand to get more feed was too much for the flight little buggars.

That's how it works. When I call to Howard and want him to come to me he will never in a million years come close. But just try to keep him away when you don't want him there.

Today they were hungry enough that food got their attention more than it did yesterday. I was hoping that would be the case because I really don't want them to starve; I just can't go out there a thousand times a day to scatter food.

Red is one smart chicken. When I got her close enough to the feeder she put it together very quickly and instead of a peck here and peck there like the others, she went to town.

And that finally taught the rest of the flock where the food was. 

So after a few minutes of trying to teach them where the water was I decided to bring Red over and let her be the pioneer a second time. She scoots around but can't stand up anymore... her legs are so messed up that I'm not sure they will ever work right... so the waterer was too high. I lowered it and that's all it took. She drank and so did the rest of the flock. 

I hope that helps them think of her as a leader, I'm afraid they're going to pick on her eventually. She and Howard already have a history, although to be fair - she started it. They had a truce for a while, but I eventually moved the ducks so they haven't been together for a few weeks.

I spent the rest of the day driving around back roads and side roads, stopping and taking pictures when I could and rueing the fact that there are just some barns that are perfect but untouchable... no good spot in the road to stop, no good angle, no clear shot. 

I wanted this barn so bad. I damn near pulled into their driveway to get it but I'm always afraid someone is going to confront me.

Is it wrong that I've thought about wearing my scrubs when I go exploring so I can pull in and say Oops, wrong house, damn GPS took me the wrong way again... And pretend I still do home health?

It amazes me how many barns there are and how I never get tired of them. I realized that's what relaxes me... the search for the perfect barn and roads with no one on them. I found that perfect road today...

God help me if I ever see a for sale sign, I'll sell everything I own to get a piece of it.

Triage

The Queen has been busy with triaged chickens. The last two flocks were so easy... but this one is making up for it in spades.

The funny thing is, I ordered a bunch of chicken first aid early on so I would be ready in case a chick ever got sick... but life throws curve balls whenever it can. And as prepared as I thought I was... I was not.

Patient #1 - Sunny, the early hatchling... completely my fault.






Probably looked worse than it was because the feathers weren't fluffed out and the belly was swollen with yolk... but I was really worried about this chick.

So what had happened was...

I had 12 chicks in the incubator and the temperature was spiking to 104+ because of the increased body heat. The chicks were starting to pant and I really had no way to cool the incubator down quickly except to slightly crack the viewing windows on top of the incubator. I didn't want them to overheat and die. But... I had one chick left that had pipped.

And that was the problem.

There is a membrane surrounding a chick in the egg, and when the cool air rushes in it causes that membrane to dry out and contract around the chick, making it nearly impossible for the chick to get out of the egg. They call it shrink wrapping, which is pretty accurate.

I decided to remove the 12 hatchlings, and attempt to hatch the other chick because I didn't want to lose 12 chicks to save one... but I didn't want to lose that one either.

I shouldn't have messed with it. I should have thrown a wet paper towel over it while I removed the other chicks.

But I did mess with it, and once you start, you can't really turn back.

The problem was that when I started to peel away the shell and the outer membrane, some of the inner membrane came with it and I drew blood. When you see blood you stop because you can kill the chick. I thought it had absorbed the blood vessels and what I was seeing was residual blood. Apparently not.

So I dabbed it with a wet paper towel and put it back into the incubator.

Unfortunately, the membrane started to dry out anyway and then I really freaked out. After talking to some people in the Barnyard Chickens and More Facebook group I should have wrapped it in a wet rag. Honestly I thought about a paper towel but knew that would dry out since it's one of the ways you can increase humidity in the incubator... I just didn't think outside the box because by this point I was really scared for the chick... and pretty sure I'd killed it.

Luckily little chick had other plans. 

 

It took a couple of days before it started to look better, but soon enough it was energetically toddling around the triage box. Once I placed it into general population it took off like a rocket, zipping from one end of the brooder to the other and at this point I almost can't tell it from the other chicks. But... I've got to put ointment on its navel (because it didn't fully heal) to keep it from getting infected so I have to keep track of it.

Patient #2: Flipper

Flipper is the most adorable little thing. I think it's a Silver Sebright, and thus I have fallen madly in love with it. And because it's so tiny. And because its body is shape like a heart. And because I've handled it so much... And also... because it flips.

Which really isn't funny... but in an "I'll look back on this and laugh" sort of way, it's cute.

It has wry neck, which is caused by a vitamin deficiency. The neck droops and the chicken can't lift its head. The good folks on the BC&M page suggested a drop of Poly vi Sol in the morning and another one at night. I ordered some from the pharmacy down the street and the next day took Flipper with me to pick it up so I could ask for a Flipper-sized syringe.

Yes. I took my chicken to the pharmacy.

I was afraid she wouldn't take the vitamins - I mean, how do you pry such a small chick's beak open??? But she didn't put up a fight, she's fidgety but cooperative. It's day 2 and she's holding her head up more but still flips over sometimes.

It doesn't help that most times she falls asleep standing up so her head starts to hang, then next thing you know... flip!

She also has a slight case of spraddle (and a touch of pasty butt... the girl is a mess) but she's Houdini when it comes to getting out of vetrap, and the bandaid was a disaster. So... I've heard that sometimes walking around can strengthen their legs and it goes away on its own. She has until tomorrow afternoon to remedy the issue or I have to be the meanie and try to vetrap her again.

Flipper has been cooped up in the triage box and hasn't had much opportunity to run so I released her into general population this afternoon to give her that chance. And because I want her to be a part of the flock; it had been a couple of days since she's had contact with most of them and I was afraid they wouldn't accept her if I waited too long.

So far, so good.

Patient #3: Zombie

Newly hatched chicks can go up to three days without eating because they absorb the yolk from the egg just before hatching. And that's why it took a couple of days before I noticed Zombie.

Not to mention that we have over 20 chicks in the brooder and it's hard to keep track of them all until you start to see little differences that make them stand out. So it was that I noticed this little bird just standing in front of the camera, swaying a little, looking like a little zombie.

I don't know if it was dehydrated, if it wasn't getting food... I toyed with the idea that it might even be blind because for two days it didn't open its eyes. Regardless of the cause, into the triage box it went.

Since I already had the Poly vi Sol for Flipper, I decided to give some to Zombie as well. And since I had a feeling it was dehydrated, I gave it water from a syringe and it drank about 1cc each time. But it wasn't eating... 

When I don't know the answer, I Google it, and I found an article that mentioned yolk. So instead of scrambling it, which I knew wouldn't work, I sucked it up into a syringe and fed it raw.

Big improvement. By the next morning Zombie had jumped out of the triage box on its own. Zombie seems to be doing fine even if it wasn't happy about being photographed.

No one likes the paparazzi.

I've been trying to identify the mystery bantams we got. So far I think we have a d'Uccle - which I thought was a Silkie but it's smaller and doesn't have Silkie toes though it does have feathered feet - a Golden Sebright or Golden Lace Wyandotte, I think Flipper is a Silver Sebright but could also be a Silver Wyandotte... and then there's this guy...

He's our hatchling and he is supposed to be an Australorp... but he has feathers on his legs. I call him Penguin because he looks like a penguin... He's adorable.

And then in between feedings and nurse duties and dog servitude and prepping the coops so the ducks didn't freeze, I managed to FINALLY decide on a theme for my shop after only trying 20 of them on for size (conservatively). And I determined my pricing structure... and started loading products. So I am starting to feel a little bit accomplished.

I have miles to go before I sleep... I'm just happy my chickens are better.

Stuff I did today

The Queen's life rarely goes according to plan... If it had, the tweens would be in the coop, the former fluffy butts would take their place in the brooder, and the chicken babies would move into the smaller spot in the brooder.

But... the tweens are still a little small to go outside right now with the temps being all whacky like they are. So they will be in the house for 1-2 more weeks.

So I got another brooder/future duck pond and that's where the chicken babies are going to go until the tweens can be moved.

I got a bucket and some paint brushes to whitewash the inside of the coop later this week (after the rain). Plus I got these bands to identify my pet chickens, and some fake eggs to show the hens where to lay:

Three locks... two for the dog pen and one for the coop so that no one can steal our babies... at least not without fence cutters.

Some straw so that the ducks can burrow into it this weekend to keep warm.

They're currently on Duck Island.

Poor things... I "chased" them out of the coop this morning - and by chase I mean I walked behind them and they waddled away from me - because I wanted them to know there was a whole run surrounding them (and perhaps they could poop there please). When I got back from the store they were still in the corner they waddled into...

So I "chased" them back into the coop because it's really windy out and is probably going to rain soon (yep, it's raining). I'm not sure they know that the two things are related.

The moral of that story is: I herded ducks.

I also got these nesting boxes, which in a pinch could keep them warm as well, and if not... we will need nesting boxes at some point anyway.

And as a special treat... I ordered this...!!!

I figure if we're selling eggs... but also I like vintage things and it's cool.

I am AMAZED at how many chicks are hatching from this batch! I can't even really keep track anymore but we finally do have some Easter Eggers (Ameraucanas) to add to the flock! Whoppee!!!

This is not one of them.

I was trying to get a picture of a fully zipped egg, but by the time I went across the room to grab my camera and came back it had already popped open. Thing happen fast around here!

And by the way, that little Easter toy with the chick in the middle of two halves of an egg makes a lot more sense now.

We had 22 eggs at lockdown. If I'm counting correctly we have 14 chicks, 2 pips, 1 that pipped in the wrong place and didn't make it... and that means only 5 are still in the egg thinking about what they want to do... That's a 72% hatch rate!

I'm a rockstar!

With 33 live chickens all over my house.

Mayor Tom calls me The Chicken Lady...

That's Chicken Queen if you please... bawk bawk.

Hatch is not just for green chiles

Today is hatch day at the royal household! Sometimes it seems like a painfully slow process while other times you blink and you miss it.

I started the day and nothing much had changed, same pips, no chicks. And a power outage... on a beautiful sunny day... only because I'm hatching chicks... Thankfully it only lasted a couple of seconds.

I always wonder if they're really going to hatch but I guess I shouldn't, these chicks are like the Queen - they don't like to get up early. 

10:03 AM they were starting to break through the shell

10:43 AM they were really making a push

10:44 AM a chick pops out. Finally! The Queen witnesses a hatch with her own two royal eyes!

Sure it looks like a wet baby skunk, but it's an Australorp - and lemme tell you - the Australorps are kicking ass at this hatching thing. So far I have two chicks and five that have pipped and most of them as Australorps.

For reference, this is an Australorp rooster.

Xena is also more lively today. It may be my overactive imagination but I believe she's starting to fill out a bit. Tom was right to give her a chance, if she'd been culled it would have been a waste of a perfectly good life. Sometimes you can't help them, but why not try?

Today I will finish the coop and put the ducks out. I'm tired of cleaning up after them and I'm sure they're tired of their cramped quarters. It's supposed to get colder by the end of the week but they should be old enough now to handle it and they look fully feathered to me. If not I guess they'll come back inside...

What started out as a quickie..

...because the Queen is tired... is no longer a quickie... but a longie... because a tired Queen is a apparently a chatty Queen...

This morning (yes you read that correctly, morning) the Queen drove around for a few hours, exploring new territory and photographing new and magnificent scenes for my studio's upcoming  release... releases... oh hell, I'm gonna sell some shit.

It's always thrilling to find that perfect something and take just the right photo, which can be tricky because of the hills and curvy roads out here. Sometimes the perfect shot was several yards back, but you can't always just throw it in reverse to go back and get it.

But sometimes you can. 

The roads where you have the luxury of coming to a complete stop or backing up are my favorites. Otherwise I have to find a spot to pull off or give up and miss the shot completely. If it's worth it I will come back and scout it out again and sometimes I figure out a workaround. It's a challenge to be sure, but it's fun.

And of course, it's interesting to see where the roads lead. Sometimes they peter out, sometimes you have to cross a creek (and sometimes you can't because it's full of water so you have to find a way to turn the royal Mini around), and sometimes you realize you're somewhere familiar and just learned a new shortcut.

I came home feeling accomplished, and I created five more art pieces. I have more photos than that, but I also have other things to do.

After dealing with duck poop and feeding our brood, I worked on the coop/run. I attached another panel of dig guard, got the rest of the wire up for the netting, and even put up some netting despite the wind. All that's left are three more dig guards and probably three long pieces of netting. 

Then the ducks will be outside ducks.

I have to clean out the coop, set up the food and water, put sulfur and cayenne around the fenceline to keep snakes out, and spritz peppermint oil/water around the perimeter of the coop to keep mice and spiders out... but aside from that I think they'll be okay until we can start getting fancy this coming weekend.

By fancy, I mean white washing the inside, building a front wall and door, adding roosts and a poop board, hanging the food and water on a pulley system, adding a tire for a dust bath, putting in the raised bed for greens, chicken swing, grit dispenser, cutting a chicken door in the side, adding windows, and if the King can get his hands on it, he found a duck "pond" on Craigslist for $50... yeah, there is a lot left to do. And we need some more pine shavings. And more chicken feed.

So tired... did I mention that I was tired?

Xena is looking better all the time, today she was even holding her head a little higher. She doesn't seem to mind having a box to herself and enjoys being able to eat.

After we mentioned we thought she'd been bullied away from the food, Mayor Tom observed the rest of the flock and thinks that was indeed the case. He's moved her siblings inside, I'm not sure if they aren't feathered out enough for the weather or if he's going to add another section to his coop for them. I can't keep up, his coop must cover most of his property by now.

Chicken keeping really is an illness... There were actually chicks in the tubs this time and I almost came home with some Barred Rocks. And there were ducks of course, but ducks no longer interest me... I think I will like Howard and Lucy much better once they're outside, but even so I never, ever, ever, ever, ever - do you hear me people? - EVER want to brood ducklings EVER again... and I am firm on that.

As I write this, our second batch of eggs has four pips. I'm glad I put them on lockdown when I did because they're popping like popcorn! Two of the pips are Australorps, and two are the buff colored eggs that we hatched last time but I don't know what breed. The Easter Eggers haven't pipped yet, but they're in good company and I know they do it at different times.

Hopefully we will hatch a larger percentage of the eggs this time since the incubator is doing what it should... which is another reason I need to get the coop done, because if I don't, we won't have anywhere to put the chicken babies. So... it's off to bed for me... I've got work to do tomorrow.

Xena: Warrior Princess

On Friday the King went to see Mayor Tom and came home with another chicken.

This one was emaciated, most likely bullied away from the feeder by the other chickens. By all rights she should have died, but she's a fighter. And that's why I named her Xena.

She has a beautiful trill and whistle combo that she does when you pet her. And she wants to live. Since we got her and put her in a box to herself, she has been eating a lot. Compared to the chickens we got from the same brooder at Tractor Supply, she's half to a third of their size and you can see and feel her breastbone... She reminds me of Mr. Bo-Bo when he came home.

Just a bag of bones and a strong will to live. So as long as she's willing to try, so am I.

It's hard to tell the size difference, but this is one of our original flock, same breed, same age.

I put a heater by the box so she doesn't have to use what little energy she has trying to stay warm. Then I put electrolytes and probiotics in her water and tried to get her to eat some scrambled egg. People think it's weird to feed a chicken eggs. And I guess I would too, but chicks come from eggs and the yolk is actually nourishment for them. They were store bought eggs, not fertilized. She's not eating her kinfolk.

She didn't eat the eggs anyway. But she has been eating the chicken feed like it's going out of style. Today she was a hundred times better. She was moving around more and once she even climbed on top of the feeder to get me to pick her up. She's a sweetie.

So assuming she continues to improve, Xena will be put into the brooder with the chicks that will be hatching any day now. And she'll become part of that flock so when we introduce them into the coop she should do fine.

Tomorrow I should be able to finish enough of the coop that I can put the ducks out, and hopefully the day after that the tween chickens can go out to make room for the new fluffy butts. All that's really left is dig guard in the back and netting across the top of one side. We still have work to do on the inside of the coop, but as far as safety and basic needs, it's almost there.

THANK GOODNESS THE DUCKS CAN GO OUTSIDE!!!!

In other news, the prints I ordered of two of my photographs turned out amazing. I looooove them. And I know I can go forward with my business plan now. I need to order some postcard and folding card paper to see if I can print those myself, but what I expect to comprise most of my sales will be the prints.

This weekend the King and I went to a friend's house to pick up some concrete blocks we can use to put up the greenhouse, and the roads leading to her house... I'll be revisiting them tomorrow with my camera. I look at everything through a camera lens even when I don't have my camera with me and I saw soooo many good shots just waiting for a sunny day...