Merè The Mighty

Cashmere or 'Merè'(Meer-eeee)as we call her, is our Black Silkie hen. She is small, but very powerful. She has the biggest personality for such a little fella. She was a chick just last spring. Now she is the broodiest hen we have. Every other month it seems that she is trying to sit on eggs. Usually when hens go broody they stop laying eggs. Merè has been broody for a week or two now and yesterday she started laying again even though she is broody. 

She wants to be a mamma so badly! It's kind of depressing. 

So, today when I pulled the eggs I marked her egg.

And gave it back to her.

She wasted no time pushing the egg back under her.

Way under her.

We do have two other hens that frequently go broody, but not near as much as Mere. They are pretty special too. Shown below is Fancy, or the 204 dollar chicken, read her story here. She is a Cochin and one of our favorites.

This hen shown below is Dori.

Dori is an interesting chicken to say it nicely.

She is known for her delirium. She runs around in psychotic tantrums, running in circles, yelling awful noises, she doesn't like be cornered, she especially doesn't want you to look at her, and she is great at just being a general nuisance. But we love her, even though she is crazy. Wont she make a great momma?

This Aurcana below is another favorite of ours. She never goes broody. She lays giant green eggs. She follows us everywhere especially to the garden and greenhouse, and she likes to be picked up. Cant ask for much more in a chicken. 

If you don't own chickens then you may not know that chickens all have different personalities. Some like to be held and pet, others just like your company. True some breeds share similar temperaments, and other characteristics, but each chicken is different in a great way. I guess that's why we love them so much. Do you love your chickens like we do? Tell us about it.

Thanks for reading! 

An empty nest, cat hugs, and a delicious dinner

 Today was an interesting day in Spokane.Temps in the 40's, then snow. Must have been interesting enough to get Pierre off of 'his/her' nest

I eagerly await the times when Pierre leaves the nest so that I can candle the eggs to check for fertility. He/she only leaves the nest for a few minutes so you have to act quickly. If Pierre sees you go into the coop he/she will run back to protect the nest.

I ran to the coop flashlight in hand. 

I found a young pullet standing over the nest. I'm not sure if the warm nest attracted the guard, or may Pierre recruited some nest protection. Either way, the nest was barely noticeable. Pierre has been shedding down on top of the nest and also layered straw with the down to keep the warmth in I presume. I was able to candle two eggs before Pierre came back and both appeared fertile. In another 14 days we should have some goslings and a couple ducklings. Did I mention that? Pierre has both geese and duck eggs under him/her.

This cat named Henry loves his mama! He always gives mama hugs! I don't like it when he does it to me because he scratches my neck. So, it's a momma and Henry thing. A special moment for them to share. 

 

Tonight we had soup salad and bread for dinner. A simple meal with a variety of flavors!

Black bean soup with jalapeno

Fresh salad with blue cheese, and Dave's Killer Bread (The Peace Bomb)

We have also started a Facebook Business Page for our small but growing little farm. We don't have very much available for sale to the general public, but we did sell around 50dozen eggs last month! We also plan to grow a lot more vegetable starts this year to sell. Last spring we sold enough plants to equal the cost of building the greenhouse, so hopefully we will be as successful this year. If you want to check it out just click on the underlined 'Facebook' above and click the 'like' button. We thank you for your support, even if your not local.

As always,

Thanks for reading

Another record for the Halpern's Happy Hens!

Today the girls blessed us with 21 eggs! Another record for Halpern's Happy Hens. Fantastic. Although, this also means we are now up for new customers again in the Spokane area. So if you are interested let us know. Here is a link to our CL post. http://spokane.craigslist.org/grd/2094973139.html. The search for reliable customers on CL is not always easy. We always get replies from potential customers but most will never come through and purchase eggs. We are hoping for the best because our egg production is out of control!

Also it was night four of Chanukah tonight and we had dinner at Kelsi's sister Crystal's house. We received a sweet drying/storage rack from the family and it will be used for years for onions, potatoes, garlic, and much more. I put it together right when we got home. I will take a photo once it's all loaded up. It has nine sliding drawers and is over 5ft tall. Seems like something we will use for years to come! More photos soon!