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• Posted by: Cu'l Di'n (Sanctuary) Farm on November 20th, 2012 at 12:01 am

  Stories of our Chickens: Brigid finds her Home 2
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  About that time, it started getting really cold at night. My husband (who claims he hates chickens) started bringing her inside in the middle of the afternoon, before she had a chance to run away.
  .
  Like a stray cat who works his way from the porch to the laundry room to your sofa, Brigid worked her way into our house and our hearts. We started bringing her in at night and put her in a cat carrier to sleep. Her pitiful "bok-bok" request to be let out greeted us every morning when we came downstairs. She hated going outside with the roosters, or the hens, or when it was raining, or when it was cold. Eventually she went out only in our laps or in the morning while the others were still in the shed. Lacking other feathered friends, she formed an alliance with our cat.
  .
  My husband, son, and I were her flock, as far as she was concerned. The green recliner was her perch; a cat carrier in the office was her henhouse. And she was family to us as much as we were flock to her.

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• Posted by: Cu'l Di'n (Sanctuary) Farm on November 19th, 2012 at 11:58 pm

  Storeis of our Chickens: Brigid finds her Home
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  You don't always know, when you meet an animal, that it is going to be the one to steal your heart. That's how it was with our little banty Rhode Island Red, Brigid. We picked her up from another 4-H family after the county fair. She hadn't done too well and was destined for the soup pot. We were just looking for some laying hens, and didn't care whether she had done well in the show. I was particularly impressed with her gentle disposition. We literally took her from the arms of the little girl who had raised her, and brought her home to live with our 4 Pearl-White Leghorns. We slipped her onto the perch in the dark of night, just as we were told to do, and hoped for the best. We were certain our new little friend would blend into the existing flock and soon become a happy little egg layer.
  .
  We couldn't have been more wrong.
  .
  In the first place, little sweet hen *NEVER* produced an egg. Not one. In spite of assurances that she was a good and productive layer, the eggs just never came. We never did find out why.
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  Not only did she not make eggs, Brigid also hated sex. The roosters were about 3 times her size, and they literally squashed her into the ground. My husband was out in the yard with her one day, and one of the boys came around the corner of the house. Brigid ran to my husband as fast as she could and leaped/flapped into his arms. "SAVE ME!" she seemed to be saying.
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  For a while, we had this huger Rhode Island Red roo named Seamus. He was huge. Normally after the roosters jump on the hens and mate them, the girls just stand up, shake out their feathers, and go back to whatever they were doing, Once Seamus jumped on poor miniature Brigid, dug his big claws into her, and did his thing. Poor Brigid was so traumatized, she crawled into a corner and sat there with her face hidden until I picked her up and cuddled her. And rather than make her stay out in the shed with the mean ol' bad ol' rooster, I brought her in the house to watch TV with me.
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  That set a dangerous precedent. Brigid never got along with the hens all that well, and really hated the roos, so she started running away from home at night. We spent a few anxious evenings in the yard with flashlights, searching under the porch and in the neighbors trees, trying to bring our sweet little hen home. But for all our fuss and worry, she always brought herself home in the morning. One she was gone for 2 days, and we thought for sure she was a goner. Imagine our surprise when we found her sitting on the perch in the shed in the middle of the afternoon!
  .
  About that time, it started getting really cold at night. My husband (who claims he hates chickens) started bringing her inside in the middle of the afternoon, before she had a chance to run away.
  .
  Like a stray cat who works his way from the porch to the laundry room to your sofa, Brigid worked her way into our house and our hearts. We started bringing

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• 

• Posted by: Cu'l Di'n (Sanctuary) Farm on August 10th, 2012 at 11:15 am

  Stories of our Chickens: Molly and Connor
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  The picture in my profile features our "Original 6," 4 boys and 2 girls acquired from our 4-H club's Embryology project. They are Pearl-white Leghorn hybrids, the kind you would find on every white-egg producing farm in America. Eventually 3 of the boys were re-homed with my wonderful friend Theresa. The one who remains is named Connor. I think that's him sitting down on the far left.
  .
  The two girls we named Maeve and Molly. In the picture, Maeve is the hen sitting down on the left and Molly is more toward the right. They were both amazing egg layers. Although they are as sleek and streamlined as fashion models, Leghorn hens lay large to Jumbo-sized eggs.
  .
  Maeve was the smaller and gentler of the two. Unfortunately, she was also rather sickly. She prolapsed twice last winter. While recovering from the prolapse, she developed a nasty cough that turned out to be an allergy. Once we found a vet who recognized and treated the problem (Who knew chickens get allergies?) Molly returned to good health and egg laying. She was still laying consistently when a coon got her last May.
  
  Molly, now 1 1/2 years old, is the smartest, funniest, and most curious of all the chickens. Her vaforite activity of anything is eating. She loves all kinds of food--fruits, vegetables, maggots, and anything else I can imagine.
  
  Molly is the queen of the chicken shed. She is without a doubt Connor's special favorite, and has special privileges because of her status.
  
  Whenever Connor finds any food, he Calls Molly over to it. He stands guard while she eats her fill, keeping predators and other chickens at bay. Only when Molly and her sidekick Edna have eaten, does Connor sample the food. Molly and Connor can be found cuddled up together on the perch at night.

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• Posted by: Cu'l Di'n (Sanctuary) Farm on August 10th, 2012 at 11:11 am

  Stories of our Chickens: Molly and Connor
  ------------------
  
  The picture in my profile features our "Original 6," 4 boys and 2 girls acquired from our 4-H club's Embryology project. They are Pearl-white Leghorn hybrids, the kind you would find on every white-egg producing farm in America. Eventually 3 of the boys were re-homed with my wonderful friend Theresa. The one who remains is named Connor. I think that's him sitting down on the far left.
  .
  The two girls we named Maeve and Molly. In the picture, Maeve is the hen sitting down on the left and Molly is more toward the right. They were both amazing egg layers. Although they are as sleek and streamlined as fashion models, Leghorn hens lay large to Jumbo-sized eggs.
  .
  Maeve was the smaller and gentler of the two. Unfortunately, she was also rather sickly. She prolapsed twice last winter. While recovering from the prolapse, she developed a nasty cough that turned out to be an allergy. Once we found a vet who recognized and treated the problem (Who knew chickens get allergies?) Molly returned to good health and egg laying. She was still laying consistently when a coon got her last May.
  
  Molly, now 1 1/2 years old, is the smartest, funniest, and most curious of all the chickens. Her vaforite activity of anything is eating. She loves all kinds of food--fruits, vegetables, maggots, and anything else I can imagine.
  
  Molly is the queen of the chicken shed. She is without a doubt Connor's special favorite, and has special privileges because of her status.
  
  Whenever Connor finds any food, he Calls Molly over to it. He stands guard while she eats her fill, keeping predators and other chickens at bay. Only when Molly and her sidekick Edna have eaten, does Connor sample the food. Molly and Connor can be found cuddled up together on the perch at night.

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• Posted by: SierraTahoeDad on May 4th, 2012 at 08:21 pm

  Congrats on making Farmer of the Day!

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• Posted by: Red Hill Hollow on May 4th, 2012 at 06:09 pm

  Congratulations on being farmer of the day! How's the gardening weather now in Kankakee County? We've got gorgeous weather right now, with just the right mix of rain and sun. I'm sure I could get a way with planting earlier than usual this year but now I'm away for a week, and looking forward to getting back to the garden. Hope the good weather continues!

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• Posted by: Wong88 on May 4th, 2012 at 12:51 pm

  Best wishes to the farmer of the day!

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• Posted by: Cu'l Di'n (Sanctuary) Farm on April 21st, 2012 at 07:29 am

  One Starfish at a Time
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  Once upon a time there was a very smart man who was convinced he could solve all the big problems of the world, like poverty and war and hunger, if only he could get away and think. So he sold his house and said goodbye to his friends, and retired to a cottage on a tropical beach.
  .
  However, things did not go as planned. The smart man could not get any rest in his new island hideaway, because every morning he would be woken up at low tide by something going PLOP, PLOP! outside his window. He pulled the blanket over his head, but still he heard it--PLOP, PLOP! He mashed his face into the pillow, but still he heard it--PLOP, PLOP! Finally he could stand it no more and went outside to see what was making that awful noise.
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  Outside he found a young woman walking on the beach. She was surrounded by thousands of starfish, which had been washed up on the beach at high tide. As she made her way down the beach, the woman stopped and picked up starfish and threw them back into the water--PLOP!
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  "What on earth are you doing?" The man asked the young woman. "I am trying to solve all the earth's problems and you are keeping me form getting the rest I need to think!"
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  "I am solving the problems of these starfish," the woman replied. "They all washed up at high tide and now they are stuck. I am throwing them back in the water before they dry out and die."
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  "But look at all these!" the man said. "There are thousands of them. You alone cannot possibly save all these starfish! You can't make any difference at all."
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  All the time the man had been talking, the young woman had been picking up starfish and throwing the creatures, as far as she could, back into the sea--PLOP! She bent down and picked up another star fish and gave it a mighty throw. It sailed out over the water and landed in the waves with a satisfying PLOP!
  .
  "Made a difference for that one," she said.

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• Posted by: Cu'l Di'n (Sanctuary) Farm on April 16th, 2012 at 05:33 am

  Weather sucks here today---again! Sure wish I could get out in my garden!

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• Posted by: on June 1st, 2011 at 01:08 pm

  
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