I love weekends. Winter weekends especially, with the sun not coming up until 6:45. On the weekends during this time of year, when the kids are between sports, our family sometimes actually gets to sleep in as late a 7 or 8 am. Well, that is until recently… I know it sounds crazy, but around 5:30 AM, I have been woken up to crowing! About 8 or 9 times, over the last month, I have been hearing this awful “gaw—gawk–gawk–gawk—gaaaawkkkkkk–,”…
Back in July, Penguin got a very sweet gentle Easter Egger chick in a bantam assortment from Ideal Poultry. As a chick, it was kind of pale buff and grey colored. As seen in the photo below on the right, in comparison to my other bantam Cochins, it is a little larger than bantam. As it grew, it was generally lavender (pale gray) with accents of yellow and a little buff around the neck and chest. Based on temperament and…
Almost 2 years to the day, we had a red tailed hawk kill one of our free ranging chickens. Obviously perturbed at me for ruining its meal, it watched from overhead on the telephone wires as I cleaned up the carnage, with tears running down my face. After that, I became more cautious about when I let my chickens out and for how long. With supervision, I do let them enjoy at least an hour or two most days for…
Another gross post, just in time for Halloween: One disgusting by-product of composting is the beetle grubs. I wrote about the other gross insect in the compost, black soldier fly previously. As a novice, when I first started composting, I really hated these bugs. Now, for me, they have become such a common part of composting and gardening, I will pick them up with my bare hands. What has become of me? Yuck! Ewwwgh! However, to the delight of the…
Just so you know, Hanbury House blog is supported by its audience. Hanbury House may receive compensation from the links on this page if you decide to shop from them. Adding a Light Why did I choose to add a light source when I was building My Chicken Coop? When I got chickens, eggs were one of the main reasons for keeping them. A light in the coop keeps egg production going during the shorter days of winter. Domestic chickens are…