Yet another surprise at the Jackson Corral.

Saturday morning I stepped out onto my deck to do my chores and what do I hear right underneath me???? A very loud peep, peep, peep, peep. I thought oh dear, which one of my critters has made a nest under my deck. I was trying to recall which duck or chicken I hadn’t seen in awhile, approximately 28 days. I couldn’t think of any that had “gone missing”. I certainly had and still have some acting very broody, ‘tis the season I say. I quickly popped back into the house to find a bright flashlight to peek through the deck slats. A funny sight for sure, I am quite certain my husband got a laugh at me peering through the slats. Sure enough I could see a little fuzzy chick not much bigger than a golf ball peeping it’s little heart out. This will give me my opportunity to find out whom the momma is. There she was, all puffed up and was very chatty when anyone went close to the deck. Of all the chickens I have, I would not have guessed that Free Loader would have been the mom. She ran back under the deck to be with her baby. So I wait, and wait, and wait to see if she would come out. No deal. She waited until the next day to bring out her little fuzzy chick.

Making your nest under my deck is not safe from predators nor does it make me happy, not that Free Loader cares, as now I have to go fish out the eggs that didn’t hatch. I can tell you, it doesn’t smell great.

Intro to Free Loader
For the record this wasn’t a chicken I purchased. She just showed up and adopted us 5 years ago. She was hanging out with a band of feral turkeys that roam around Talbot. Apparently the Jackson Corral offered accommodations that better suited her, and so she stayed. She has only laid eggs in our yard a handful of times. Usually my neighbors have called and informed me they found her clutch of eggs in various spots, like the ducting to my neighbors wood shop, in behind the hedge or in my husband work bench. That was my favorite. She was sitting there on the second shelf of a tall work bench looking like she belonged there. Oh she is a silly bird. There is no containing her, she is crafty (for a chicken), very light bodied and can fly up and over my 5 foot fence that keeps the fowl in and the dogs out.

It will be another 3 weeks until my Blue Splash Maran hopefully hatches out her first brood. Fingers crossed!

Zekie's Sheepdog Cam

Doug and I fitted Zeke with a camera in the hopes that we could see what Zeke sees when he is herding. This short clip is working ducks, i will admit not the best footage..... I think we were all getting a little tired, minus Zeke of course, by the time we got some acceptable footage. I lost track how many times we had to film until getting just the right angle for the camera on his head. We used felt, foam, a head strap, velcro, tape.....and the list goes on. Don't worry, all of what we used weighed less than 2 oz. Zeke didn't even know it was on his head once I sent him to work ducks.

Now that we have this, I can assure you there will be more Zekes' eye view videos

The waiting is over!

The waiting is finally over.....Bonnie, my mallard call duck hatched 4 cutie pies. The whole family of law breaking ducks, Bonnie, Clyde and the ducklings had slipped under the kennel door and were found swimming in a large puddle in our yard.


The babies are just a little bigger than ping pong balls. So very sweet!

On to the Marans, my Blue Splash Maran hen is now only sitting on 2, count 'em 2 eggs. Smarts do NOT run in this line of chickens.

What do yo get when a hen makes her nest at the edge a top of hay bales and likes to actively scoot her eggs around her nest.

Answer: All your eggs fall to the ground and only a few are left in your nest.

I rearranged the once dog kennel, now chicken jail, to have two nesting spots where the hens cannot accidently shove their eggs over the edge of a hay bale. Silly chickens!

After all that, I come back later in the day to see how the hens are liking their somewhat new digs and whom do I spy in the nesting area, the one, the only, Dumpling, my rooster. Oh heavens! Are you going to lay eggs now ?

It's now my favorite saying....there is never a dull moment at the Jacksons'!

Tweed and His Bed

We up loaded a different file type this time, hopefully it will play for all. If the video doesn't, try refreshing the view.

Enjoy the video, we had a ball taping and editing this clip.

The Great Waiting Game and One Tired Pup!

Look who I found sittin' on eggs this morning in my rabbit barn! The infamous Bonnie! She didn't seem to mind me feeding the rabbits this morning around her....and yes, that is a rabbit carry cage she has claimed as her nest. Not the best place for her to do this, but we will work around her. Hopefully in about 28 days, give or take a few, we will have ducklings! Last year all Bonnie gave me was rotten eggs...Ick! Thank heavens the dogs didn't find them first!

That is Dirty SnowBall off to the left munching her morning treats and Peanut, my one legged duck under her cage. They seem to be happy living together so who am I to say different?































Now on to the tired pup

We all went out this morning to stretch legs, run in the sun and I, to do my chores. It was a sniff fest. Wylie found a stick and did her usual bounce around and growl, not sure why she thinks thats a great game but she has done this forever. Tweed thought it might be fun so he found a stick then promptly dropped it and found a bone, that had to be a tastier choice! Zeke was off to find a ball for the neighbors to throw for him. Spike laid in the grass and soaked up the sun.

Once chores were done and the dogs looked like they could use a nap we headed for the house. I also need to take it easy as I am getting over a nasty cold.

Tweed loves his raised side dog bed, it's perfect for holding up the head of one tired pup! Hopefully my next post will be more video of Tweed showing his bed who is boss. It's hilarious what this puppy will come up with to amuse himself and us. It's good to be Tweed!

Fun with a Bowl

Who knew a puppy could have so much fun with an upside down stainless steel food bowl. Tweed flipped his food bowl, food went a flyin'! He nosed, kicked and pushed his bowl all over his little kennel area in the house. Wylie, Zeke and Spike all lined up to catch the food that didn't stay in his pen. I think Zeke might like the little guy now that he "shares" his food. It looked a little like air hockey for one. Too cute!!

Like a two year old too tired to sleep he got cranky and decided the game wasn't fun anymore and took to attacking his toys. Oh life through the eyes of a puppy, how grand it is!

Tweed, showing off at 9 weeks

Tweed has started this week out with a bang.

• He attended his first puppy class and had a ball. He made friends with a Border Terrier
• Learned that clickers mean TREATS!!!
• We are making serious progress with house training. Tweed will now run to the front door and jump up and down to let us know he needs to go out, most of the time. Hooray!!!
• He has given his best effort to "herd" us to where he thinks his humans should go, nice try Tweed, but we are on to ya little buddy!

Wylie is continuing to have fun with him, the two of them run laps around our couch.

Zeke has been awesome with rounding up my "jail break" Mallard Call Ducks. They have now been re-named Bonnie and Clyde. It appears they buy into the old addage of the grass is greener on the otherside. They have been found repeatedly in my neighbors yard to the north, in our front yard and in my neighbors yard to the south of us. I will have to lock up them up as I have found Bonnie is laying eggs, but doesn't want to set on them. I would love to have more tiny Mallards.

Below is a cute training video of Tweed, courtesy of my husband.