The Hagan Farm: Seems Like Only Yesterday

OK, we'll admit we might have ignored our blog a little, and therefore didn't keep you up-to-date on what's been going on around here. While so many people were creating podcasts and blogs and other ways to reach out during the pandemic, we were focusing on... uh...sorry, we lost focus. What were we talking about again?

Anyway, since our last entry (Aug 2020) quite a few things have happened around here. For now we'll feature some more recent news...animals and animal babies.

Our plan over the winter was to get a few more chickens and another dozen guineas. We ordered the guineas in January for pick up at the end of May. We bought the chickens from a local feed store in February.

The chicks. 3 Barred Rocks (1 rooster, 2 hens). 2 Golden Comets (hens)

So far, so good. We raised them in the house until they were 5-6 weeks old and then put them in a holding pen in the coop until they could fend for themselves with the adult chickens and guineas. Speaking of holding pens...

We moved the tractor and lawn mower and closed in the middle part of the back of our small barn, connecting it to the current run. We figured that if we ever got a somewhat larger flock, this would give them plenty of room to live together should we go away for a weekend trip and leave them locked up in the run.

A new holding pen for young chickens inside of what will be an enlarged run.

The (mostly) finished product (as of May 18th)

The new chickens are doing quite well and have blended in with the original chickens. The rooster is taking charge and even the older chickens have taken notice.

A throwback photo from their younger days (about a month ago)

We picked up our new guineas on May 22 and brought them home.

The keets cowering in the corner of their new, temporary home.

They'll get moved out into the new holding pen (in the new run) in a few weeks. We just want to make sure they are feathered out enough to stay warm at night. But just as we had things all planned out...

About a month ago, our sole female guinea was laying eggs and building up a nest. She'd reached the point where she was satisfied with the number of eggs and went broody. We couldn't allow this...because...her nest isn't protected. She lays her eggs in brushy places around the farm. At first light she'll come off the nest to forage for food for a few minutes and that is when the predators can find her and make her some foraging of their own. So...Neta gathered the eggs (8) and put them under a broody hen that we had. We'd tried it last year but the hen gave up as guinea eggs take about a week longer. Maybe this year would be different.

In the meantime, this past Sunday (May 31), these two showed up.

We decided this was perfect as we'd always wanted a barn cat. We figure once they're a little older we'll turn them loose and hope at least one of them sticks around. And then this happened the very next day...

That's right. A third one joined the mix. We found the first two in a ditch along the lane to our house. Their brother/sister found it's way to our carport on Memorial Day. We'll see how this all works out.

At this point we had no idea we weren't done with babies. A check of the chicken "momma" revealed some broken eggs. You don't suppose... Then we heard peeping...

The first four.

This one had fallen out of the nesting box.

The next day we sort of forgot about them while we were back at work. Neta went outside to do some watering and she heard loud peeping. She looked and there were escapees running around the barn. She corralled 3 of them and I found the fourth. We put them in the new pen and went to check on Momma.

There were 4 more under her and no more eggs. She'd hatched them all! We moved her and the remaining chicks into the pen, putting in dishes of food and water for the little ones and some adult food for Momma.