{Farm} First Experience with a Broody Hen

Be careful what you wish for. 

Mainly because you might actually get it. 

Look at the sass in that eye!

I had been hoping that after adding Bertram to the flock, I would eventually be able to hatch our my own chicks. I was ok with the idea of using an incubator if called for at some point. But in the depths of my heart I was wishing to have the experience of the event occurring naturally. Well, my little Rhode Island Red , Sweet Pea, delivered. Sweets and I have been pals since the whole chicken journey began. She is my morning chatty Kathy in the coop and my "what's up mom" friend. For her to be my first experience is something special.

Its been my experience this far that the Rhode Island Reds are territorial when laying their eggs. All of them get funny when you open the lid to the nesting boxes in the middle of their business. One night, I had gone out to gather eggs and Sweets was in the "popular" nesting box on all the eggs.  She sleeps in the boxes usually, so I wasn't surprised to see her. She got a little testy when I opened the lid and went after my hand when I reached for the eggs. That's when the light bulb went on. So I let her keep the eggs that night. The next morning, she had gotten off the nest to get a drink first thing. An hour later she was back and still on them when I put the flock to bed that night.

The next morning, I carefully transferred her to our brooder up on the porch. That way, she would be left alone and could easily access food and water. I gave her a bunch of Timothy Hay in one end of the brooder which she used to make a nest and transferred the eggs. She has her water bowl and food on the other end of the brooder. So far so good!

I've candled the eggs, which look promising. A couple are kind of dark and that makes it hard to tell what is happening inside. There are 2 Ameraucana eggs  and 4 others that are either Gold Stars or Rhode Island Reds!

I'll keep you updated as things go forward!
Thanks for sharing life on the farm!

-Rebecca


 *Update*

Thursday July 28, 2016
Two Weeks down, one to go. Should this be successful, August 2 is our estimated hatch date. We shall see. I am excited to see what happens.

Sunday July 31, 2016
Got home from church to find a little head popped out of Sweets feathers. I wasn't expecting it, but she hatched out her first 4 chicks today. So far they are all healthy.  A trip to the feed store is definitely in store for tomorrow.

Monday August 1.2016
Went out to check on momma bird this morning. I gave her some meal worms as a treat and to get her off the nest so I can see what is going on underneath. She's hatched out 5 of the 6 eggs in her clutch so far. I am not sure if she will hatch out the last one. We will have to wait and see.

{Create} May Photo Hunt

Mom and I spent Memorial Day at our favorite spot taking a few pictures of the beautiful spring time bounty at Rancho San Rafael state park in Reno. My challenge to myself was to play with light and composition.  Here are a few pictures I wanted to share.

The covered bridge near the entrance to the arboretum is one of my favorite places to photograph.

These Oriental Poppies were just gorgeous. I loved how the light went through the delicate leaves.

I love taking pictures of roses when the light is shining in through the top like it was here. The shadow play is amazing.

Same rose from a different angle and a bit closer up. I took this one to practice drawing or painting at some point.

Mom and I kept hearing turkeys... I remembered that the park had been raising them in the barn that was a part of the original ranch. Isn't he handsome?

His lady was out in one of the paddocks taking a sun bath... when we walked up she dropped to the ground, stretched out and started chirping.

I couldn't resist getting a few pictures of the ducks...

I hope you enjoyed these pictures.
Love always,
Miss B

{Homespun Holiday} End of the year Christmas Letter

Season's Greetings.

I thought I might share our end of the year letter sent out with our Christmas cards this year.

What will you and I give for Christmas this year? Let us in our lives give to our Lord and Savior the gift of gratitude by living His teachings and following in His footsteps.

-Thomas S. Monson

Christmas greetings to you and yours.

I hope the season brings merriment and bright days to you this holiday season. As I sit listening to Christmas carols, I am blessed to look back on the year. While not much changed in 2015, there are still good things to share with you. I even tried to keep this to half a page, both sides, but there was more than I anticipated to share.

In January I attended the Nevada Small Farms Conference in hopes to gain some inspiration. And inspiration I did find. I was fortunate enough to hear from a group of urban farmers serving the Reno area. I learned that as a 25 year old female farmer, I would be entering into one of the most in demand areas of agriculture. I am now pursuing the path of urban farming. I am taking on the task of breathing new life into the Flying VS Farm.  While I know it will not happen overnight, ‘tis a process I will gladly take on. The spring of 2016 will begin a new chapter. I have decided not only to pursue the urban farming, but have chosen to include homesteading. It is the art of learning old fashioned skills. I have a desire to do it all in a way that promotes living history and preservation of the past. Much of this inspired by my mother, who included us in reenacting as kids. (Thanks Mom!)

With that, here is an update on how the farm is doing.  The tenants of the coop continue to be a source of entertainment for us all. Earlier in the summer, we lost a handful of our girls to a coyote. I purchased chicks in July, to replace the ones we lost and they are growing daily. This year, I wanted to experiment with a new breed. Phoenix, Cricket and Hawk are my three beautiful Ameraucanas. While the older girls have finished their molt and are beginning to lay again, we watch with anticipation to see what color eggs our 3 easter eggers will lay. In other coop news, we were given 4 fryer chicks at the same time I purchased the layers. We butchered the fryers late in the fall. I send out hugs and a great thank you to Betty Bianchi who willingly stepped in to help this budding farmer butcher her first chickens… It was a day full of laughter and reminiscing. In the future, we plan to purchase fryers intentionally.

On to the canine variety. Linus is as sassy as ever, He is absolutely loving the snow we have had. While I have had some characters in the past, I have never had a dog which will actually talk back. (And occasionally he sasses his mother a bit too much…)  He is so keen on everything going on that if you even utter the word “girls” in an audible voice, his ears perk up and he is ready to go. (He helps put the chickens to bed at night and they are his girls.) Woody is Woody. He has such a bright personality. (He was the guard dog today in the barn, freaking out over a feed bag the wind had picked up.)  I cannot imagine what my life would be without them.

I have been taking classes at WNC.  At this point I am not seeking any particular degree. I am also looking into applying for and completing the master gardener program through the Cooperative Extension service here in Carson. I have also been working with Intervarsity (an inter-denominational campus ministry) at UNR  to start a bible study on the campus. It has been a wonderful experience. 

I have also been working on bettering my blog and YouTube channel, Life on the Flying VS Farm. My desire is for it to be an outlet to be creative as well as sharing my journey with family and friends alike. It has been gaining followers who also want to share in the journey. I have begun working on launching a children’s channel to go along with it. Kids play an important role in preserving history and understanding what has happened in the past in order to preserve our future. It will be interesting to see where it goes with the new direction for the farm and my life in general.

I send prayers for a blessed New Year. May 2016 be filled with love and joy


Love Always, 
        Miss B and the crew at the Flying VS Farm.