Broody

Posted on June 15, 2019 by TJ

We’ve had quite a few rainy days lately. They aren’t severe thunder-booming gullywasher storms, but just gentle all day rain. Some people are complaining about the rain, but I don’t mind it. It is good for our garden and the other fauna and flora. The rain does make the chicken pen mucky, but I have work boots so I merely slosh through it on my way to and from the coop.

One of my hens has gone broody, which means she wants to hatch her eggs. I’ve never had a broody hen before, so it’s a new experience for me. The chickens’ favorite place to lay eggs is in a kitty litter box. The hen refuses to budge out of it, even when I remove the top and tilt the box to encourage her to leave. She stars at me balefully, fluffs herself up, and pecks at me when I try to move her, so I’ve been wearing thick gloves to protect my hands. I’ve read that a hen usually remains broody for 21 days–the length of time it would take for her eggs to hatch. Sometimes a hen remains broody for longer, and there are ways to get her to stop. I’m reading up on it. I’d let her have babies, but EJ says that the corn crops have failed this year due to too much rain so he expects the price of feed to go sky high. We don’t have a lot of extra money, but we are investing in extra feed now just in case.

I’ve been posting at local FB groups that I have eggs to sell, and we are slowly gaining regular customers. We had a guy stop in today to buy three dozen. He said he would be back. We don’t make a huge amount of money on the eggs–we sell them for $2.50/dozen. However, it’s enough help with the cost of feed and it gets rid of our extra eggs.

Yesterday EJ and I delivered a crochet order to a customer. She had ordered a Jackfield Tile afghan in her favorite purple/pink colors. Christine Bateman, the designer of this pattern, was inspired by the beautiful ceramic tiles made in the Shropshire village of Jackfield, which was at the heart of the industrial revolution in Victorian England. In addition to the afghan, my customer ordered a Chinese Dragon. She wanted the dragon in blue and white, which are the colors of her local public school. The school’s mascot is a dragon. You can buy these items–in YOUR favorite colors–at my Terics Treasures website.This is what they look like:

Jackfield Tile Afghan

Blue Chinese Dragon

We took Hannah Joy with us when we delivered the order. We can fasten a seatbelt to her harness to keep her safe, but she likes to stretch her body from the back seat toward the front so she sits between us. It didn’t appear to be very comfortable for her, especially when we turned corners or rounded curves, so EJ built her a little platform to bridge the gap between seats. She seemed to really enjoy it.

Hannah Joy’s leg is improving. She’s limping less, although sometimes she is more active than she ought to be and she sort of reinjures it. It will take time to heal. I tell her that she’s got to stop doing goofy things, like running pell-mell through the flower garden!

Speaking of our flower garden: My garden is a bit weird. I have pretty flowers in it, but I also have milkweed growing. It probably was planted there when the wind blew the seeds there last autumn. I never get rid of the milkweed–in fact, we actively encourage their spreading–because they are the only plant that a Monarch Butterfly lays it’s eggs on. So, I guess you could say that my flower garden is a butterfly garden. 🙂

Milkweed in my flower garden

Milkweed on the hill

A couple of days ago we saw a Mama deer walking along the edge of the forest with her very tiny fawn. I wasn’t able to get a very good photo of it. By the time I found my camera and focused it, the opportunity was mostly gone. Also, my windows are a little dirty. But, regardless, I love getting a glimpse of the baby! It’s adorable!

We haven’t seen Miss Madeline Meadows for more than two weeks so I’m quite sure she is KIA. The wildlife seems to be aware that she is gone too. For the last few days, I’ve been watching a chipmunk boldly scurrying around on the deck picking up seeds that have fallen from the bird feeders. I’m quite sure it’s been singing, “Ding Dong, the witch is dead…”