Watching a Chicken Hatch

We got to watch the most amazing thing a couple weeks ago...

A baby chick hatching out of it's shell!

It's a struggle.

 But that struggle is what gives it the strength to live outside the shell.

It was inside an incubator on our son's farm,

where it had all the warmth it needed.

It pecked and pecked and pecked and then....

it finally broke free!

For a few seconds it stayed all coiled up in a little ball.

But then before long, it stretched out.

And it was immediately hard to believe it had been inside that egg!

Talk about CRAMPED quarters!

No wonder it was desperate to get out!

In a day or two, it had dried and fluffed out it's feathers.

How cute is that?

Pretty cute!

A Quiet 4th of July

Happy 4th of July!

It's quiet here today. Brian & Jessica decided not to make the trip home to WV since they are going to the beach for a few days soon with Brian's family.

Kevin & Katie are spending the day with her family in PA.

George was supposed to have the day off, but ended up working a double!

We planned to go to fireworks last night at Oglebay Park in Wheeling, but those plans fell through.

George & I had hoped to go to our favorite fireworks show tonight in downtown Wheeling, but as I said, he's now working. And besides that, it's raining. And thundering.

I did grill some burgers for our lunch before he left for work, but I burned the burgers. We were able to salvage them, but they weren't the best we've ever had by any stretch of the imagination.

Does it sound like I'm complaining? I'm really not. We've had lots of great 4th of July celebrations in the past, and Lord willing, there will be more to come in the future. And I'm truly thankful to be living in this great nation, today and every other day of the year.

So, for this year, at our house, the chickens ended up with the biggest celebration. Any day they get watermelon is a day to celebrate!

And we still may get to see fireworks for the 4th. They are supposed to have them this Sunday night in Moundsville. Though I'm not entirely sure that will happen either. The fairgrounds there along with the surrounding areas had some severe flash flooding a couple nights ago. A baseball tournament had to be cancelled at the last minute. So maybe there will be fireworks, and maybe there won't.

But if there is, Kevin and Katie would appreciate it. It's not every one who gets to see fireworks for their first anniversary!

January thus far

Time has flown by! What have we been up to lately? Well, at home, there's new baby goats....

  

How sweet is that?

Last years babies are very curious about this years babies.

Mama is not impressed.

 

This little one got away from Mama just long enough to extend 

a friendly foot greeting. But don't let this cute scene fool you!

Her foot pulled back very quickly when the bigger goat tried to 

butt her through the fence! There's a reason Mama is so protective!

The cows  have had to be moved a couple times, 

and this past Sunday, we had to separate them, and take 3 to market. 

That turned out to be quite a challenge!

We'll be making some changes before the next ones go.

Lessons learned.

The chickens are not impressed with snow.

They were very glad on this particular day to get out of the coop. 

They made their way to the goat barn, where they love to look

for any bits of grain the goats overlooked.

We had a break in the weather and spent a couple days splitting firewood. I overdid it, and that resulted in several days of an aching back. Several orders for the store came in during that time, so I spent a few days on the couch, unpacking boxes and pricing new inventory. Our living room was total chaos! But it's all in the store now, neatly on display, and I can walk through my living room again. Yay!

My absolute favorite thing to do in January is the end of the year paperwork in preparation for taxes. NOT! A necessary, time-consuming evil.

Another evil that popped up was this:

 

On of our front display windows at the store. We can't prove it, but we and the police feel sure it was a drunk who was mad about who knows what. The whole window was shattered. The cost to us? $1000 that I had set aside for new inventory. Sigh.

On a happier note, I've been doing some crafting, but last night I decided to take a break from that and do some organizing. I'll finish that up today - not a bad job right now. It's nice and toasty in my studio by the woodstove, and it's single digits and teens outside!

I hope you all have avoided the flu! So far, so good here. We all had flu shots, so we have our fingers and toes crossed that we're protected. 

Keep warm!

Country Life = Need some eggs?

If you walk toward the back of the store, you'll see this.....

We knew Jessica's college refrigerator would come in handy again!

Once you're closer, you can read the sign on the front...

Feel free to open the fridge, where you'll see this...

Eggs from our own chickens!

And what color would they be?

They would be brown...

You may ask why they don't sit "just so" in the carton.

That's because they aren't all uniform in size

like you find in the grocery store.

Now that we have our own, we question why they

 always look so perfect in the grocery store!

Maybe a little too perfect.

The eggs we sell are only a few days old at the most.

We are truly selling FRESH eggs!

Wonder how old they are before they reach the grocery store?

We sell them for $2.00 a dozen.

Thanks girls!

Oh, by the way...

how many eggs do you think we get each day?

Usually 23 - 25!

From 29 hens!

29 very busy hens!

If you have any egg cartons laying around,

we'd love to have them!

Fresh eggs. And I do mean fresh!

I'm supposed to be painting pumpkins right now. I had lots painted, and was going to get pictures of them in the shop to post here. But, they sold before I got the picture, so I'm painting more to replenish. Well, to be honest, I've spent the last hour in the chicken coop. Fascinating creatures they are!

I walked in the coop, and saw these 2 hens trying to use the same nesting box.

The line was forming.

 The clucking was getting louder.

The urge was upon them!

It was time to lay an egg, even if there was no more room in the inn!

Ok, this was getting ridiculous.

We have a 3 story inn, they were only using the ground floor.

So, when the second one would get in with the first one,

I'l gently pick up the second one, and move her to the second floor.

Now girls, isn't that better?

A bit more relaxing?

My helper seemed to think so.

I noticed one hen start gently convulsing............

Then I was very excited to see the egg come out!

How cool is that!

I only saw the one come out, but others did lay while I was there.

Oh, the funny shaped eggs are golf balls.

Since these are young hens, just learning the ropes,

the golf ball helps them get the idea.

It's comic to watch them jump in the nest,

and gently move the golf ball around before they lay on it.

"hmmm, I bet I can do that too!"

Every day, we find one egg on the floor in the corner.

I discovered today who the culprit is....

   

I so wanted to see her lay her egg since she had her backside toward me.

I had the camera pointed at her, and knelt on the floor

till my legs about went to sleep.

I finally gave up, and went outside for a couple minutes.

When I stepped back inside, there it was...

I had just missed it. Oh well.

It's so neat to pick up the eggs just after they've been laid.

So warm in your hand!

We're getting about 13 to 18 eggs a day now.

 If you're interested in fresh eggs, let me know.

We're selling them for $2.00 a dozen.

And the chicken layed an egg

Our chickens are supposed to start laying eggs around September. That's what the book said.

A couple weeks ago, the hens started making some new, suspicious sounding clucks. "They are going to start laying soon". That's what George said.

So, one evening, he and Kevin got the nesting boxes ready. A little hay in each one, and a golf ball. The golf balls are meant to give them the idea. No idea if that really works. That's what the book said.

Yesterday morning while I was at work, I got a phone call. "I fed the chickens, gave them fresh water and gathered the eggs". That's what George said.

Yep, 2 little brown pullet eggs. (Pullets are teenage chickens so to speak)

We didn't know how long they had been there in the sweltering heat, so we won't be eating them. But we sure have admired them!!!

Last night, we went down to check again, and we found 2 more........

As you can see, they are about the same size as the golf ball. How cute is that!

As of last night, the chickens all seemed to be sharing the same box, none of the others had been disturbed. But this morning, it looked like the entire bottom row has been checked out.

We're going to put a little ledge along the top 2 rows to make it easier for them to get into them. We have watched them fly up to their roosts enough times to know they aren't the most graceful creatures.

 Let's just say their aim isn't that great.

"If I had a ledge to land on, I could fly up to it, then step gently inside a box instead of flying up and whacking my head on the side of it". That's what the chicken said.

Teenage Chickens

Remember our little baby peeps?

And their introduction to the coop?

Well, they are teenage pullets now - they grew so fast! 

Their world has expanded again, into a run built outside the coop.

When their little door is opened in the morning, there's a mad dash down the ramp.

Once the first bunch gets out of the way, the stragglers start their descent.

They take their time, enjoying the smell of the fresh air.

One stays behind, not quite ready to start the day.

Waiting perhaps on a second cup of coffee.

(Just kidding)

There's so much to do!

Grass to be plucked.

Bugs to be pecked.

Ramps to be walked down.

Ramps to be walked up.

And, holes to stick your head through..............

Let me tell you, if you get tired of sitting on the couch watching TV, get some chickens.

I didn't particularly want to get chickens, but I admit, they are highly entertaining!

I like to watch them as they go about their business of the day.

And they seem to feel the same about us, they don't miss a thing we do.

I thought I'd be sneaky and take some pictures from their little door.

But they don't miss a trick.

"Hey! What are you doing in our door?"

Oh! I almost forgot - one day one of the girls started crowing.

As in cock-a-doodle-dooing.

Uh-Oh. They were supposed to all be girls.

It turns out you can't assume that a young chicken is a boy if it crows.

Some young hens aren't satisfied just to cluck, & will experiment with crowing.

We read that around 3 or 4 months old, we should know for sure.

Oh boy. No boys allowed.

This could get interesting.

Baby Peeps Introductions

Remember these little guys.....oops - I mean girls?



That was 4 weeks ago. You can read about the day Kevin and Jessica brought them home here. Let me tell you, spring peeps turn VERY quickly into spring chickens! They have grown faster than bad weeds, and this past weekend, they moved from a big tub in Kevin's basement and got introduced to their permanent home - the brand new coop.

They have lots of room now to spread out, test their wings, peck on new things.

Ummm....girls.... you can spread out now.
Guess they still have that 'bird's of a feather flock together' thing going strong.

They also got introduced to Billy.

Yep, we'll be keeping chicken wire between cat and bird.
Although truth be told, Billy isn't too awfully interested in them.
He's a great hunter, he can catch birds and mice with the best of them.
But, he seems to be a little intimidated by 40 peeping chicks who are growing by leaps & bounds.

The first evening they were in the coop, they were just a little skittish around us strange humans, but they quickly got over that once they discovered the ultimate toy...........shoe strings.

Good thing I had on old shoes and old jeans. Once one found my shoestrings, the others quickly joined in on the fun.

They had my shoes untied in no time!

How do I train them to tie my shoes back up?

Jessica hadn't seen them in person since the weekend she and Kevin brought them home. She had to go back to her life in the big city. But Easter brought her home to the country again, and she wasted no time getting reacquainted.

We've got to get that girl back to her country roots more often!