Chickens

Quincy has had a bad time with raccoons and her poultry projects.  Heck, we have had a hard time with poultry projects in general. She lost all 7 of her ducks to raccoons.  Then one by one, 6 of her last 7 laying hens disappeared from various coops and pens.  Luckily, we hadn't brought her Delaware chickens home from grandma's house yet, and also luckily, grandma was willing to shelter the chicks she hatched.  We also lost a peahen in a terrible fireworks accident.  

Quincy got a few hens for her birthday and this week was the grand opening for her new and improved "raccoon proof" coop.  We tried it out on the birthday chickens first and when it seemed to work, we brought home her hatchlings and her Delaware 4-H project chickens. She named the rooster Dover.  He is beautiful but seems a little big for his britches.  I hope we don't have to get rid of him.  All I know for sure is I have one happy kid to have some chickens to play with again.  Jim and the kids worked really hard on this pen.  The work they put in and the time and money they spent doing it was worth it for the smile on Quincy's face I think.  

Not chicken related, but it makes me laugh when the dog decides to drink out of the kid's cups.  Mostly because a dog drinking from a cup is funny, but also because I constantly nag at them not to leave their dishes sitting around.  

Pickles were made this week.  It is hard for pickle eaters to understand the part of canning pickles that says don't eat them for at least 10 days!  The part of me that doesn't enjoy eating pickles is overruled by the part of me that enjoys having my house smelling like grandma's did growing up! Plus it makes the family happy!