Welcome, Fall!

     Well, it has finally happened. Fall has arrived, today, to be exact. Fall is probably my favorite time of year, and also the chickens', too. The colorful leaves, the pumpkins, the large quantity of eggs... The list goes on. I'm sorry I haven't been blogging as much lately, school has been really busy. The main problem with the chickens and fall is, wait for it, Hawks. We can't have free ranging in the fall because we would loose probably about half of our flock. Other than that, though, the chickens love fall. We have some squash and potatoes in the garden that will be ready soon, and our late planted tomatoes are FINALLY getting ripe. Emily, our newest rooster (I know what you are thinking, "His name's Emily?!?"), crowed yesterday for the very first time, even though it sounded like a cat dying, it was the best first crow I have ever heard. He is finally in with the flock and already trying to "help" some poor hens lay eggs by "talking" to them. I recently told you that we might have some chicks hatch, right? Well, five out of the twelve hatched, which is pretty good, considering they were cold for three days in the most vital week of incubation, due to a mother who abandoned the eggs. We borrowed an incubator from our chiropractor (and fellow chicken enthusiast!) and ended up with some pretty cute chicks. We think three are roosters, and two are hens, which is the best ratio we have ever had with chickens. Ever. In our first batch, five out of seven chicks were roosters, and then a hawk ate one of the two hens. The second batch was 100% roosters, because we got one chick, Emily, who turned out to be a rooster. So we are happy with 40% hens. We are entering some photos of the chickens in a hatchery cover photo contest for Meyer hatchery where we got the first ducks. Vote for our pictures if you can!
Our very first chickens from left to right: Henny Penny, Watchman, Mama Hen, Frisky, Gimli, and Smarty Pants.
     Well, that's pretty much it!
Cheers, 
-Amelia

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