Tribute to The General

Sad news at the Funny Farm- our beloved flock king, General Tso passed away the other day. It was unexpected and very sad. I don't know how old he was, but he was in the first group of chickens we brought to the farm 2 years ago and he was already full grown. Simon went into the Barn to do evening barn chores and found him already dead. There were no signs of illness or injury.

 "The General" was everything we wanted in a flock protector: he was unselfish, alert and always looking out for his harem. The whole family loved and respected him because of his amazing work ethic. There is now a huge hole in the flock hierarchy and I am not sure that any of the younger roosters could ever replace The General.

I am sure his original "wives": Road Runner, Annie Banany & Ditzy are very sad without him. They were always close by. I loved his crow- even though a lot of people find rooster crowing to be a disturbance, I always loved hearing him. Wherever I was in the house or around the farm, when The General would crow it would bring a smile to my face!!

Occasionally we would catch him and cuddle him, and even though he would put up a half-hearted struggle, he didn't seem to mind our affection!!

We are really going to miss him. I have thought of him several times in the last few days and I just keep wondering what will happen in the flock without him? We have had many roosters come and go over the last couple years, but none of them were even close to The General's quality or leadership. The farm has lost an amazing member and we won't forget him.

Playing Catch Up

Ok so I completely busted my New Year's resolution to blog more... 

It has been 9 months since the last post. Sheesh.

The farm is still here and we are having a blast and excited for fall-

 life has just been busy and blogging got put on the back burner. 

Some changes around here? 

The biggest one is GUS!

Gus was born March 11. 2012 and is a JOY to our family!!

At 6 months old, everything is exciting and interesting to explore. He LOVES to be outside on the farm and he especially loves to play with the kittens (who seem to love him too, despite his tendency to squeeze them)

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In other news, we added Gracie to our goat herd earlier this year. 

She is a 2 year old Nigerian Dwarf doe and we are hoping to breed her soon!

Gracie gets along with the boys too, which is a relief!

We also acquired Ginger- Julianna's new bunny. 

She roams freely during the day in the "hen pen" and loves the freedom to hang out with the chickens.

We also got 15 new "chicks" in the spring,

 that are now old enough to start laying eggs.

3 of them were actually hatched by 2 of our Silkies that finally went broody in the spring and made a joint nest that they took turns sitting on. (haha!) 

                                    and a few chicks turned out to be roosters-
                                         this one is my favorite of the bunch!

We also got 5 new guinea keets to replace the one's we lost last fall, they are already fully grown as well and they roam the farm making a ruckus!! I laugh every time I hear the barking start.

Last but not least, we have 6 new kittens on the farm. 

2 from Lulu, 1 from Tiny and 3 we rescued from the side of the road. Lulu disappeared when her kittens were about 6 or 7 weeks old, and Tiny adopted them as well as the 3 orphans. She was pregnant at the time, but started nursing all 5 of them anyway. Not long after that she had her own babies, but one of them didn't survive. The other one "Tick" is absolutely adorable and we LOVE her soooo much! She got her name because she would be the only kitten nursing when she was a newborn and she was the roly'est poly'est kitten we had ever seen! She looked like a swollen tick with a milk mustache :) All 6 kittens love each other and play together now, and Tiny proudly claims all of them as her own. 

Oliver & Ticky

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This summer we also started the huge Garden project. I have been dreaming of a "Therapy Garden" in the center of the circular drive since we moved here. My wonderfully handy husband started constructing it in July and we spent MANY, MANY hours over the next couple months working on it. There is still a long way to go, but I am very happy with the progress we made and next year we hope to add lots more to it!!

Here is the original sketch I made 

(we have made some changes- but this is basically the idea)

Here are some of the construction pics:

                                                   my herb garden!

                                  and my FABULOUS garden entry arch!!!

Anyway just wanted to jump on and post some pictures and the important news from The Funny Farm. Perhaps the next post will be sooner than 9 months from now ;-)

Go Directly To Jail...

We have a bully in the Nursery and his name is Big Chuck.

Big Chuck @ 12 weeks old

He chases all the other chicks around incessantly. 

Males, females, and he does not discriminate by breed or size. 

He catches them and pulls out their feathers and slings them around.

It is awful!! 

I went into the nursery coop today to clean it out and 

add fresh bedding and there were feathers EVERYWHERE.

I did not like the looks of that.

All day as we were outside working around the farm, 

I heard the sounds of tortured chases and squawking from his victims.

The last straw was when he caught Butterscotch and slung her around screaming. 

I ran to help and he had her pinned down while he was pulling out her feathers.

I was ticked off.

That is quite enough Big Chuck-

you are going to jail to cool off for a bit

What do I do with this bully chick?

Do I keep interfering or should I just wait and see what happens?

I just don't know what to do with him- any suggestions are welcomed!

That answers that question...

Big Chick is now officially Big Chuck