The Battles between the Mama Hen and Mama Duck

I am having quite a struggle this year. I have raised chickens for over 30 years and never had the problems of this year. LOL It seems like all my barred rocks have decided they want to be mamas. Ok, that is fine by me, but they all want to share the same nest.

I tried to check under them and they all bristled up and started growling. Hmmm, not sticking my hand in there. I figured it would be a group attack and I would pull back with a bloody arm. I have 6 barred rock hens and 2 buff orpingtons. Well, 5 bars and one buff are broody. That leaves me with 2 hens. One of them is a bar who already went broody and raised one chick. Of all the luck. It is another rooster. I was hoping for a pullet. Anyway, I think the hens steal all the eggs that are laid, so who knows what kind of mess they are setting on. (Big Sigh)

This isn't my only problem this year. I have a rouen duck who went broody about 3 weeks ago. I was so happy. She was so mean that I have left her alone. Yesterday when I peaked in to check, she was off her nest and a barred rock was setting on it. What?

I also have a khaki campbell setting in the corner. See her trying to protect her nest. Well, I wasn't sure what to do about this situation, so I asked Kevin. The rouen duck was mad as the dickens and being very vocal about it too, I might add.

Kevin got the bar off the nest so the rouen could go back. I chased the bar back into her coop and thought everything was ok. NOT! This morning, I decided to let the ducks out first so the rouen could get something to eat and drink and get back on her nest before I turned the chickens out. Somehow that bar figured out how to get out of her coop and dag gone it, she took over the nest again. Kevin caught her and locked her back in the chicken pen. You guessed it. About 1/2 hour later I checked. There she was again with a very upset Rouen pacing the shed. I chased her off again. (Another Big Sigh)  Of course, she is back on the nest and I have given up. I guess she wants to be a mama of ducklings. I put another nest box right beside this one with some chicken eggs in it. I hope that one of them will just decide to set in the new box. I figure I could possibly end up with a mama chicken and ducklings and a mama duck and chicks. Never dull around here. LOL

Now on to the crafting front. I think I really have my mojo back I am working away on a bunch of projects that I had started and not finished. I am thinking about dedicating the rest of the year to getting things finished.  I am on the last 2 blocks of Promises and Borders and Thoughts in Thread. I have half the blocks pieced for my TATW (trip around the world) quilt.  I am ready to finish Hello Sun. I have more projects bouncing around in my head than I have time to work on. LOL I am also hand quilting Shadowy Stars. It was a quilt along of Judy Laquidara that I did back in 2010. Time to get it done. I am loving this quilt.

This is my hoop all ready for hand quilting. I am on block 4 so far.

Here is the first set of TATW blocks. They aren't hard, but you have to be on your toes to keep the squares in the right order. LOL My ripper has become my best friend. I am  hoping my fabric choices will have enough contrast.

I quickly followed a tutorial for a sewing machine cover last week. It was so easy and made up in a couple of hours. I found the tutorial on Ros's blog. I used a charm pack that I bought on clearance from Connecting Threads a couple of years ago, left over batting and backing from mom's quilt for the lining and batting, and leftover binding from Kevin's lap quilt. So this cover probably cost me less than $2 and about 2 hours work. Doesn't get much better than that. LOL

Well, this is Monday and my normal big clean day on the house, so I need to get with it. I am going to do a bit more rearranging. Trying to utilize my space to the max. (grin) Thank you for visiting. Please come again.