Relaxing Weekend

I made some progress this weekend, even though the weather is still not quite cooperating.  I sorted eggs and loaded the incubator with 41 of them, due to hatch March 23 (give or take a day).  And because I had so many eggs laying around (no pun there) I decided to make a lovely frittata sort of thing for my breakfast.  And that turned out to be a very good decision.

 

 

Then, I had to butcher a young rooster, who was approaching his 6 month birthday.

I also made some soup for my work lunches for the week.  How productive is that? 

I hope you all have a lovely week, ~A

Farm Updates, and Good-bye February!

Its been kind of a typical week on the farm.  

I wormed the goat.  This is the first time she's ever been wormed. This month she turned one year old, so I thought it was time. The wormer came in a small bucket in pelleted form, which to my surprise she promptly devoured.  No problem there. And it's not like her to ever turn down a meal.

I walked the property and checked the fence lines.  Everything was secure. I thought about casting a line into the pond and trying for a fish or two.  But it was too cold out. Then I headed back up to the house and inspected the garden.  The garlic that I planted this past October has already sprouted, and so has the wild garlic on the southwest side of the house. 

I cleaned horse stalls, then visited a huge antique store on Saturday. I'd hoped to find an antique chicken egg basket.  I didn't find one, and so I didn't buy anything.

I stopped at an Amish lumber mill and checked pricing on bundles of slab wood.  I want to heat the house with firewood next season.  It's hard to start thinking about winter, when it still is winter, but now is the time to begin putting up wood so that it will be seasoned and ready to burn in December. The bundled slabs cost $15 each.  A great deal.  However, you have to hire a special truck to deliver them.  I still need to find out what the driver will charge.  Then, somehow, they have to be unloaded. The bundles are long, about seven to nine feet long.

I got a chance to look through some recent seed catalogs that came in the mail, and imagined what trees and vegetables I would like to plant this year.

I've taken the horses off the main pasture for the next three months to give it a break and a chance to grow some nice spring grass.  They'll only have access to a smaller, round paddock for the time being. Tomorrow one of the thoroughbreds will be shipped to Kentucky for spring training. 

And last, the 21 eggs I put into the incubator February 10th are due to hatch this Sunday.  This morning I moved them from the tray that automatically turns them throughout the day, to the floor of the incubator where they will lie flat until they hatch. 

They won't be turned anymore now, and this allows the chick time to position itself to hatch.  I covered the wire mesh floor of the incubator with cheese cloth.  I discovered that is makes clean-up a lot easier after the hatching is done.

Two of the eggs felt strange, and lighter than the others. So just for curiosity, I penciled an "X" on them so I would know if they did'nt hatch for some reason. Heck, they may be the only ones to hatch, you never know.  But wait! Stay tuned. Because we will know sometime around Sunday.

Let's Make Chickens!

Spring is on its way. Spring makes me think of Easter, and Easter makes me think of eggs.  And, well, eggs make me think it's time to hatch chickens.  Honestly, I admit, I'm really only thinking of hatching chicks because number one, I get a really big kick out of it! And number two, our flock is getting low.  Many chickens were invited to dinner over the winter months, and it's time to start succession planning.   In fact, I took inventory over the weekend and the count stands at five roosters and twenty-two hens (and two Pekin ducks).  Too many roosters for sure, but I haven't yet decided who's on the guest list for dinner.

So I pulled out my incubator, sanitized it, and loaded with twenty-one fresh eggs.

All of these eggs should be fertile. Four of my roosters are mating age.  They consist of a Turken (or "Naked Neck" if you prefer), a Black Copper Marans, and two others, which are a Black Copper Marans and Buff Brahma Bantam cross. The fifth little guy is also a Turken, but too young to mate.

The hatchlings from this new batch will be from any of the above fathers; and either a Turken, Buff Brahma Bantam, or Black Australorp mother. What a neat mix! I love suprises. And if we count twenty-one days from the date of incubation (February 10th), this should put us at a hatch date of about March 3rd.

A few tips I have read to ensure a successful hatch...

• Ideal pre-incubation storage temperature of 55 degrees and 75% relative humidity (I failed here, I like to keep my house a bit warmer than that.)
• Eggs should be turned daily and placed in the incubator within 4-7 days (did that)
• Store eggs with the pointed end down (yep - got it)
• A two week storage reduces the hatchability rate to 50% (these were only stored for 3 days)
• At three weeks, the chance of hatchability is nearly at zero (no chance any egg would last that long in my house)
• Run your incubator for 24 hours prior to placing the eggs in it to assure correct temperature is maintained. (did that)
• Warm your eggs at room temperature before placing them in the incubator to avoid condensation on the egg shell, which could lead to bacteria and disease (no problem there)
• Use only clean eggs. Do not wash and use eggs that were dirty. If you remove the bloom (the invisible barrier on the outside of the shell) you increase the chance of the egg not hatching, or hatching out a sick or deformed chick. (no dirty eggs here!)



I wonder how many will hatch?