Christmas Antics

My husband and I decided to try a farm family Christmas photo shoot outside with the ducks, chickens, dogs and cats.  What a bunch of animals they turn out to be!  We cannot get them to stay still for a minute.

The first video below is to make sure the camera is positioned properly for photos.  I figured it's easier to test it in motion. The second video was actually meant to be a still photo but captured our video instead.  Please note no animals were hurt during this production.

 

At some point we brought Sweaty cat as initially planned.  We were hesitating about it at first but we did it anyway.  We decided to quit when my husband tipped over and landed hard on the ground.  That was the tipping point.  But he did manage to keep Sweaty instead of saving himself from the impact.

One hen lost - not due to predator

Warning: Some pictures may be graphic.

One hen lost.  Not due to predator but due to drowning in the outdoor tub that’s meant for the ducks to swim.  So far the chickens were pretty good in just drinking from the edge.  But one must have fallen in or pushed in by another bully chicken.  Unfortunately, she did not survive.  I discovered while I was out there this morning cleaning the chicken nest boxes.  It was too late to save her.

She was one of the best layers despite her scraggly looking feathers.  Not the best looking Barred Rock hen but based on what I discovered after cleaning her up, there were a lot of eggs already in the making inside her.

 

And there’s a fully formed egg with hard shell inside her (right side of the picture below).

 

 

Below is how it looks like after I removed the fleshy lining.  I will use the egg myself.

 

Anyway, this is how she looks like after cleaning the innards. 
 

My husband chopped it up into pieces.  I added soy sauce,  vinegar and garlic powder (my go-to  condiments) and I’m slow roasting the chicken for dinner.
 

I'm definitely becoming good in chicken plucking and dressing a chicken. It doesn't bother me anymore. LOL.

Silver Appleyard Female ducks having a blast

We just got these 3 female Silver Appleyard ducks today.  One has has a pompom thingy on her head :)

‘Frog’ ball – ribbiting entertainment

I lifted the outdoor duck tub to clean out the water and then found a small frog underneath.  Chickens are always excited every time I lift this tub because they get lots of insects and worms.  But they hit a jackpot today when they found a frog. They need protein.  It was priceless entertainment for me.  It was like a football game.  It was that sheer pure entertainment that makes it worthwhile owning chickens even though we don’t make a profit.  LOL.

Here are some videos of the chickens trying to steal the frog from each other as if they’re playing soccer.  So I called it 'frog' ball.  The videos below were taken in chronological order.

And here are some pics.

This rooster ate the frog whole!  Didn't even share with others.