Spring is crazy busy as always, so I haven’t had a lot of time to take photos or sit down and write stories. It’s been raining a lot too, so that doesn’t help with the photo taking. We finally got a sunny day so I could get out after work last week and snap some shots of the birds and farm dog Luke!
I’m happy to say that the new chickens are integrating with the older flock and so far it’s going well! They still stick to their own areas mostly, but interactions other than a couple squabbles have been good.
Our new cockerel (young rooster), Toni, has had a couple run-ins with some of the older hens, but he and rooster Charlie seem to be doing OK! In fact, my hubby saw Charlie break up one of those squabbles. Charlie is a peacemaker, so he just chased both birds off, he didn’t go after either one.
Since moving to the coop, we haven’t heard Toni trying to crow again. We think he might be respecting Charlie’s position, but that could change as he gets older, so fingers crossed it all continues to go well. Mostly Toni just seems to watch out for his group of girls. He seems to have the same mellow personality as his father, and he even lets us pick him up! They are allowed to free range now, but they only seem to come outside of the coop and run for short spells. I’m sure all the rainy weather was a factor in keeping them in too!
Speaking of the weather, in spite of all the rain we’ve been getting, we’re still said to be in a moderate drought in our area, which is surprising to us! At least all that rain has helped things to start turning more green.
Luke hasn’t had his daily walks as he’d like, conditions in the woods are pretty muddy! He keeps busy in his yard chasing chipmunks anyway, and it looks like we’ll have a few more dry days now, if not sunny like we’d prefer.
Now that the new flock integration is mostly complete (they still sleep in their cage but we imagine that will stop soon), we’re on to the next venture! We’ve ordered guinea fowl hatching eggs so we can expand our guinea flock, and hopefully add some different colors to that group. As soon as we receive those, they’ll go in the incubator and we’ll throw a few chicken eggs in there as well and fill it right up.
We did sadly lose a couple of our older hens over the winter, to illness. We now only have two of our original birds left! These are the things that happen, and why we keep trying to grow the flock. Egg production has been good, and our old egg customers from last fall are starting to come back to our little stand. I also have gained new customers for our eggs at my shop.
It will be interesting to see if hatch rate is better now that the weather is somewhat warmer. I say somewhat, since we’re mostly in the 50’s lately when we should probably be in the 60’s. I’ve been busy getting plants ready for the garden, early veggies are already out there. I’m also trying to pot and sell a few at my shop. It’s always a guessing game trying to figure out what will sell and what won’t, but I keep trying different things to see what works! Speaking of the shop, I thought I’d share a shot of the storefront.
I’ve been rearranging inside as well, but dressing up the front porch is my favorite part! It’s almost my one year anniversary – May 22nd is the day! We’ll be holding a giveaway for people to sign up for when they come in, and we’ll have some refreshments from a local baker to offer our customers. While business has been a bit slow since the holidays, I am still optimistic and have told my landlord I’ll be signing the lease for another year. I think with the weather turning and things starting to open up more, that we’ll have a good summer. Covid numbers are coming down in our state finally and we hope that trend continues with more people getting vaccinated. Tourism is big in our area and I’m counting on that to increase business. Spring will continue to be busy on the farm with more planting to do, but I look forward to spending more time outside when I can!
I always like hearing about your critters; they all seem to be fit and hardy. I am in love with your free-range violets! I had some violas once in a back yard pot that I purchased from a greenhouse. I had to water them daily and baby them. Eventually, they burned up; we get way too much sun, even in the shade. We are in the mountain west, and we are also surprised to be getting rain and lower temperatures. We had 3″ of snow last week, which isn’t surprising, but the rain is a big surprise. We’ve gotten more precipitation at this point in the year than we got all last year! Wacky weather continues, but this is wacky in a good way for my small area. The rest of the state remains in drought. I hope Luke gets some sunshine so that he can explore without going in the mud!
I think we’ve been getting more sunshine than we bargained for, and we may be headed back into the drought. At least that has meant lots of walks for Luke. We are hoping for some rain today though. Your weather certainly sounds just as crazy and unpredictable as ours!
It’s high 80’s today, humid, and thundershowers expected. Tomorrow it’s going to drop into the 60’s and then only highs in the 50’s for the holiday weekend!
Good thing I’ve been too busy to get all my cooler weather clothes put away yet, LOL.
Our yard as full of violets like your yard, too…but the ones in the garden areas that self sowed are doing well, and they are quite large!
I enjoyed your ‘fowl-report’!
Glad your little boutique is doing well…your front porch to the store is very inviting and a good way to entice customers to come on in!
Benji & Dalton woof their greetings to Luke!
Thank you!! Luke sends woofs right back to the boys! ♥
Everything is looking great on the farm, and the storefront lovely as always! I miss Luke, such a cutie! Looking great for spring, keep up the awesome work! Good luck with the hatching!
Thanks! Luke would sure like to see his Auntie Lynn too!
How did that year go by so fast?! Your place always looks so clean and neat and that can’t be easy with all of the fowl. Love your pretty little violets! Hi Luke☺
I know, I can’t believe it’s been a year already too! Thank you, but I’m not sure it’s really as clean as it looks in the photos, LOL. We do our best though!
Luke sends woofs back! ♥
Looks like spring has sprung at the farm! Your little shop is adorable.
Thank you! Some days it still doesn’t feel as much like spring as it should, but I think later this week it will improve. 🙂
I’m so glad Spring finally showed up at your place! Those are all such wonderful and fun photos, howdy Luke!
Every year it feels like spring will never really get here, and sometimes it skips right from winter to summer! 🙂
Glad the chickens are integrating well and that you are getting eggs. Charlie sounds like a cool rooster. I hope to visit your store someday.
I’ll be so excited when you walk in that door! ♥
Everything looks great (and every furry and feathery!!) Love your shop, wish I lived near there!
Me too, Caren! Thank you!
It was good to read your update! Hello Luke!
Hi Barbara! I’m sending you smooches!
Love, Luke
Good to see what you’re up to and seeing handsome Luke is always a treat. I linked this post to Awww Mondays.
Love your store. Very attractive. If I were near I’d come and shop.
Have a fabulous day and week. Smooches to Luke and a hug to you. ♥
Thank you! Luke sends smooches back! ♥
Your storefront is adorably cute! Can’t believe it’s been nearly a year. Congrats! With best wishes for a successful second year and warmer days.
Thank you so much, Monika!
oooh to see how the chickens run around and discover all the fresh things ;o) happy soring time to luke and to you… or to you and to luke LOL
Everyone, including the chickens, is happy and excited for spring!
Love the look of the front of the shop!! It’s so YOU, Farm Girl!!
We had a really rainy few days last week – or was it the week before? I don’t know any more – that were really depressing. But we’ve had some mostly sunny/partly cloudy since then.
Love the photos of Ducky’s boyfriend, Luke, and the flock! Hope all continues to go well!!
We’ve still been under clouds mostly, though it hasn’t been raining as much. I think we might finally get more sunshine tomorrow and more normal temperatures, finally.
Luke sends smooches to Ducky!
That whole chicken thing is a lot of work. You really have to enjoy the birds to have the I guess. Can’t believe your store will be a year old already. We would have guessed more like six months, but time flies.
It IS a lot of work, but now that I have my shop, my hubby is stuck with much more of it! LOL
Time sure does fly. I also never expected we’d still be in the pandemic a year later! At least things are looking a bit more optimistic with that now.