Sunshine and the New Chick

     Sunshine is our yellow cat.  We have had him since he was four weeks old.  Sugar is his brother. Sugar is white and yellow.  The boys are very sweet and loving, but they do love playing with the birds in our backyard.  However, once the chicks get big enough, they don't really like to try to play with them anymore.  They just like to run at the flock and watch the birds scatter.
     Sunshine is probably the less predatory of the two cats.  This evening, under careful supervision, we introduced him to the new chicks.  Out of our latest batch we have gotten two new ones.  That makes a total of seven backyard chickens.  We moved the little easter egger out to the coop last week and he seems to be adjusting.  He likes to sit on top of his little barn house and "cheep, cheep, chirp"  
     We let Sunshine meet the two new babies.  He rubbed his head against them, purring all the while.  He is still out of the house while the chicks are in the house but he doesn't seem to mind.  

Sunshine and the Baby (hatched on August 26, 2014)

My Backyard Chickens

August 14, 2014

A few years ago, I bought six chicks from TSC in Northern Kentucky on impulse for an Easter present for the kids.  One chick drowned in the water.  The other five became young adults.  Then I had two die from heatstroke.  They were rather large and the coop was in direct sunlight because it was early spring and I was trying to keep them warm.  I know a lot more about raising chickens now then when I first got them.  So then we were down to three-two hens and a rooster.  Well, my rooster and hen ran away together to the field next door.  I like to think that they lived a long and happy chicken life. This left us with one sweet black chicken.  When she died about three years later, I decided to take a break from chickens.
My husband asked me one day if I wanted to get some more chickens.  I thought, sure why not, but at the time TSC was past its "chick" days.  A woman I worked with had two children.  Her son started raising chickens as a 4-H project.  He raised petite cochin bantams.  I bought three for $10, thus my love for chickens was renewed.  This time two of them grew to adulthood.  The rooster and the hen got together and I thought it might be kind of fun to hatch some eggs.
So after doing some research, I learned that after a rooster and hen "mate" the hen will lay fertilized eggs for the next two weeks.  I gathered six eggs.  We successfully hatched 5/6 eggs on May 5, 2014.
Here are the parents and the babies.  The babies are now 11 weeks old.  I gave one rooster and my prettiest hen to one of my best friends and kept the other three babies plus mama hen.  Mama Hen belongs to my niece so I can't get rid of her.
I had so much fun hatching these babies that I decided to hatch an Easter Egger Bantam--cutest thing ever.  He/She is two weeks old now and belongs to my 2 year old nephew.
I have seven more eggs in the incubator. As of candling them yesterday--there are definitely two very active babies.  Can't wait until they hatch--they were part of a mixed dozen plus four more of my own partridge petite cochins.

Hatched May 14, 2013

Black Regeant-now lives happily with the Amish

Mama Hen:  AKA: Elizabeth

Hatched May 5, 2014

My Easter Egger Bantam!
Hatched on July 29, 2014

Taking a ride on the dump truck!

Backyard Wildlife

          Backyard Wildlife

July 22, 2014

So, tonight, I made the little chickens go in the coop with the hen.  They have been roosting on the roof of the coop. . . have no idea why.  As I was coaxing one particular sweet hen off my arm. . . then my shoulder, I did a general search around the yard.  I like to do this after making sure the chickens are safe and sound.  I had my little flashlight, and caught movement around the mint garden.  A small cat-sized shaped was creeping across the yard.  Well, Sunshine was with me securing the chickens and Sugar was laying up on the porch, stretched out relaxing and watching me.  I thought. . . nope, not a cat and then realized it was a possum.  Callie was laying between me and the big garden, oblivious-wagging her little tail.  I asked her, "Can you not see that?" She must have caught a whiff or noticed movement out of the corner of her eye, because she went into attack mode.  She ran up to that possum--I was worried the possum might turn around and get her with its sharp teeth.  That varmint keeled right over on its side.  Callie sat down right next to it to keep an eye on it.  I got close enough to see its eye twitch every once in awhile and it was breathing slowly.  I have to say, I have never seen an opossum in action playing dead.  Callie sniffed around it.  She knew something wasn't quite right.  This was at about 10:00 tonight.  When I went inside about 10:45--after getting Ken to come outside, waking up Kal-El, and calling Karma down from her room to check this really cool thing out, Callie was still sitting next to it.  I gave her two dog biscuits and told her what a good girl she is.  Here is the opossum playing "possum."  

Callie