by Susan | Mar 24, 2012 | On the Farm
I sit outside on a beautiful Spring day writing this post about The Return of the Fox. Our resident fox has visited three times this morning raising havoc with the chickens and ducks. So here I sit on the porch giving the ducks some supervised play time. The commotion...
by Susan | Mar 23, 2012 | Ducks, On the Farm
Our sweet little Dilly Duck has developed quite the attitude. It took us the better part of a week to put together all of the pieces and realize that Dilly is feeling broody. Each day, after Paul collects the eggs, Dilly sits alone in the corner of the yard;...
by Susan | Mar 18, 2012 | On the Farm
Our morning began with the sunrise. Before that first cup of coffee we were outside setting a fire in our makeshift outdoor wood stove to boil down sap. It’s been two weeks since we tapped 12 Maple trees. We collected 25 gallons of sap, filling every jug, pot...
by Susan | Mar 7, 2012 | On the Farm
The March full moon is the Sugar Moon because it rises at the height of sugaring season. It’s reported that the sap flow increases during a full moon. I hope this is true because the weather simply has not cooperated with our sugaring efforts so far. I was so excited...
by Susan | Feb 25, 2012 | On the Farm
I’m an armchair birdwatcher. This winter, the only regular visitors to my birdfeeder have been Mourning Doves. I snapped these pictures this afternoon from the coziness of my kitchen. This is the real reason why I removed all the screens from the kitchen windows last...
by Susan | Feb 15, 2012 | Ducks, On the Farm
I went out to check for eggs this afternoon. This was my first clue that the ducks were not tucked away safe and sound in their yard. I followed the tracks and found a duckie super highway. They had been very busy ducks. It didn’t take great tracking skills to...
by Susan | Feb 10, 2012 | Chickens, On the Farm
There seems to be something fundamentally wrong about feeding chickens scrambled eggs. The thing is they love them! Today is only the third time I’ve offered this treat to The Girls. I’m not so taken with these chickens that I cook for them on a daily basis...
by Susan | Feb 4, 2012 | Chickens, On the Farm
Pepper, the Banty Rooster, is close to loosing his happy home. He’s one of two roosters in the Banty B&B. I think Pepper has a Napoleon complex – little in stature and big on aggressiveness. He cock-a-doodle-doos at o’dark-thirty – before the sun is up...
by Susan | Jan 29, 2012 | Ducks, On the Farm
Oscar laid an egg!?Turns out Oscar is a girl. A renaming may be in order. Oscarina? Not sure that works. I think she’ll be forever Oscar to us. Here’s her egg along with a Bantam egg (green one), Buff Orpington egg (brown one), and the beautiful Pekin duck...
by Susan | Jan 28, 2012 | Chickens, On the Farm
Look what Hannah found this morning when visiting the Banties. Our first bantam chicken eggs! We got these little chickens in August. They were on clearance at the Blue Seal store. Who could resist $1 chickens? Six months after their arrival at Downeast Thunder Farm...
by Susan | Jan 22, 2012 | On the Farm
Mid-morning, as I was making brunch, the Banties on the porch started making a ruckus, wildly bock-bock-bocking all together. We laughed at their antics wondering what had gotten them so stirred up. Suddenly, Paul called out, “There’s a fox!”...
by Susan | Jan 21, 2012 | Chickens, On the Farm
The Girls are at maximum production! Nine weeks into egg laying we had our first day with one dozen eggs. That’s 12 eggs from 12 hens. Good job, Girls! This is exciting stuff for a first-time farm girl.
by Susan | Jan 13, 2012 | Chickens, Ducks, On the Farm
The first storm of 2012 dropped four inches of slushy snow overnight. The snow was the perfect foil to expose those who lurk in the shadows of the night. Living in the Maine countryside means that you share the land with predators. We’ve seen eagles, hawks, fox,...
by Susan | Jan 6, 2012 | Chickens, On the Farm
Everything! Chickens are very curious little creatures. They love to explore every little change or sound. When I stopped to visit with them today, The Girls all gathered around until they figured out that I was empty-handed. Except for my camera. This little girl...
by Susan | Jan 3, 2012 | Critter Care and Housing, On the Farm
At Downeast Thunder Farm, my engineer husband designs and fabricates our structures, farm implements, and equipment as we need them. He’s a handy guy to have around! In planning for another chicken coop this coming Spring, Paul drew up this nesting box design...
by Susan | Jan 1, 2012 | Chickens, On the Farm
Nesting box number 6 is the place to be if you’re a chicken. We have six nesting boxes in our large coop, but box number 6 is the most popular. Some days we find all of our eggs in this one box. (Seven eggs today – a record!) This is what I found when I...
by Susan | Dec 17, 2011 | Chickens, On the Farm
That Bloody Rooster. Really. Hannah was the first to discover some red streaks on The Colonel’s neck. Upon closer inspection I saw that he had injured his comb. Curiously a couple of the Barred Rock hens are in a similar state. It seems that The Colonel may...
by Susan | Dec 4, 2011 | On the Farm
It’s amazing how much fun a few ducks can have with a 2’x3′ mortar box on a frosty day. Once I was finally able to defrost the garden hose! ...
by Susan | Nov 26, 2011 | Chickens, On the Farm
Today we found two eggs in the coop. The last few days we found one egg a day in nesting box #6. Today’s second egg was in nesting box #5 and was of a narrower shape. A little research leads me to believe that a Buff Orpington laid our first four eggs while a...
by Susan | Nov 25, 2011 | Chickens, On the Farm
Nope, not really. Pepper, the bantam rooster, bravely flew out to the snow covered perch. Surprised by the snow, he danced from foot to foot like a cat on a hot tin roof. The Banty’s are spending a lot of time on their perch now that the snow has arrived. The...
