A Few Residents of Laughing Dove Farm

A few of my Jacob Sheep grazing in the front pasture between the house and the gravel road.

A mama hen with chicks she hatched out and tends.

One of my ewe lambs. I had 19 healthy lambs born here this year , doubling my flock of sheep !

 This little curly mama hen hatched out her brood of chicks under our new chicken house. They are tiny bantams and will be tiny when grown up. She and her rooster are very protective of their chicks. The rooster / father of the chicks is a self-blue d'uccle I got from my oldest grandson a few years ago

Whimsy, one of our 4 dogs. She is my constant companion and protector.

Life is so good here, especially because I am blessed to share it with people and animals I love.

"Some people go through life trying to find out what the world holds for them only to find out too late that it's what they bring to the world that really counts." L.M. Montgomery ~ ' Anne of Green Gables'

Chickens For Christmas !

Our first-born grandchild C.T. is passionate about animals, especially horses, reptiles & chickens.He gets pretty excited when talking about certain breeds of bantam ( tiny ) chickens. He has been raising Mlle Fleurs to show but his parents' hunting dogs have thwarted his loving and hard work by breaking into the pens and killing the chickens our grandson loves. For his Christmas present his grandpa & I decided we would order chicks for him, to raise here. C.T. & I ordered a variety of Mlle Fleurs, D-Uccles, Porcelains, and 5 black bantam Cochins for me.

The chicks arrived almost 2 weeks ago in a box via the U.S. mail.

Aren't they cute? ! ?

C.T. was so excited and very eager to share his enthusiasm over the little bundles of fluff with his baby brother, Little 'J'.

The weather here is very wet & cold. The temperatures have been below 30 degrees most nights, so the chicks are being raised in our sun-room for now.Because we have indoor cats who stand over the brooder and lick their lips, we protect the chicks by placing old barbecue grills over the stainless steel bucket. The aluminum foil is used to cover the bucket to keep the heat in (without risking the fire danger other coverings might cause) as this is the coldest room in our home and baby chicks need to be warm to thrive.

It is kind of hard to decorate for Christmas around a batch of baby chicks who need their brooder cleaned at least twice a day...the parakeets in the cage to the left seem to be enjoying the chirping chicks though.

...but the happy smiles and joy it brings from our oldest Grandson make it more than worthwhile. C.T. is going to keep a detailed record of these chicks and help me at least once a week with the cleaning and set-up involved with keeping them here. His ultimate goal is to move the best of them to his back yard, raising and breeding them for show. Another part of his present is that after Christmas, he and I will work on a joint blog all about our poultry raising endeavors.

Rose The Rooster

Rose the rooster. I did not name him. Rose can thank our oldest granddaughter for his name.

Our granddaughters from the other side of the mountains were here to celebrate the New Year with us, and on New Year's Day they checked on their now-grown chicks. Our oldest granddaughter shown here wearing her New Year's party hat, is holding Rose, her chicken. You might recall this chicken hatched out of his shell in her hand.* (click here to read the story) She was so excited, and immediately named the chick Rose, for she was pretty sure the chick was a hen. Obviously Rose is not a hen, and I have suggested he be re-named , but like a 'Boy Named Sue', I believe Rose is stuck with his name.He will have to deal with it.

Baby Rose, just after hatching in our granddaughter's hand.

Rose is getting checked out by the other granddaughters.

Our youngest granddaughter is not too sure about chickens and keeps a safe distance.

This granddaughter is holding her chicken, a bantam red cochin she named Lucy.

Lucy successfully hatched out and raised a few chicks that another of the granddaughters has adopted as her own.

Rose though, is most definitely a rooster. I think he is a fine frizzled bantam cochin rooster too. Maybe our granddaughter will re-name him, and hopefully the granddaughters will be able to keep their chickens at their place sometime in the near future where Rose will reign supreme and rule the roost - curls , crows, and all.

Chicken Bath !

It is that time of year again, time to prepare my chickens for the Puyallup Fair. I entered 4 of my bantams in the open poultry show. My white Bantam Frizzled Cochins need baths to be their very best sparkling white. This is Mrs. White. She and her rooster are getting baths today. I have a a bucket filled with warm water in which I swished around some pet / animal bluing shampoo that is gentle enough to not strip the natural oils of her shiny feathers, but will clean them. The bluing helps rid her feathers of any yellowing , I want her sparkling white! I rub shampoo in carefully and check all her feathers, rubbing more shampoo into any stubborn stains or yellowing. I also worked on her feathered feet, gently removing clumps of dirt stuck in the feathers between her toes.After I am satisfied she is as clean as I can get her I will place her into the next bucket of warm water for rinsing. Surprisingly, once chickens are gently placed in warm water they relax completely and are very easy to handle. They seem to enjoy being washed, and why not? A massage in warm soapy water sounds pretty good to me too!

A final rinse into a big tub of clean warm water and we're almost done.

I spread out her wing feathers and make sure they are clean and well rinsed. Look at these beautiful feathers, they remind me of angel wings. Mrs. White is now bundled into a big warm towel and I pat her dry, then wrap her up again in the towel and place her in a clean crate filled with fresh cedar shavings. I kept the crates with the drying chickens in the house over night so the chickens would not get chilled. I covered the crates with towels so they were dark inside, helping the chickens stay calm.

I brought the crates outside and let the sunshine warm Mr. & Mrs. White. The poultry show is next week, but you should bathe your chickens a few days before the show. I will change the shavings in their crate every day to keep them very clean.

She might not win anything at all, but as far as I'm concerned, she is a winner and a prize all by herself! Later on I will bathe my 2 little Bantam Barred Cochins. Wish us well at the fair. Better yet, visit them at the Puyallup Fair. It starts next week.

Rooster Party!

It's a Rooster Party ! *

I had no idea how many roosters I had until I began to gather them for this party. The real challenge was to edit my collection, and it was a very hard challenge. Not sure I was successful, but as I said, you have no idea how many roosters I have!

I started with our every day dishes, purchased at Fred Meyers a few years ago. I never tire of them, day in and day out, every day meals are served on these roosters.

Then of course there are the rooster napkins, dish towels really, but I liked them so much I bought 20 and use them often as napkins. When they get too dingy to use as napkins I will use them as intended. This lovely tea pot was a gift from my friend Pam, grandmother of Kathryn, who hosted a tea party for myself and my grandchildren last week. She knows what I like, thank-you Pam!

Bottle stopper, or wine bottle stopper. Here this rooster sits atop my bottle of water. Ahh, roosters AND blue, perfect!

I set the table near my husband's new honey house. He has been harvesting the most beautiful honey I have ever seen these past few days and it is nice to sit at the table nearby to sip ice cold water or tea before he begins again the sweet work of extracting honey fresh from the hive.

This rooster is perched above Lavender plants waiting to be planted in the Lavender bed surrounding the honey house. This rooster is a gift from a friend and sister Jacob Sheep owner, Arlene. Thank-you Arlene!

As I view this table arrangement I see I must learn to edit my settings even more, but it is so hard, I love my blue and white and the roosters.I know, I need a bigger table, yes! That is the solution. A much, much, bigger table.

Of course, anyone who truly appreciates roosters should have the American Poultry Association Book of Standards to make sure they really know their roosters. I have an older version, keep meaning to order the newest, but an old book of Standards is very handy to have. Oh, and don't forget to make sure you have your subscription of Backyard Poultry up to date too. I read these often. Don't you? Just look at one of the many pages of handsome roosters. If you have never read a book of Standards for poultry you have no idea of the variety of roosters there are. Why, roosters are truly one of the most beautiful, handsome, and varied birds there are.

My rooster table-setting clinging to the shade next to the not-quite-finished Honey House and the not-quite-fully weeded herb garden.

And of course,one of the best roosters for last, Mr. White. My bantam frizzled Cochin. He is beautiful, and he is another post!

Just a note; I will be away from my computer this weekend to fully enjoy the last few days we will have with our Granddaughters and their father ( our oldest son ) before they go home. I am eagerly anticipating my visits to see your roosters when I return to my computer~ so many roosters, so little time!

Frilly , Fluffy Chickens !

The chicks that arrived in the mail in January are growing up quickly. This is one of my favorites, she is a white bantam frizzled Cochin.

See how curly this little frizzled chick is.

I have been brooding the chicks in our dove-cote and the doves are nesting too.

This dove cannot completely cover her growing baby anymore, can you see most of her baby sticking out from under her?

Here is a smaller frizzled Cochin next to a barred bantam Cochin.

Look at the comparison of frizzled feathers ( top ) next to Silkie feathers. Both are so pretty to me, but the Silkie is by far the softest and fluffiest.

I love my chickens, and the doves too!