February Happenings

Wow, it's crazy that a month has gone by since my last post! So, what's going on at Pigs 'n Poultry? Well, let's get into this!

Our Greta girl decided to pop out an egg that had no shell. Not so unusual for a first egg so it wasn't totally a surprise. It was a surprise that she is now at laying age. She's been with us since May and boy that took a long time for her to start laying! I was curious so I did a little research - geese only lay during the spring months and they usually only lay somewhere from 10-30 eggs per season. I had read somewhere that geese CAN lay as early as their first fall, but it's not common. She did do something that looked an awful lot like nesting and it was in the yard in between two garden boxes. Weirdo! This week we got a big surprise - and I mean BIG...

This mutant weighed in at 248 grams!

This egg almost looks fake-o, but it's real. The grass and blood stuck on it when it was brought in...man I felt so bad for Missy Greta. To go from a pretend egg that just had a leathery "shell" to this behemoth! She can't go back now! Fortunately, her routine is every other day since this big one.

The waterfowl egg collection

We used the goose eggs to make a frittata and it was delicious! I think that if we were to use the goose eggs for breakfast we could probably get two servings from one of those eggs! I'm accustomed to the duck or chicken egg size. We will enjoy these while we have them though - they won't be coming all the time. I'm excited about these eggs and look forward to more eggs from Greta. It will be interesting to see how long her laying season turns out to be in the end. Once she is done laying she'll go into her first real molt.

The other thing that happened in the last couple of weeks - my co-worker/friend and his wife dropped off 10 more young hens. It took a couple of weeks, but we got the new hens...

So that afternoon our flock increased to 31. When Clint asked how many we had now, Tom first said we had 26 chickens I quickly piped in and said 31 because of the little girls. We tend to not think of them since they haven't started laying yet, so I'm sure that's why we kind of forget about them. They don't offer anything but a lot of cuteness!

The Buttercups tend to want to be together, but they have been accepted by the older girls. Back when they were a couple of months old Tom decided to convert a dog house that we got down the street from our house.

November 2, 2019 - The Buttercups are finally out of the Brooder!

The best sight ever! Chickens out on grass.

The dog house got a door, a heat lamp and a perch too! So for three and half months they have grown accustomed to their home. I doubt that they will want to move in with the big girls.

So the chick shaw is filled a few more chickens and they are getting along better with each day that goes by. The first day we had to catch each of the new girls and physically place them in the chick shaw. This is actually a funny sight in the morning when the girls are first released for the day...23-26 hens coming out of the chick shaw. You wouldn't think that so many chickens would fit, but they do! Can you say Clown Car?

We have been keeping an eye on Fiona and her belly! She is looking good, but not huge. According to some research that I did recently, she may not even REALLY look pregnant until she is about 3 months after she has been bred. So when we do our willy-nilly calculations based on iffy memories we think that she was in heat last in mid-November. So that would put her around 3 months now. Gestation is 3 months, 3 weeks, 3 days - approximately. If she continues to have her hangy belly swaying back and forth when she is running toward us at feeding time we might see piglets during my vacation time or sooner, maybe.

We know that she is not fat because they have been on a diet since last summer and Rex is looking pretty darn good. It's taken some time, but he is finally not looking like a....well...a pig.

This month has been quite rainy and I'm ready for some dry weather - especially on the weekends. I have so many things that I want to do!

Also, looking forward to the day when I can be home doing the farm life and making my own schedule with the time that I have in the day...

This is my happy place!