Happy hens come from homesteads!

It's also been awhile since I posted pictures of our little barnyard menagerie.  Besides, our critters are more popular than the Urban Homesteaders themselves.   Can't say as I blame them, they are sooooo picture savvy.  Me, not savvy!  When a camera comes out, I skedaddle the other way!

One of my favorite part of the day is going out just as the sun rises (this past week there has been a beautiful full moon in the morn) to open up the chicken coop.  The ducks fall out, all in lined up in a row while making soft quacking sounds.  A good morning to you too, ladies!   Besides we humans, the ducks are the earliest risers here on the homestead and are up at the crack of dawn so they can scrounge around the animal compound for worms and such.   About a hour later, the chickens will hop down off their perches, one by one, to join their compadres in the compound for a day of scratching, preening & eating.  Ahhhh the life!

This coming spring our plan (God willing) is to add to our poultry flock since many of our chickens are heading into retirement at  5 years.    We've had many questions about what we do with our non laying hens.   No, they are NOT bound for the stew pot;  instead, they live out their happy little lives - taking dust baths, scratching for bugs. Happy hens!  And for the ducks, the same, though they much rather water baths - thank you very much.

For those of you who are looking for information on starting your own poultry flock,  check out Sis's sisters site BARNYARDS & BACKYARDS that's chockablock full of helpful links and information (& Giveaways!)

I can't tell you enough how much Jordanne knows about raising animals!  She has helped many readers' sick chickens, rabbits, goats, cats and more!

Goatsies

Silly Sairey

Estella

Lucie

Ducks in a row

Crazy Quackers

And we mustn't forget....

Cassidy our sweetie

Mr Handsome

I'm rising but I ain't shining!

Care to share your what's happening in your backyard barnyard?

(Left) Whopper egg (Right) Regular duck egg

Someone laid a whopper – yowza!   Ended up being a double yolker too.  Made great (fluffy!) pancakes.

Learn more about using duck eggs & raising city chickens and ducks

- William Wordsworth rewritten for our times

In winter, when surplus greens are scarce, we supplement our backyard poultry's diet with wheatgrass. Justin sows a few dozen trays and each morning the feather menagerie get a flat of "grass" to nibble on.  Boy, do they go to town on the grass flat!

Not only does their health benefit when the chickens/ducks has the opportunity to graze on “grass” but the people's health also benefits from eating their eggs with increased egg nutrition  (high in Omega 3-s and vitamin D)

The old saying "You are what you eat"  comes to mind,  but also what your critters eat too.

Our new batch of ducks have taken to finding their way on top of the goat house and hanging with goatsies.

I think that's rather "odd" behavior since ducks aren't the "roosting" type. During the day our chickens like to perch, hang on a couple old picnic chairs we've placed throughout the animal compound and our older ducks like to nestle UNDER the chairs.

But these new batch of girls they like doing things THEIR way. Now ALL the ducks are too hanging on top of the goat house!

After a bit of a ruckus start introducing them to the older ducks, they are all getting along nicely. In fact, these batch of gals are the friendlies and most gentle ducks we've ever raised!   Instead of scattering when I walk into the compound to feed them, they all come to me, chattering - all excited to see "mummy."  We have a bit of a causal conversation, darned if I know what we are talking about but we do and they seem pleased.

Ducky's foot's got a bump

In ducky news, all the new ladies are laying!    And, boy, are their eggs good!  The shells are hard.  So hard in fact that you have to whack them a couple times just to crack 'em.  And the yolk and whites are so thick it requires a hefty couple of whisks!  Not like those thin and watery eggs you get from the store.  Speaking of eggs, I'll talk about the incredible backyard fresh eggs in a later post.

Going to put a plug in about Jordanne's Natural Poultry Supplement.  These girls were raised on it and I can most definitely tell the difference in their eggs.   I know, it may sound like a biased testimonial but it's true!  Like that saying goes "you are what you eat" and so it goes with what we feed our barnyard animals.  Actually, one lady, whose 5 year old chickens weren't doing so well, called Jordanne for help.  Jordanne recommended a few things and the lady purchased a bag of the supplement. She stopped by yesterday and happily told us that her girls have rebounded and are thriving!

One of our new ducks, Beulah, has a little bump on her foot.    See, she likes to stand on top of the goat house and then launch herself, flying  to the ground – wheeeeee, so fun!  But the other day, we saw that she was limping a bit and so we checked the bottom of her feet and found a tiny bump.  Figured that on one of her kamikaze landings, a bit of straw nicked or poked the bottom of her web feet.   Such abscesses or 'bumble foot' is common when a bird's feet get scuffed or cut.

Bumblefoot/Foot Abscesses - Duck and goose bumblefoot is different than bumblefoot in chickens. Ducks and geese suffer from abscesses on the footpads that resemble corns. The infection typically follows an injury to the foot pad and there usually is no pus present.

Bumblefoot is easier to cure the earlier you spot it, so it is a good idea to  check all their feetsies every now and again.  One thing we've learned and that we continuing to stress to folks who want to start keeping animals, is to be diligent in your observation of your animals.  There's quite a difference between "havers" and "keepers."   Being aware of the slightest change in their behavior can do a world of good for both the animal and human care taker.

We are treating Beulah by soaking her foot in warm water and applying grape seed extract, which is a natural anti-bacterial, anti inflammatory.    After two soaks, the foot is less swollen, and she's walking normally and the abscess is concentrating into a smaller lump.   Now that it's concentrated, we are going to pack her foot with clay to draw about the rest of the inflammation.

I could write more but Jordanne shared her expertise about treating bumble feet here & here

:: Resources ::

Like to pick up some grape seed extract or clay to add to your human or animal medicine cabinet?

iHerb - type in the coupon referral code "JUL 275" and get $5.00 off your order

or our affiliate Mountain Rose Herbs

Don't forget, if you are a city or small stock holder, check out our free social community Barnyards & Backyards

We are eggstastic (sorry, just had to put that pun in!) that our chooks and ducks are back in the egg business (sorry no extras).  For some reason, this winter (could be because of old age or extreme weather conditions) we weren’t getting any eggs - nadda, zippo, zilch!   Jordanne had to curtail her baking (no chocolate brownies - sniff) and just to have “spare” eggs on hand we picked up a dozen from the South Pasadena farmers market.   Sorta felt weird buying eggs, but at least they were from a local source.

The older (four plus year old) ducks & chickens are passed their prime laying years and the new batch of ducks should be laying  -- any day now, ladies!  We’ll be bringing in a new batch of chicks come Spring so that we can maintain a decent egg production flow here on the urban homestead.

Jordanne’s collected a few local folks who’d like to get in our chick order.    Boy, I can still recall the time (a few years back) that sis and I raised over 150 baby chicks.  Whew, that was some operation!   Backyard chickens were hot, and folks were clamoring on the backyard chicken bandwagon and wanted a local source of naturally raised pullets.   Going to keep things much simpler and smaller this time around – for our sanity!

We still meet people who have said that Jordanne's chickens were the healthiest (and friendliest) they've ever had.  And now that she's put together her super amazing Natural Poultry Formula - you can get your Spring chicks off to a healthy start.

Received a positive phone testimony yesterday. Lady said that Jordanne's selected poultry supplements drastically improved her two sick chickens!!!

Check out Urban Homestead Supply Store for Jordanne's Animal Care Products

Can’t leave the critter compound without snapping a least a few dozen photos of their sometimes crazy antics.

Noon is nap time

zzzzzzz

Crazy Sairey Gamp

Chickens settle down for a nap too

Looking for bugs

Checking out the helicopter that buzzed over the homestead

Sure doesn't look like any bird we know of

Quiet when together but...

the young ones want the older ones to party!

You talking about me?

Back in the summer, the peaceful animal kingdom was broken by some unusual quacking. The new batch of ducks (now over four months), especially AnnaLee, would let off a "persistent" quack.

That was unusual, so we went down the list. Danger? No. Hungry? No. Water – check. So what the heck is the problem? It's such a time as this, I wish animals could speak English!

Having raised two batches of Khaki Campbell ducks over the last eight years, we knew that this heritage line is a quiet breed. Ducks, of course, will pleasantly chatter. Amy, for instance, would let off an occasional quack that sounded much like a “vaudeville laugh track" which was pretty cute.

After determining that the ducks were in want of nothing, Jordanne & I concluded three things that could be setting off the younger duck:

1) dynamics of three separate flocks

2) hormones of maturing ducks

3) "big sister, little sister" syndrome

It was observation time! So we watched and watched.

After an hour or so of watching the younger and older ducks interact, it was quite obvious that the newer, younger ducks had lots of energy. For instance, while the younger ducks are frolicking in the water, the older ducks were relaxing/snoozing. That's when AnnaLee would go off quacking. Seemed as if the younger duckies wanted the old duckies to join in on the fun!

Jordanne gathered that if we took the new ducks out one at a time, it would show them that they don’t have to see or be with the older ones all the time. You know how little sisters want to tag along with the older sis. Figured we help give the younger duckies the confidence that they don’t need older sister ducks around to have fun.

Happy to say our observation and our little experiment paid off. For over a month now, the younger ducks now know they don't need older ducks to have fun and all is well with "ducky-dom."

It's official the ducks are all grown up!

Sorta sad there'll be no more fluffy butts (for awhile at least til we get a new batch of chickens come spring), but we are happy that they've integrated nicely with the chickens, ducks and even goats.  That means the baby duck chapter has come to a close here at the urban homestead. Jordanne says I spoiled them. She may be right but at least at this age they STILL love to sit on my lap and put their heads under my arm. I make sure to give them each personal contact each day because it makes a big difference when they grow up - they are calmer and easier to handle. The duckies each have their own quirky personality which is more becoming more and more obvious over time and hopefully by the New Year they'll be laying.

Here are the latest animal antics from this weeks Episode of Citified Farm Animals:

PS since these photos were taken (early last week) the ducks are now completely feathered!  Actually, I am beginning to have a hard time telling the new and old ducks apart!

We love our new digs

Incoming! Chicken alert

Stay back!

Show down at the UH Corral

Come on, let's get it on!

I win!

Lot of loving going around

Ducks give Blackberry a massage

Oooh, that feels good

A little higher

Yep, that's the spot!

So you want a bill massage now do you?

What about me? *wink*

]]> http://urbanhomestead.org/journal/2010/09/19/ducky-tales-2/feed/ 4 http://urbanhomestead.org/journal/2010/09/13/duck-duet/ http://urbanhomestead.org/journal/2010/09/13/duck-duet/#comments Mon, 13 Sep 2010 14:14:00 +0000 Anais Dervaes http://urbanhomestead.org/journal/?p=22781

Shake, shake, shake!

Synchronize preening

Now the shoulders

The belly

All done

As you can tell from the photos the four week old ducks growing up fast. Well, actually the (above) photos are already a week old so they are now are just about feathered out.

As far as their new digs, they are integrating nicely in the poultry family at the animal compound where the menagerie cohabits with a pair of goats. Actually, when these four duckies are on the loose it's the long time residence who feel that they are new kids on the block. It's a riot! The four ducks act like they own the place and it's funny to watch the other ducks and chickens let the rambunctious four have it their way. The goats, on the other hand, are rather oblivious of the goings on. They need not concern themselves with their flighty feather friends.

The two bantie chicken are still a bit testy with their new feathered counterparts. Giving the ducks an occasional territorial peck. These small chickens have big personalities and they know it!

The citified farm animals offers us hours of (free) entertainment and as you sit back there in the animal compound under the pomegranate tree and watch their latest episode you can't help think to yourself "now this is the good life. "

Hey folks, head on over to Barnyards and Backyards there's a BOOK GIVEAWAY in progress

Splish splash we love our water baths!

Hi peoples!

Getting fancy with their water tricks

The ducks help "clear out" an old chard bed

Yummy!

Me love greens

Sprouting tail feathers

Can you spot them? The fluff is giving way to shiny dark brown feathers

The baby ducky episode is quickly coming to a close.  Pretty soon, these "quacker doodles" won't want to be seen in public and there'll be less and less pics of them here at LHITC. Well, they haven't exactly told me, but I can say enjoy all these pics while you can because, pretty soon, they'll be just ordinary grown ducks -- their downy fluff will give way to feathers. Actually, you can already spot the sheaths of khaki brown feathers poking out from under the greenish brown fluff and, pretty soon, they will look rather funky with feathers sprouting up every which way.

Has it already been over three weeks since we got the baby ducklings? Boy, have they certainly grown in such a short time! These ducklings are "Big Girls" now - no more 24 brooder lights and warmth for them. They've already graduated to spending days out doors in natural sunlight and sleeping when the sun sets. Yep, we wean them off pretty fast. We like to have them adjusted to natural light and temperature in just a little over two weeks. By three weeks they are completely weaned off artificial light and warmth. The next steps is to introduce them to the other duck clan and we've been slowing doing that by bringing them into the animal enclosure under supervision, of course. Our other ducks could care less - rather, they seem bored with the lot; however, a few of the bantie chickens (talk about small chicken syndrome) are a little more curious - even a bit territorial. Lucie, our Belgian bantie, had to come over and make sure the duckies knew she wasn't going to be dethroned and, to make the point, she gave one of the ducks a little peck on the back. We've integrated new babies before, so such jealous behavior is to be expected from some. It won't be long now till the four new ducklings join the happy menagerie!

Opal , AnnaLee , Lulabelle & Beulah already are trying out their quacking voices - though not quite there yet. Sounds more like they have a frog in their froats. Of course, everyone who comes to the front porch farm stand is inquiring about the babies and sometimes, if they are lucky and I have time, I even bring them out, especially if they bring their kids with them. Where else can you pick up your veggies and get to pet a baby duck at the same time!

Since we are at the four year mark on both the ducks and chickens (1/2 way point, figuring 8 years is about an average lifespan) now that we have a new batch of ducks, we are looking forward to raising another batch of chickens come spring. The problem is : What heritage breed to choose to bring to our ever growing flock?   Hmmmm, choices, choices.