THE BABIES ARE HERE!

I know you want to see them so here they are.

Marshal Mallows (aka. Thing1)

And his little brother, as yet unnamed, Thing2

Their momma, Honey, is doing well and although I'm loosing sleep over it all, she seems to be adjusting to motherhood well. She only lost Thing2 for a few minutes because he hid himself around a corner and has kept track of them both since.

Both boys are like all young mammals, full of mischief and then full of sleep.

They were born mid afternoon on the 15th and I got sunburned sitting outside making sure Honey was safe and cared for. Star knew what was happening and between checking in with Honey and coming to me for petting and then leaving again to crunch on some nearby vegetation, she was pacing like a father in a 1950s movie maternity ward waiting room.

Once the babies came she seemed giddy to see them! I was so happy about that because I was a bit worried she'd either shun or steal them but she seems happy to be an auntie.

The chickens have been surprisingly polite about the whole business and I figure they just didn't want to risk a kick from an angry momma.

Speaking of chickens, we have a broody hen sitting on eggs!

That's right, Ms.Marsha has decided she wants to be a momma too.

Now there's a reason they say don't count your chickens before they've hatched! It's quite possible for her to just get up and walk away half-way through and then that's it for the eggs... And it's possible for some to just not make it through the first few days... That said, I am looking forward to learning from this experience, and I'm hoping she makes an excellent mother to them.

Assuming all goes well, the eggs should hatch in the first week of June!

We weren't planning on chicks because without a hen who is willing to go broody, then you need an incubator for the eggs, and a brooder for the chicks, and a grow out area for the too-big-for-the-brooder but too-small-to-join-the-flock youngsters... it's just not in the budget money, time, or effort wise.

With a momma hen I don't have to fuss with any of that. All I have to do is give her a nice dark place to sit on her eggs, and make sure I have some chick feed available in a safe place when the babies need it. (They're too small to eat the big pellets the adults do.) It's her job to make sure they stay the right temperature and her job to make sure they don't bother the other chickens.

In Other News:

I had ordered potatoes, asparagus, and onions last year (they hold them until planting time and then ship) and on the way here, the box got dropped in a rain-barrel or something because when I got it at the post office, it was wrapped in plastic and half of it was soggy!

I wrote to WestCoastSeeds to let them know that the shipment was a mess. The potatoes have sprouted but still seem plantable, the onions have sprouted and rotted (O-M-G did that stink!), and the asparagus crowns are covered in mould.... ick.

They refunded the onions and asparagus since they couldn't replace them so I'll just have to try to get them again another year. The asparagus was gonna be purple. The onions were fancy multiplier onions that make more bulbs without having to fuss with seeds (kinda like how crocuses or garlic does). 

I'd pout but it wouldn't do any good.

We're still looking into a replacement for the truck. We've decided on something but are currently looking into logistics. When everything big is 1-3 hours away, it's hard to convince people to deliver, but Hugslut can't really drive up in one car and drive back in two.