As if I didn’t have enough going on we had a tree go down over night. It just missed the tractor.
All the chicks are now hatched from the incubator that are going to hatch. Very low percentage of success this time around. I had a hard time maintaining a constant temperature. It never got off to much but maybe enough to prevent a good hatch. We ended up with two turkey chicks. Praying they are hens because Lisa is already making pets out of them. We also got five easter egg chicks from blue eggs. There is still 3 goose eggs in the incubator that I don’t think will do anything but I will give them a few more days just in case. Goose eggs take a few more days and since the temp was bouncing around it might even take them longer than normal. Everything else was a day or so off.
We fought to save one little turkey chick but lost that battle. It had trouble freeing itself from the shell and never stood up even when we were hand feeding it medicated water. It finally lost it battle some time after 11:00 last night. I was staying up late to feed it and Lisa was getting up a couple times at night and even took it to work so she could feed it over the last couple days. Most wouldn’t have spent that much effort for one chick but if nothing else we can honestly say that everything gets a fighting chance on the farm. Most of the time at the expense of money, time and sleep. I feel like a zombie today. I’ll be calling it an early night tonight.
The puppies are growing fast. All are spoken for except for two white males and one gray male and someone is interested in two of them. Born on March 19th they all will be ready to go to to new homes after the first week in May.
We don’t need another dog but have decided to keep one of the gray males. His name will be Teddy. We took him for a visit and he got to play in the grass for the first time. He dove into it and swam through it like it was water.
Last Saturday, April 14th, Rosie gave us a little heifer calf. I knew she was due any day and last Friday right at dark I saw her heading for the back of the property when everyone else was coming to the barn. Saturday morning I found them safe and healthy.
We got some unusual eggs from the hens last week. One was from a very young hen and was not much bigger than a nickel if that. The other didn’t have a shell.
Here is a good picture of Mike next to the water tank. He is a good bull. We got lucky with him. If Bobbie Jo has a heifer in another month Mike will have sired four heifers and two bulls in two years. I’ll take anything 50% or better any day. The fact that he is also nice doesn’t hurt either. I’ve never been afraid of him. I don’t let my guard down either because he could still hurt me if he ever took a mind to. At which point he would probably be burger.
A hen with nine chicks helping me milk. Olive spills a lot and they clean up.
