Baby Chicks Alert -- It's Henrietta Plus 12

Move over, 'Kate plus 8'! Within mere days, Henrietta, my Barred Rock hen, will soon be Mama hen to twelve little chicks.

I only mention 'Kate plus 8' because a friend at work was relating the story and recent events on that TV program, some sort of reality show, I gathered. My friend said that on the show, Kate had a chicken house built on her rural acreage and bought a flock of chickens. Kind of wish I'd seen it, but don't presently have a TV (there are pros and cons to being "out of the loop"). This event should make raising chickens even more popular! Guess her eight kids had a great time feeding the hens and gathering the eggs.

And, speaking of the popularity of raising chickens, I discovered there's actually a shortage of the most popular baby chicks at several of the major hatcheries. Most hatcheries advertise that they have chicks available well into September, but when I called to order, a whopping five of my favorite hatcheries told me they'd been sold out for some breeds in late June. Wow! Can't believe my longtime hobby is finally being well received, at least in some quarters.

I'm keeping a close eye on Henrietta, especially since the recent war with the raccoon. She's a member of Radio Flyer's little harem and some of the eggs she's incubating actually belong to his other mistress, Lily, a Black Sumatra hen. Are you having trouble keeping up? Sounds like a soap opera, doesn't it?

Will keep you posted on the goings on of my chicken family (plus five geese, a dog, cat, and rabbit), and will take pictures and video to share, assuming I'm not too much of a technical dunce to make that happen. The learning curves just keep coming.

On Fathers Day, I mentioned adopting a new puppy. Her name is Ellie, and a trip to the Vet today confirmed that she's a healthy girl -- a black Newfoundland. She's really good with my chickens, and when she grows up will probably be very protective of them.