Sounds on the Farm

Okay folks, go with me here…..

Doggie says: Bow Wow

Kitty says: Meow

Turkey says: Gobble Gobble

Sydney walks: Hobble Hobble

Chickens say: Cluck cluck

Crow says: Caw caw

Chicks (if we had them) say: Peep Peep

Mule says: Beep beep!

Riddle Me This

So what do you get when you cross this...

James the Rooster

He's a Buff Orpington

Studly man keeping watch over his 11 women

with this?

This is Alice. She is the only original chicken we have left.

She is an Australorp, a very consistent laying hen.

You get these!

Baby #2, born May 15

Baby #1, born May 2nd

Another photo of Baby #1. We keep calling her 'she' so that she remembers to be a girl. Or else...

Just Look at them Chicks!

I haven't showed you the babies for awhile. Here they are!

Trudy and her babies

The five that were incubator hatched

And in anticipation of adding the chicks to the main flock (not for a few more months), we incorporated the newer chickens we got (who of course, aren't laying.... ugh!) into the main flock. One of the new ones is on the left... the others are James and good ol' Alice. So far, all is well!

Happy Monday!

So life on the farm continues...

There are four chicks that hatched. I am really happy about the black one - that is Alice's daughter (or son, but I am optimistic and think 'hen'). Alice is the original hen that was given to us a year ago. She's a trouper, has been through a lot and is a consistent layer. That's what I want, bravery and consistency.

Going under Mama to keep warm

Do you see the little chick's feet?

It's interesting to see Trudy's body language - she has gone from sitting flat (when she was keeping the eggs warm), to squatting. She is keeping these little chicks warm, but isn't squishing them.

She's teaching them how to eat and drink.

And on the other end of the spectrum, we have turkeys. Wild turkeys all around us. There is one mama who is showing her babies around the farm. I think we have counted 8 turkey chicks. They hid really well in the tall brown weeds we have all over. I don't get to close as I don't want to scare her. I like that the babies around here. And here is a different pair.

What a beautiful bird he is. When he puffs out his feathers like this, there is a sound like a drum that accompanies it. It comes from his chest. Quite interesting.

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

. . . . . . . . . .

The real story

When people think of farms and growing things, visions of green hillsides, freshly painted barns, happy cows and clothes hanging from the clothesline come to mind. Oh how wrong that is. My friend and mentor says that farming is more about death than life. She is right.

So here's the real story on the chicks. They died. Yes, chicks - plural. The first one to hatch, the blonde, died within 24 hours. The second one died about 48 hours after it hatched.

Why? They were in the egg too long and were weak. Both could not hold their heads up. They couldn't walk. We were told that we needed to put them out of their misery. Drowning would be the kindest way to do it. But you know what? We couldn't do it. We just couldn't. Does that mean we are cruel? I don't know. You can be the judge of that. We brought them to water and let them drink, tried to have them eat, kept them warm. We talked to them. But in the end, they died.

We spoke with the Lovey's Gentleman Farmer friend. He said that the temperature in the incubator was too low. I was really mad to hear that. Of course I had set the incubator at the correct temperature! But then I had a light bulb moment. Was the temperature calibration on the incubator correct? We checked. It was not. I had set the temperature for 99.6F, but the internal temperature was 95.4F. That is a HUGE difference when hatching eggs. No wonder five didn't hatch and the other hatched at day 24 and 25 (instead of Day 21). Bad bad bad bad.

So what do we do? Quit?!? One thing about farming - you have to have hope. Stick a seed in the ground, water and watch it grow. Nature fights to live. So we've re-calibrated the unit and are trying again. That's what farmers do. We keep going.

Shock

One egg. Just one. One is starting to hatch. But we're not out of the woods.

From what I have read, if chicks are this late in hatching (at Day 23), they are usually pretty weak. We will see if it can get out of it's shell. 

Torture I tell you. I want to get in there and help this little guy. It's killing me.

Here's a brief video. At about 0:50 seconds, you'll hear peeping. Let's get some cheers of encouragement going for this struggling little bird!