Gone So Long

For all of you that have been holding your breath waiting for my return, I am back! I have been so busy with life here in the Cuckle Burr Patch, that by the time I'm done with all I have to do, I am just done for and sit around like a zombie.

Now I am going to show you part one of what has been going on around here. This is in addition to all the critters I already had to take care of!

First I decided that I needed some more babies. So I got the incubator out and loaded it with lots of eggs.

After three weeks of checking temperature and humidity and rolling eggs like the mama hens.....The pipping began.




Struggling to break free.




The hatching happens fast, and after they dry, you can play and pet them. They can go two days without food and water, which is what happens when you order chicks thru the mail. After they are dry I like to get them started immediately with water spiked with electrolytes and a pinch of sugar. It's kind of like Gatorade for peeps and gives them a boost.

This is the result of playing mama chicken!

A few weeks later, they have developed their feathers and colors!

Also during this same time period, I got 15 pheasant chicks. I dont have pics of them when they were no bigger than a jacks ball, but if you look real close in the pic below, you will see some of them. They are very illusive. We have them in our high tunnel and before we could move them, we had to make the tunnel secure.

They seem to be quite content and have made little hidey holes all thru the grass and weeds.

Well that's it for part one. The next installment will be tomorrow, so stay tuned for part deux!

New Babies!

Here are the newest members of the Cuckle Burr Patch family. Aren't they just the purrtiest little dawlings you have ever seen? They are just beautiful, though I might be a little on the slanted side. What, you might ask and I know you will, is that blue stuff on four of the little ole heads? Well since you asked, that is Blue Paint, non toxic in case any PETA heads are out there, and that is how the company where these little beauties came from, mark the little boys so you know which ones are the roos. Get it? Blue for roos, pink for chicks. Ok I stretched it a bit, but the blue paint is real and if they will hold still for you, you will see that there are 4 blue roos and 4 non blue roos.

In this group of 4 blue roos there are 3 different varieties of roos. The non blue non roos are all the same and will belong to one of the blue roos of the same family. The other blue roos already have non roos waiting for them. Think "prearranged marriage"! AND guess what? When they all grow up to be roos and non roos, they will look nothing like they do now! They will morph into the most beautiful roos and chickies, and I promise to show you the morphing the entire way. And No, they won't live their entire lives in my laundry basket. They might stay in it a week, unless they learn they can jump out of it any time they feel like it. Besides, I will need to do laundry again this weekend!

Pics of My Life

Some of my grown girls, with some of the buckwheats.
My youngest granddaughter cant say guinea so she
calls them bikinis. Now we do to.


One of my babies. You can tell how mistreated they are!
He was so bored with the tv show he was watching he
decided a nap was called for.

Guineas....Buckwheats! They are on bug patrol. The
tick population has diminished considerably. They will
also take on snakes, which is bad for my good snakes.
But the copperheads stay away!



A few of the peeps. These are the ones that started it all.
I began with 25 Araucaunas and now I have over 70 of
several varieties. The bug is so bad that I now have 15
pheasant chicks. Will post pic of them soon. And over the
next two weeks will have more peeps arriving. I think I have
lost it, but actually they keep me sane.

There is nothing like watching chickies grow, scratch and talk to each other and to you! When you have peeps and they get upset, you can talk like a mama chicken and they will calm down. Threw that in there in case you want to go talk to some. They listen better than men too!

When You Just Need Some Exercise

Ya'll know the way a cat will fight and kick and bite and scratch to keep all their special dirt from washing down the drain. Keep that visual. This is the way my queen B cat acts when getting meds. Now I know from experience that downing pills and having cold liquid put in your ears is not a very pleasant thing to have happen, but after numerous bouts of differing sickness, you would think that a cat, they are very intelligent ya know, would know that when you are coming with that little bottle of liquid, that they would realize it was something that would take away the pain and irritation from an ear ache.

Not so with my Tinker! Oh no. She insists that I must be the mama from hades, that the wounds from our last encounter must have healed and that I need to be reminded that her claws are never, ever dull. That I pour the cold fluid in her ear just for the fun of adding new scars to my arms and hands and that a little blood loss would do me some good.

Cats actually have 8 legs. I know in college they teach that they only have four, but obviously the author of those books never gave a pill to a cat. You see, they keep the other four tucked inside and when needed during a wrestling match, they POP out for the attack. Think Alien movies. After much wrangling the medicine is finally in the ears and unfortunately all over me as well. Then the pouting and planning for revenge against mama begins. And unfortunately for me and T, it will all have to be played out the next day.

Oh how I love CATS! One of God’s finer creations.