It’s been a fruitful spring in my barnyard and I have lots of new additions to introduce you to. My favorite, and the one that is tearing at me the most, is Mira.
Mira was born to Bessie, who lives with Mona (my milky friend). Bessie and Mira will be for sale soon and every fiber of my being wants them to come live with me and complete my barnyard. I’m still struggling with whether they will fit into my neighborhood. This city farming is not an easy thing. While I am within my rights to have mini goats here, I still need to be sensitive to my neighbors. I am still struggling with this one, and with being in the city in general. I’ll be doing more posting on this in a few days. For now Toni over at Backyard Feast has a great blog post on whether it’s best to stay put or leave the city so I’ll leave my thoughts for another day.
The ducks are fitting in nicely and have settled down for keeps. They have a 15 gallon pond (really a water trough) that they enjoy immensely and have the run of the backyard on sunny days when they won’t be tempted to dig in puddles that collect on the lawn. They are doing a quack-up job clearing out all slugs and caterpillars, as well as laying eggs nearly every day. Even though we didn’t hand raise them and so they are somewhat skiddish they have warmed up to me and follow me around begging. Their quacks and waddles are endlessly amusing and I am convinced that every Seattle garden needs a pair, if for the slug patrol alone.
Since my laying flock is nearing peak production it’s time to groom another round, V 2.0. Above, Delawares and Marans trying to keep warm during the coldest Seattle April on record. They are occupying a vacant flower bed until they get bigger and can hold their own with the older birds.
These Seabrights, Jersey Giants and Polish are still snug under a lamp as they feather out. It appears there are a few roosters in the mix so it’s good to get extra. And since odds are 50% will be roosters (and when you crow, you go), and you can now have 8 birds in Seattle, you should get 16. That means plenty for the freezer, or to cull if they turn out to be disagreeable.
What would be disagreeable, you ask? Things like pecking all the other chicks bloody, or you. This fellow has earned solitary confinement for such deeds. There is some foreshadowing with the fire pit I think.
In case you were wondering how to tell if any of your chicks are roosters here are tell-tale signs: enlarged comb, red jowels developing, and this kind of look.
A sort of crotchity, “Just what do you think you are doing?” look. A sort of “Make my day, Simpson” kind of look.
And the latest additions at last are bunnies.
El Diablo and Nibbles have joined us.
Someday, hopefully soon, they will join the chickens. I’m still working out how I can give them a chance to hop around once a day without risk of them coming into contact with chicken, duck or dog poop. In the meantime I’m cleaning up the garage so they can hop around in there. Easy access from the house means that Lander, now nearly 5, is spending a large portion of his day in the cages petting them.
The elevated dog house here is our existing chicken coop. I’m treating it like a cape cod and simply adding on a new wing. Har.
How about you? What is happening in your barnyards this spring?
