Chick pics

I have named the new chick Baby.  Baby and Goldie, her/his mom, are inseparable.  I know there is danger out there, letting Baby run around in the midst of the big chickens.  They can be mean.  But I trust Goldie to watch out for her baby.  I know that they are both happy, doing their chicken thing.  Goldie has gone broody repeatedly, and it is obvious that she is a Super Mom.  I'm glad I let her set, even though there is only one little chick to show for it.  :)

Here are some pics, from the birth of the two chicks (the little one didn't make it) to several of Goldie scratching in the dirt to find food for her and her babe.

The new chick

The chick that was injured at birth didn't make it.  The remaining chick is healthy.  It too fell out (or jumped out) of the nest at birth, but was running around on the floor. I immediately put chick and mom in a box with VERY deep sides. 

Today when I got home, mother and chick were running around the chicken yard!  They had run out of water, so my guess is they went looking for more.  I have no idea how that chick could have gotten out of the box - unless, of course, it is a Campine.  Only a Campine, barely a week old with wings that are not even 2" long could pull off getting out of a box that is at least 15" deep!  Yup, I am quite convinced I have a full-blooded Campine, which makes me very happy.  I hope it is a pullet, but I'll take another rooster.  Buster and Tiny could use some company.

I will get pictures soon.  Just so busy with the garden right now!  It is in full swing.  Picking took a good two hours this afternoon, and the bins are overflowing with cukes, zukes, peppers (both sweet and hot), melons and tomatoes.  The people in my CSA are going to be very happy indeed with their boxes of produce tomorrow!!

This winter . . .

After a brutally hot summer that is still going on, I am listening to the sound of the deer hunters unloading wood for the winter.  The deal is, they keep me in firewood in exchange for exclusive hunting rights here on the farm.  We are both happy with the arrangement.

It is hard to heat a house with wood.  I come home on a cold day and no matter how carefully I banked the fires before I left, the house is chilly.  There is no speedy heat recovery with wood stoves.  I have two, a big cast iron one in the lower level family room and a small soapstone stove in my bedroom on the main floor.  They keep the house toasty warm, but as I said, it is work.  I keep a wood box by the stove in the bedroom.  The wood is stacked outside near the door into the family room.  I carry armloads of wood from there to the bedroom, up sixteen steps, and last winter it was with a bum knee.  The knee has been fixed, but now I have found out the shoulder pain is serious.  I have a torn rotator cuff.  How will I manage carrying wood upstairs?  During my recovery from the surgery, it will be out of the question.

Sometimes I tell myself that it is silly to heat with wood.  I have a very efficient heat pump.  But the heat is just not the same.  I have talked to other people who heat with wood, and they will tell you the same thing.  They want their wood stoves burning, they want to feel the special heat that wood fires bring to a house on a cold and blustery day.

All of this is leading up to something I want to share with you -- my farm is for sale.  Farm land is selling at a premium right now, and while the housing market is heating up a bit, houses are still depressed.  So it is the perfect time to sell the farm and move back into town.  Financially it makes a lot of sense.  And as you can see from this post, my body is wearing out.  Now if I could live out here and become uninvolved in the physical activity of farming, maybe I could stay.  But this morning, there was a cow out, wandering down the lane as I left for market.  I guess I could have just keep moving - after all, Androo was here and I could have called him to take care of it.  But instead, I got past Sweetie Pie and turned the car so that she wouldn't continue down the drive, then called Androo who came from the other direction in the golf cart, and between the two of us we got her back in.  As I said, I have a hard time staying uninvolved!

I have no idea how fast the farm will sell.  I have such mixed feelings about moving from here that I really don't care.  I will let the market tell me whether I go or stay this fall.  However, as I listen to the sound of the wood getting piled up, I am thinking that I could stand a vacation from loading fireboxes several times a day.  Whatever happens, it will be okay.  I will adapt. 

If the place sells quickly, I will have more time to write -- until my memory runs out of farm stories.

Chick update

The third egg did not yield a chick.  And now one of the four due to hatch August 7 is gone.  So there is a chance for three more chicks in August.

This whole process is not something you do for profit - only for fun.  My friend Misty has a separate coop for brooding hens, and I can see why.  I am sure the percentage of chicks to eggs would be much greater under those circumstances. 

Last year, out of 21 eggs there were four chicks.  And three of those were roosters!  The value of those eggs was nearly $8, and I can buy a three-day-old pullet for $3.  Like I said, this is not for profit, just for fun.

I just came in from seeing the little ones again.  They are very tame and enjoy being held.  I'll be bringing them in the house and putting them in a box in the atrium very soon.  Right now, every time I put out some feed Goldie takes it, so I know they will have to be separated soon.  In the meantime, I am happy to see them cuddled under their mama's wings.

They've arrived!

I counted the days wrong - eggs went under Goldie on July 7, and I added 21 days.  But I should have counted the 7th as a day!

I put eight eggs, dated, under Goldie and hoped for the best.  It was the second time she went broody.  The first time, a raccoon got into the Moop and ate all of her eggs.  I thought it was the other chickens, but it was a raccoon, who was living inside the engine cover.  That is a whole other story, for another day.

Anyway, when I got home from market today and went out to pick up eggs, I heard this plaintive peeping.  I looked around and found one chick in very bad shape on the floor.  It had fallen out of the nest, and it looks as though one of the other hens may have picked at its neck.  But it is still alive.  I put it with Goldie and continued to hunt for the source of the peeping.  At last!  There it was!! And it is a Campine!  :)  :)  :)  I put it with mama, then went to the house for a big, deep box.

There were only three eggs remaining with 7-7 marked on them.  Clay found an egg on the floor one day.  Then I found a few more on subsequent days.  Here is how it has been going down.  Miss Blue, who lays blue eggs, was apparently getting in the nest when Goldie would make her occasional trip to the water and food.  She would throw an egg on the floor and then lay one of her blue eggs in the nest as a replacement.  What a bitch!

When I was down to only four eggs marked 7-7 (one of them was blue), I pulled four more eggs from other nests and marked them 7-18.  So these four eggs are now due to hatch on August 7th. 

By yesterday, there were only three eggs left marked 7-7, the blue one also gone.  But Miss Blue had dropped a fresh blue egg in the nest.  Sorry, honey, you should have left well enough alone. 

Here are the pics.  One is starting to crack, so that means it has a chick in it also.  What a miracle that all three remaining eggs were fertile!  I just checked them again.  The little one is walking around and peeping.  I think it will be okay with some TLC.  The egg is still sitting there, no chick emerging yet.  Was hoping to get a pic of it, but I'm leaving here in about a half hour, so it had better hurry.

The chick has cracked the shell.

This little one is not in good shape.  :(

This appears to be full-blooded Campine

All three in one pic

The healthiest, a Campine

The Campine

The Campine

Mama Goldie with both chicks

Little lost Beau

This morning Buttercup was standing in a walkway crying.  I looked for her calf and knew immediately what the problem was.  Beau had disappeared.  About the time I went out to let her loose to look for the calf, Luis showed up to milk.  Since I am not supposed to be walking in the pastures with my new knee, I let him open the gates so that she could tell us where the calf was. 

In short order, mom and son were reunited.  Here are some pics of them rejoining the herd. 

Are they laying?

I got the new batch of pullets in March.  I wasn't expecting any eggs from them until August.  Yesterday I got a small egg.  Is it just a fluke?  Every now and then, the mature hens will lay a teeny tiny egg, but I don't remember ever getting anything but white (Campine) eggs in size XXS.  I am hoping that my new girls are starting to lay. 

Here is a pic of two eggs from the mature hens, plus the little tan egg I got yesterday.  Is this the start of something big?