The Arrival of Spring...and Daddy

We had a lovely spring here in East Tennessee.  The dogwoods and redbuds bloomed at the same time--a rare treat--and a perfect way to welcome home Lance!

Daffodils in the garden

Forsythia bush in bloom
(This bush used to be in our front yard, and Mike moved it by the chicken coop
with a backhoe when he began digging for our basement,)

One of our winter projects was to expand the goat lot further into the woods.  I found a superb fencer to to do the work, and by the time the honeysuckle was leafing out, the goats were munching on it in their new territory.

Donny testing the new fence

The spring nature table 

New chicks!  My first ever "pure breeding" experiment was successful.  My friend at Old Salem is building a chicken lot at his site (though the project is still passing through red tape).  I offered to supply the hens--but of course, they needed to be a pure heritage breed that might have been around in the 18th century.  So, I decided to breed my three Dominiker hens to the Dominiker rooster (Sherlock) from Exchange Place. (The Dominique, or Dominiker, breed is distinctly American and very old.  Abraham Lincoln supposedly raised Dominiker chickens.) To begin the process, I isolated my hens for a couple of weeks so they could lay out any eggs that had been fertilized by my roosters.  Then, I brought Sherlock to the farm for a couple of weeks.  My hens are older, and their separation from the rest of the flock stressed them out.  It took all of the two weeks for me to get a dozen eggs from them.  When I did, I put them under Higgelty Piggelty, my black hen who had been brooding since Lance left in August!  Needless so say, she was happy to finally have a chance to hatch out a clutch.  Nine of the twelve eggs were fertilized, and out of those, eight hatched--and they all look like pure Dominikers.  Mother and chicks are doing great.  Let's hope for mostly hens!

And the best arrival of all....Daddy!!!!