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Anyone interested in a trio of Cuckoo Marans or a Black Marans cockerel? It's time to start finding new homes for the chicks I don't really want. Also have some Dominique and black sexlink pullets.

Sometime between 8 to 12 weeks is a good age to integrate a cockerel into a mature hen flock. He'll still be young enough for those older girls to teach him manners, but will be old enough to tolerate getting beat up a bit.

That's the best part of having rabbits. They mow the grass for me. All I have to do is move the tractors around.

The Barred Rock is definitely a cockerel. Only males can have two copies of the barring gene, producing the lighter appearance.

The ducks could practically swim into their house tonight. They are very happy with their little lake. The water has risen several inches since I took that photo.

Thankfully, the winds hit last Saturday. It's been non stop rain and drizzle ever since. After a week, even our sandy, well draining solid can't cope.

Half my front yard is underwater. The ducks are ecstatic. I had to wade through their pen to let them out this morning.

I love my broody Australorps. They are so gentle, even when broody. They've never even tried to peck me when it's time to candle. But they have no problem with tackling a black bear or other chickens that get too close to the chicks.

Those are GORGEOUS. I hope my two Wheaten Marans girls lay dark eggs. They are such sweet little things.

He's only 6 months old, so not fully grown yet. He's got the right color genetics I'm after. I'm hoping for him to sire a cockerel that's pure for barring to use next year.

Took advantage of the sunshine yesterday to move the little ones out to the new grow out pen yesterday. Moved the tarp off to let the sun in. Red Rooster, my youngest mature male, was on chick duty. It's his designated job in the flock. Having no hens of his own, it falls to him to keep watch...

I'm behind on planting this year. Should have been done with it a month ago. I only count on cool crops in the garden. Tomatoes and squashes get planted mid-April, but I never really have any hopes for them. Wish I had the weather for corn.

Most will be sold. And there will be several cockerels in the bunch. So I'll probably only end up keeping 10 to 15 of them.

I want to breed some showable birds for the local 4-H kids, but couldn't decide on a particular breed. Looks like it's going to be either Wheaten Marans or Gold Laced Wyandottes at this point.

A lot of them still need to feather in more till I can figure out what they are. I ordered a surprise box from Cackle. So far, I've identified 9 Marans (3 Cuckoo, 1 Black Copper, 5 Wheaten), 1 Light Brahma, 6 Ameraucana (4 Black, 1 Blue, 1 Lavender), 5 black sexlink pullets, 1 Barred Rock, 2...

They are 14 weeks old now, and should have been dealt with two weeks ago. Along with the rabbits. Busy trying to get all the garden beds done. Then I need to play musical coops and put the breeding quartet back into the main coop and ready the grow out coops for the 65 chicks that will be ready...

Speaking of raising for meat, that reminds me that I've got four big guys gobbling up pounds of feed a day that need to take a trip to the freezer. The winter hatches were very heavy on the cockerels.

Catching up on all that I missed. I do get lots of big eggs from my Easter Eggers. Even the older hens lay reliably. I'm so used to the big blue and green eggs the Easter Eggers pullets have been laying, that the eggs from my other breeds seem tiny in comparison now that they are starting back...

I'm fine now. Came very close to hitting my head on the edge of the patio table, so could have been much worse. It did make looking at the computer screen painful for a few weeks, though. The offending green-mater has been pressure washed off. Still need to sand and reseal it. It's a huge deck...