Dog training - Benelli

 Over the last couple years, our pup Willow had some puppies. She actually had 20 puppies in two years. That's an insane amount of puppies. We had kept a pup out of the last batch but unfortunately, Mango had a farm accident and we were heartbroken. 

Originally, I had said to wait until fall to get a dog because I absolutely did not want to drag a dog everywhere. 

Obviously I immediately found us a puppy. Obviously. 

She is a Springer Spaniel/Chesapeake lab x. This is new to us since we've only had labs and then Lab/Poodle. I had messaged Corey about it and he was like ... yeah sounds good. So the kids and I went to get her. She was WAY smaller than I was expecting. And ADORABLE. And stinking cute. 

She came with us to the lake and was sweet and pretty potty trained - for the most part. My memory is kinda fuzzy on some aspects (trauma block probably). She came with us in the boat everywhere too. We soon discovered she had an umbilical hernia but we were already in love with her so it was monitored. It has actually almost completely gone away so it'll be repaired when she's spayed if it's still there. 

Fast forward to the fall. I forgot how hard it is to train bird dogs to not bring you the birds that live in the yard. Benelli is an excellent bird dog. And rabbit dog. We have done ALL things and her obedience on leash is perfect. The moment she senses freedom though ... that girl is like ... I will retrieve all the things for you - dead or alive. 

Now, we have even tried TWO separate shock collars and ... I kinda think she likes it. Here's how that went. 

I got the new shock collar and put it on because we thought the other one just didn't work properly for her. We got it on nice and snug and then tried the 'buzzer/bell' sound. She would look at us. Perfect. Tried the vibration. She didn't like that. Perfect. Okay let's get outside. 

Mistake #1: should have kept her on the leash. 

She immediately takes off. So I use all my commands and when that doesn't work, I send the sound to her. Nada. She keeps running around. Okay I do the vibrate. That makes her a little uncomfortable but absolutely not enough to stop. I turn on the shock. 

Absolutely freaking nothing. Just kidding. Not nothing. She stops and looks at me and I give her the command 'Here.' She's usually really good at that when there's nothing to chase. 

Benelli: Got it. Run around some more. 

So I raise the setting and she ignores me. You guys we got it all the way up to 30 and she was bouncing and jumping and I kinda think she liked it. 

Corey: Well ... um ... we need a new plan.

Me: Yeah we sure do. (pause a moment) dammit I think she likes it.

#awesome, #dogtrainingabirddog, #definitelyretrieves

I forgot how to be funny for a while

 It's been a really long time since I've posted here in our blog site. 

For a while, I was not funny. I was actually going through some not funny things. 

But since my last post ... there have been some major changes. 

First off, we have pigs. Maybe we had pigs before but ... now we have more. Did I tell you Wilbur died? He did. Now we have Steve, Norah, Nutless and Oink (mama pig). 

We also have meat bunnies. And pet bunnies. 

And we got a new dog, Benelli! 

So this is an update post that will preview a ton of other updates that will remind you of why you probably don't live on a farm. 

- You're welcome. 

eggs

Ah yes! When you procrastinate and suddenly have a bunch of eggs....

Busy weekend

 This weekend has been crazy busy. There is a bit of a Covid outbreak in our region and I had to reorganize work accordingly so I can be home with my kids for online learning. (This will be very interesting with rural internet). 

In other news, I have a very sick little baby turkey poult. I think it's the shavings because she hasn't been exposed to anyone or anything at all. She lives in the house since her hatch day. Poor little one has moved to 'Sick Bay' with Elian and being treated with vitamins for now until I can get other stuff. I wipe her little nose every few hours and clear out as many shavings as I can when I see them. Poor little one! I'm SO glad we switched over. 

We also found Nolan's missing chick. I have no idea where he was but today he showed up in the barn! We did not, however, find Ares and I think he got eaten. 

The meat chickens are outgrowing their brooder - quickly and I can't wait until they feather out some more so they can move outside to their outdoor coop and eventually free range with everyone else. In the past they don't really ... range ... very far. 

We have 3 external pips on the turkey eggs today but nothing on the guinea ones. I really hope they hatch! My guineas haven't laid eggs in weeks! I'm fairly certain the dogs are eating their eggs. 

Take 50

 It's been over a year since I published a post. I was just doing them on Facebook but I want to get off of there so here we are again. Take ... 50 probably. 

Since last year we have gotten turkeys and guineas. We have three turkeys - 1 Tom and 2 hens (Henry, Madison and Annette) We also have our first two turkey poults from them! (Alice and Felicita)
#Idontnamethem

My chick coop is filled with chicks growing (including many silkies and meat chicks) and we have 3 guines in the yard that randomly lay eggs whenever they want. 

I will be posting more updates here over the next while and about our shenanigans. Keep checking back!

Hydrant Shed

Today, my husband almost died. Some of it was his fault, some of it was accidental and the rest was because I almost killed him myself.

He started off by sleeping in. He wasn't out of the house for any chores until after noon. He dumped the loader for me and I then re-filled it and I finished cleaning my summer coop. Well, the chicken side. I still have to clean out the pig side but we have to take the wall down for that (that's another story). While I was shoveling, I got annoyed of him sitting in the loader and I demanded he be productive.

Now, if I could rewind this, I probably should have let him just sit in the loader. 😒

This set in motion a great many events. He made plans.

I was, at this point, blissfully unaware of his plans. I was still cleaning in the coop and tossing eggs to the pigs as the chickens laid them. (They are doing so much better already) I could hear banging and the occasional swear but paid it no heed. At one point, I went out to check on the kids and move my little chicks to the out coop. We let out the 10 week old chicks with the big chickens and just put the four smaller d'uccles in the safety coop. They loved it! I watched Corey make progress on the small building, vaguely remembering his plans for it. Meh. Moved on. 

Occasionally, he would ask me to stand on something or hold something, but it was still rather uneventful at this point. I asked him how he was going to lift it and he said something like:

Magic. 

I tried to argue but he insisted magic would work. I went into the house to get snacks for kids and then was back outside to make plans for my summer coop. 

That's when problems started. Now … he did manage to use magic to lift up the small building. Huh. Cool. Ok. No problem. Now I started to pay attention to his plans. 

They were shoddy, sketchy and relied heavily on positive thinking. I was hesitant but he's moved building before so … ok. Anyways … I made suggestions and they were ignored. Seriously thought. If I could rewind here I would have forced the issue. I was right in the end. 0_0. 

Everything was fine until he tried math. There was some insisting the building would fit until I pointed out the inside of the building is smaller than the outside. It isn't a Tardis. 

#Icouldhaveusedatardis

Once we established math, there was still arguing. Looking back, I see now I should have insisted and this next part may have been less painful. We got everything lined up, which was hard because railroad ties are super heavy. Then. He began to put it down. There was yelling here because he couldn't see me and if I was where he could see me, then I couldn't see the lineup. This resulted in many ups and downs and shouting and short tempers. But wait. There's more. 

Finally. He got out of the tractor and came over. I pointed out the problem and he set about trying to fix it and then I noticed the tractor … moving. W.T.F. I thought it was just settling but then it wsa literally moving. I screamed at Corey yanking him out of the building so he could run to the tractor but I had my arms holding the building (because I'm suddenly Hercules!) so he couldn't run across. I shoved him the other way and he was confused because certain death was that way ….

anyways. the building caught on the hydrant by the time Corey did manage to catch up to the loader and it bent it and I was losing my mind. (I was actually pretty calm-jk no.) Corey also decided to blame the universe for everything going wrong but I corrected him with a few I told you sos and if you had done it my ways … (that's what a good wife does in stressful moments - super helpful) (it's not) Corey solved the loader problem by putting a twig behind the wheel. 

How reassuring. 

Lucky for us, the hydrant still works. I really should have reconsidered his leadership here, but no … because not enough magical drama apparently. He explained to me what the next plan was. I mostly stared at him wondering how he even comes up with these plans. I then spent the next thirty minutes moving railroad ties by myself. inch by inch. I refused to let him get out of the loader. 

I'm traumatized for life. (Forever. Seriously)

But wait. There's still more … the building refused to let go of the loader, so Corey had a plan. WHYYY!!!!!???? He made me put blocks in it. Still didn't work. Don't worry he has another magical plan - he drags the biggest post I've ever seen and waves his hands around explaining his plan. Now we have the loader with no brakes and a quad with no ability to shift out of gear. 

Super fun. 

He hooks up the quad to the post thing. I point out it won't fit but he insists it will. Guess what … it didn't. Lots of craziness here and then the building is literally falling over and I'm like fuckit. Corey pushes up the building. (HAHA What?!?) I watched and then came around and between the two of us we got it to stay up (magic seriously.) and get it onto the blocks. William had to hold the brakes on the quad the whole time and I made Corey park the loader in a crevice, against some trees so it wouldn't go anywhere. 

I go into the building and I could cry. My bucket doesn't fit by the hydrant and all I wanted to scream was I TOLD YOU SO at the top of my lungs but Corey was in a different mood. He was ecstatic. The building was in place. 

I stared at him. Maybe a bucket was thrown, maybe it was 'gently tossed' maybe tears were shed because of being upset and maybe they were shed because of injury, maybe death threats were made but I mean those details are muddled up ...

Here is a summary of important things to remember: 

- the loader refuses to acknowledge the parking brake. 

- screaming at it to stop will not make it stop.

- pushing Corey to the loader while simultaneously telling him to hold the building is unproductive.

- there are not big enough railroad ties to put a building on when you have to move them by cms.

- attempting to hold the loader and prevent it from rolling backwards is not ideal.  

- bent hydrants still work 

- the quad has no ability to shift out of gear. 

- we're all alive. 

Now, if we had done this the way I had wanted to do it in the first place, nobody would have been at risk or panicking and it would be so much more useful.

#imjustsaying

My body hurts in all the places. I am barely moving this evening. I'm making the plans from now on. 

I aged 30 years today. 

1 month

I have been home for a month. I have left the yard twice. Once to get granola bars and once to get my chicken saddle. I didn't make it the second time because the roads were too muddy. It was scary at first, watching all the news reports and seeing the scary things. Now it's just peaceful and eye opening. 

I, literally, did not have enough time in my days to do the important things. I would work all day, come home, shove supper down the kids throat (if I had time) and then off to an activity. Late night work on my homework or computer stuff from work. I was always redoing schedules and responding to emails. 

Now, it's just, get up, have breakfast and get everyone set up for school. We have a nice routine. We eat together all the time. Last week, it was so nice to get so much done. Nikki learned to ride her bike, we take walks and are outside planning our garden and new chicken coop. I am hatching chicks, taking care of my chickens, and today we caught Sugar. She needs a haircut and a hoof trim. We spent an hour picking up and holding her hooves so when the farrier comes she's not a brat. She was only a brat a few times. It's been really nice and I'm grateful for our health. 

I am seeing with my own eyes where my children are needing educational support. Amélie dives into anything that involves writing and I have to drag her to math. William can understand something after one explanation, and once he gets started he can get it done. It's getting him started that can drag sometimes haha. Nikki loves seeing her friends and misses them crazy! I think she needs more facetime chats with them. I'll have to reach out and find some parents that are okay with Nikki chatting up their kids. She really enjoyed schoolwork and likes reading but I'm not 'Mme' and don't help her enough. Nolan thought he was so clever today with his circles. His planet drawing looks more like a cookie and he 'would rather not' write his name but even he likes the online learning. 

They all miss their friends though. 

In chicken news : 

Phoenix can't be out in the yard. We thought with the free ranging in full force he would be safe. His entire tail feathers were pulled out. He is with the chicks and will stay with them from now on. You know what this means?

I need another little pen. I vote the trampoline … I'm going to investigate it tomorrow. 

I also have a hen that thinks she wants to be broody. She even has a collection of eggs going, but then forgets where they are. It's really tiring so we've also moved her to the chick barn. 

Hopefully everyone in the chick barn grows quickly now because in a couple weeks we will have a lot of chicks hatching. Most of them have homes but some my not haha. We'll see after the hatch. 

My 2nd incubator has no turner so I have to turn by hand. It's time consuming because I also crammed as many eggs as possible in there. I have, since then, culled a few eggs. 

I had put fridge eggs in there, and if you buy eggs from us you can be reassured that they will not grow chicks. At least none of the ones I put in there. I had to try. 

I also have eggs from Blue AND one for SURE from Honey. I am pretty excited to see those babies as well as from a hen I know that Phoenix actually liked. 

Ok. Tomorrow. I will actually post updated pics of those 2 month old chicks. Probably. Maybe. 

Also : Nikki sang an entire song about poop and sent it to her siblings on messenger. 

I have no idea what day it is

I woke up to it snowing this morning and was immediately annoyed, but it was quiet so I took advantage of it. I pulled out my laptop and finished my final exam for my 3rd course of the year. I have one class left to finish by June 2020. I should have some time to get that done. ;)

But. The best part of this is that I will only have TWO classes and TWO practicums left before I am officially done my certificate for ECE. It will then be onto my level III classes! EEK excited! Just gotta get there.

I've also been trying to order stuff for the kids' birthdays but Amazon isn't shipping ANYTHING that isn't essential. I get it but I'm a little annoyed. I want to make each kid a 'box' of fun, crafty, unique items for them. I do have quite a bit sorted out just need to get it organized now.

My hen in the bathroom is taking a turn for the worse I think. I should have gotten to her sooner and I think I could have helped her. She is eating a bit but is moving less. :( We are sad but are still hoping for the best.

In better news, three of our four kittens have wonderful homes to go to. Disclaimer, we don't actively seek homes for our cats because our farm is perfectly happy with many cats. It's a farm, it has mice and birds and other stuff I don't want eating my chickens. We have three outside cats and two inside cats (soon to be summer outside cats) and we will be keeping Amber the calico kitten. I will now have 4 calicos and Ginger. Ginger was given to us a few years ago by Azure, along with her siblings and Julie the mama cat. I was so upset when Julie got hit on the road. :( Ginger was eating chickens last year but this year … seems to have gotten over it. Hopefully she really is over it because she's kind of nice now.

I also forgot to get updated pictures of my chicks. Tomorrow (again) I will try to do a post just about them. It's their first day in their outside run tomorrow- I'll report on that.

Nikki learned to ride her bike today. She's been working on it for a few days and I'm glad she's gotten the hang of it because I'm tired of running. 

Day 28 - RIP Auggie

It was a sad day today. Our little Auggie passed away. I realized he wasn't eating as much as he needed and he was declining quickly. He passed away in our hands and he will be buried in our garden later this spring. Summer, his little buddy from the tiny egg, was relocated to the farm with her other siblings so she doesn't have to be alone. She was quite upset at being in her brooder alone and William had to hold her most of the evening while I made arrangements for her to go somewhere else.

Speaking of chicks, the chicks that hatched are doing well! One did pass away from what I suspect was a bowel obstruction issue, but from what I've been told the rest are doing well. There was also some farm eggs hatching at another person's house. Four of those have hatched out well and they are still waiting to see if there will be more.

Incubator update : Running two incubators is more time consuming. One of them is requiring hand-turning so I've been planning that about three times a day. At first I was turning every single egg, but then I imagined what a hen would do and I gently run my hands down each row and they kind of roll a little. (shrug) We will see what happens with that. There are over 50 eggs in that incubator. In the other one, with the turner, there are 17 bantam eggs (out of 18) and 19 standard eggs (out of 23) growing. Well, technically there are 4 eggs I can't tell in the standard ones but until I can tell I'm going to count them. BOTH incubators are having a bit of trouble stabilizing their temperatures all of a sudden, and I think it's the sensor in both of them. I am wondering if it just gets super dusty. I'm temped to vacuum it but … it would suck if the sensor broke completely. My turner is also losing it's motor. I've been checking it often and even turning it off for a couple hours here and there. I'm going to need to invest in two more thermometers. Right now I have one in each but I feel safer with two in each. I don't worry about humidity during the incubation until lockdown, then I bring it up to about 60% ish. The first eggs should be hatching close to the 1st of May.

Other news, it was finally nice outside for me to really take stock of the chicken yard. I had a friend make a chicken saddle for my hens and it works really well! Or … at least it looks adorable and she looks so fashionable wearing it. My friend is going to make me at least 4 more. These little hen saddles protect my hens backs from the roosters. A couple of my girls have gouges from being the 'favorites'. Poor girls.

I also have a hen in my bathroom, again. I really thought she would be dead by now but I can't bring myself to throw her outside. I have been giving her a bath in ACV and Epsom salts daily as well as hand spooning her vitamin water. Tomorrow I'm going to hard boil some eggs and give her two baths and hope that helps. I'm fairly certain she is egg bound OR the egg has cracked inside of her. I need to act quicker when this happens.

We are also looking at changing our feed. I want to start mixing it ourselves. Corey is less eager for this project. I will be looking for flax seed, oats, barley, maybe some split peas, corn maybe? I will see what's available around me from some local farmers. I want to get myself set up for the winter too, but that project might be trickier. We have to fix up our summer barn to be a little better for the winter so I can house MORE chickens than usual. Plus guineas.

Alright, that's a big update. I'll leave the rest for tomorrow! 

Day 23 - Tiny egg and chocolate chicks!

Sorry. I missed a couple days.

I was uberly distracted by chicks hatching.

There has been 18 chicks that hatched and there are still 2 eggs in the incubator. Both have had their air sacs drawback and I can still see movement in my tiny egg. I'm trying to remain calm. This hatch has been so adorable and exciting and I really, really want that tiny egg to hatch.

There have been some adorable and unique chicks that hatched. I'm almost sorry to see them go, but I'm also really happy they will go to a good home and I can hatch more. I hope I get more chocolate colored ones, definitely.

I am sad about the chick with the crooked beak/deformity but it IS eating and drinking and so … as long as we don't see it in pain or having too hard of a time it will stay here and grow. Hopefully that tiny egg hatches and it will have a buddy until they are a little bigger to go into the chick coop. I'll add some pictures another day when it's uploading properly.

Day 20

20 days into quarantine.

I have no idea what is going on in the outside world. That's not entirely true, I somewhat am aware of what is happening out there but am blissfully unaware of the severity. I haven't left the house more than once in 20 days. I may be going to st louis tomorrow to drop off some eggs, but perhaps not. Perhaps Corey will go.

I should get more details about what's going on with the virus but I also know my anxiety couldn't quite handle it yet so for now I will read the highlights that seem important to me. Stay home, school the kids, hatch the chicks, clean the house.

The schooling was okay today. William finished most of his stuff (we can't get his French stuff figured out but we'll work on it next week), Nikki is a keener and finished about 30 seconds after her teacher was done talking. Amélie has not started on any of her work, except math which hurt my brain. I'm disappointed in myself because I love math but explaining it to someone who doesn't want to learn it is very difficult.

I got absolutely none of my own work done today. Tomorrow I will have to focus on that in order to finish up one class and take another class.

We also had a very sad loss today. J-Feathers, our unique little chick that wasn't growing feathers passed away. Amélie is heartbroken. She always takes it pretty hard. We had some good news though and had a chick hatch today! It's all black with yellow tipped wings. I'm thinking it's very likely a barred rock x hen. The ones that grow to be all black, (obviously).

I also put a new hen with Phoenix and realized … he has no idea what is going on LOL. He tried but … no … so I'm going to let the girls out and keep one hen with him and the chicks. He's not quite ready - which is okay too - but disappointing. He may do a lot of growing once the weather is better and they can all be outside!

There is one more pipped egg in there and hopefully there will be lots of action tonight and tomorrow. Most of these chicks will be going to their new home on Monday, so they better hatch by then.

Also - I got a new incubator! That's right - I now have two. Boo. Yah. I have the second one settling in right now and over the next few days I will adjust as needed and then start a second hatch while the other one finishes up and gets cleaned.

I am very excited for all the new babies! 

Happy Anniversary, babe!

It has been 15 years since I married Corey and this morning, I discovered that we share our anniversary with Prince Charles and Camilla. Interesting. I think I might have already known this. We don't have any plans. I might do some yoga, take a shower, brush my teeth … we'll see. Oh wait! I do have plans. It's day 20 of incubation which means there should hopefully be some pips and hatching going on. I did hear some peeping overnight which means we have some internal pips going on. At least one. So, I'm actually going to be pretty busy today getting a temporary area ready for the chicks that hatch until they go to their new home. Hm. I suppose we might watch a movie tonight? (JK watching the incubator) I am definitely not cooking ……. I will probably cook something because we'll get hungry and I don't want a corndog. Anyways, after 15 years of marriage we are doing this quarantine thing pretty well I think. Except his moustache has got to go. I have not liked it for a long time but now I have to literally stare at it every. single. day. and … it has to go. He tried to tell me something (hopefully not important) last night and I just couldn't take it. I immediately left the room. He was a little bit … uh … insulted but … no. Can't do it. I remember on our wedding there was very little snow on the ground, as opposed to this year. I also remember our wedding meal, it was amazing and there were crazy amounts of desert. I had a beautiful dress and lovely hair and married an amazing man. (who did not have a moustache). #pepereandloismadedessertandallthefood We have been through some incredibly hard times and it hasn't always been smooth. We have four beautiful babies earthside and 4 (probably) beautiful babies in heaven. We have a home, jobs (kinda right now), vehicles and lots of animals. We have a good life. I can't imagine doing this without him (like fixing stuff). The kids and I love him to pieces (except the moustache - it has to go).

xxoo

Day 19

I just realized that the quarantine days are the same as the days we are into the chick incubation. I knew that at the beginning but … I guess I forgot. (shrug)

Today, Nikki's class went off pretty well again. It usually does. She did all her homework AND read a pile of books. It was actually super annoying because she likes to read out loud in a very monotonous and obnoxiously loud voice. She's doing really well but I was trying to edit an essay and get Amélie onto her platform.

Amélie did not get onto her platform and neither did William. I did manage to get William's platform onto my phone and kind of figure some of it out but William won't be able to post anything on there, it'll always have to be me so that kind of sucks … or maybe it's for the best haha. (just saying).

I asked Nolan to do a little school work and he informed me that he didn't have to because he was going to invent a new dance. I didn't argue.

In my own schooling, I rocked a plagiarism exam and I struggled with a grammar quiz. Truly struggled not with correcting sentences or making them sound nice, but with the official terminology. I did not care if I was using an adverb, or a pronoun, or a conjunction. -.- so now I have to go and do a little homework on it before advancing to the next level.

In my other class, my last two assignments were waived and my final exam will be an essay! I'm actually not displeased about that since I am now an expert at recognizing plagiarism (hahaha we'll see) and I like to write words.

Chicken update wise : I lost a barred rock hen yesterday and I'm still really displeased about it today. When I went to inspect chickens this morning I didn't see anyone else struggling but this weather can seriously go away. For real! This time last year they were out and roaming around. :( I need this weather to smarten up for my chickens! My chicks are growing like crazy - except for J-feathers. I have no idea what's going on with that one … it looks … maybe it's going to be a late bloomer?

It's been an ongoing debate about which kittens are girls (originally thought they were all girls) and which ones are  boys (kinda think maybe 1 boy?) They are also superbly annoying and scratch and climb my legs. It NEEDS TO GET NICE OUT. kthanks

This post lacks a lot of charisma because I'm grumpy at the wind. Maybe tomorrow I will have a much happier post.

Oh wait! I know ... I'll add some chicken pictures.

Mille Fleur d'Uccle at 7 weeks old

Some Buff Brahma x babies at 7 weeks old

A group photo of some of the others

This is J-Feathers. He/She should really have more feathers for being just about 7 weeks. Hmmm

Day 18 - Technical difficulties

Day 18 consisted of multiple technical difficulties with our online learning. Amélie joined hers with 10 minutes left and only Nikki was really able to kind of participate in hers. We are still waiting to hear if the school will be lending us a computer to use for the distance learning. The kids don't really 'need it' but it will be good for them to keep at least up to date with what they've already learned.

I'm just going to interject that I'm pretty sure Nikki does not talk to her school teacher the way she talks to her current … teacher. Ahem ahem. Nikki. #whysosassy? #raiseyourhandsassypants.

In other news :

My barred rock hen died today! I was so upset! And confused. She wasn't half eaten or chewed or frozen just dead. I thought maybe squished? But that is weird considering how much room is in their coop. I looked around for blood or any signs of anything weird. Nothing. Just dead. :( I will be keeping an eye out for some replacement barred rock chicks because I really like those ones and now I can't hatch my own.

Also, Phoenix the rooster attacked Nolan. It was quite hilarious but also a big nono. Phoenix did not like the discipline he got for it but he better not keep it up or he'll be gone. I don't mind the attitude as long as they don't attack the kids. That's a big nono. Nolan was crouched down playing with chicks so he did look exactly like another rooster and since Phoenix was beaten up, I could understand. I've been collecting the eggs from the girls he is with and hopefully he's been keeping himself busy and we'll have some adorable baby chicks from him soon. I think tomorrow I'm going to update the chick pictures but … I might have hatching pics to upload … we'll see.

Time to watch some youtube or Netflix or read a book because I did homework all day today. Boo yah! 

Day ... 17

It's 17 days into our … stay at home … quarantine? Isolation? … but I was not inspired to blog before day 17. I had a lot to do and still have lots to do like … cleaning. Also, I need to be cleaning my coop but the weather is seriously not cooperating and you can't shovel hard … well it's probably not hard because the coop is a bit heated. I don't want the chicks to get cold.

I have not left the house for 17 days - except once to get granola bars but that took 20 minutes.

My laying hens (and roosters) are freezing their butts off in the big coop (not really but it's not as cozy as the small coop). They are still laying really well … remarkably.

#cuelayingfreeze

The pigs are also adorable. I really just want to let them run around but I don't think they'd go anywhere because - it's cold outside. I would also be over them running around ten minutes after they started because they are pigs. They make big messes. Literally.

In other news, I have eggs in the incubator - wow this update is actually just going to be about chickens but I already facebooked that so I'm going to talk about our first day of distance learning.

First of all, Nikki was super excited and we did get her hooked up with her class. We do not have a computer that is able to handle the platform they want to do but I do have the work computer so … temporarily until the school can help us out, that's what they will use with strict supervision. I'm having a hard time following all the schedules because … 4 kids … that's … insane. Also, at the end of Nikki's class I was wearing a super low cut shirt and … I'm sorry kids. My bad. I will be more careful next time.

#awkward

I know you are thinking : Well teachers have 30 or more kids at different levels - except … they don't all have kids of various ages trying to all learn different things at the exact same time. At least in their classes they have a 'general' consensus of what's being learned. Maybe not the same letter of the alphabet but at least the alphabet.

This is not a complaint just a realistic view of all this with all my kids. I am not sure how anyone who also works is supposed to do the schooling thing but .. you do what you can.

Amélie we struggled with the platform to see the screen share so we actually have no idea what went on in that class. Ha. William was able to see everything but I was busy with my own class so … it's basically like we missed most of that. I am getting confusing emails from a lot of teachers and I know they are trying to sort it out on their end but since I can't actually access anything on the platform … I'm just … randomly doing things and probably going to be very annoying until we get organized.

Nolan didn't have class today because his teacher has a low internet connection. I feel her pain. Rural internet is kind of brutal most days.

All in all, it wasn't a complete fail.

I also made chocolate cake and read about plagiarism because that's what my next class is about and also grammar. Hahahaha. Grammar. Who needs that? Pffff.

#Ishouldworkonmygrammar, #grammaire, #plagiarismiswrong, #myeggsareinlockdown

Why do we have this toaster?

I know I have a lot to catch up on, and I will but first, let me tell you about a toaster ...

Our cook at work went on a holiday. Usually, Jo does the cooking but this particular day I volunteered/was encouraged.

I went to the kitchen with intention of making French toast. We'd been talking about it. Unfortunately, we had no butter/margarine. Hm. I found some cheez whiz and some jam. Alright. Toast it is.

I pull out some bread from the freezer after deciding we didn't really have a lot of bread thawed. Toasters thaw bread pretty good in my experience.

I put the bread in the right side of the toaster. It's a four slice toaster.

I wait. It's not … getting red. I look into the right side and frown. I fiddle a little bit. Then I put bread on the left side. It's a four slice toaster. The left side gets red right away but the right side, is suspiciously dark. I am concerned. I have a lot of bread to toast. I peer at it, fiddle some more, push the buttons more, and it clicks. Excellent.

 I may or may not have told our cook I did not fiddle with the knobs.I feel like it's taking too long so I may (or may not) have fiddled with the timer on the bottom. Suddenly the toast on the left side is looking REALLY dark. OMG. I pop it out. (may or may not have returned the knob to the proper spot). I inspect the toast. Meanwhile, the right side … pops. Kind of?

It doesn't actually come out of the toaster. So I look in there. I lift the little pusher-downer thing. Nothing. As I contemplate this, I put more bread in the left side and push it down.

 Then … OBVIOUSLY. I try to flip the toaster to get the bread out because who would NOT do that?

Before I get all the way over I remember that is a no-no and stop but too late. There is now a small fire in the toaster.

Seriously. A fire. I pop the left side and blow on the fire.

Seemed like a good idea.

It was. It went out. Now I pull the toaster and look at the right side and see the lifter thing inside is broken. No way to get that bread out.

At this point, time is ticking and I play a dangerous game with the knob on the left side and the toaster's left side. Once breakfast was served and I came back to make lunch (Whole different story about spirally hot dogs cut in 4's, swollen tomato soup noodles and pickles … and sandwiches) I pulled the stuck bread out of the toaster - after unplugging it.

Today, when I saw our cook, I asked her why the heck we still have that toaster! And I explain (mostly) what happened.

They've had it since the beginning. It's a user problem. I mean I know better now but guess what I'm asking the comité to buy us next.

0_0

I shoulda made French toast and just asked the school for butter. Or crepes. I know how to make those …

Hatch #3 and something's eating chickens

First things first, something is eating my chickens. UGH this makes me so angry! It happens. I get it but it doesn't mean I have to be okay with it. Especially since it took two of our favorites.

Don't foxes eat pigs? No? Hm. The only way in the coop is through the pig door (for a fox anyways) and we are surprised either the pigs didn't put the run on the fox or that there aren't more feathers all over the place with having to haul a dead chicken OVER a fence - twice (we have a divider in the barn). Of course, it's also stealing during the day so that might be when they are mostly getting taken.

I put Missy in the chicken coop overnight and just let her out at 530 am. I kind of regret letting the chickens out already because at least with Missy in the coop with them they were 'safely' contained but now they are free to be eaten and she doesn't really stick with them. I think our next dog will have to be a livestock dog that we train to be with the chickens.

#IwonderifIcantrainalabtodothat?

In other news, 13 chicks have hatched in my 3rd (and final) hatch before summer holidays. There are still more to come and today is the official hatch day (well started last night technically) I adjusted the temperature on my incubator and it seems to be making a huge difference. I haven't had any chicks getting stuck or incomplete or issues - so far anyways.

I have had 4 or 5 of Polly's bantam eggs hatch. #whatamIgonnadowiththem?
I have a lavender Orpington that hatched that I'm pretty stoked about and the other egg is pipped. Booyah.
The rest seem to be Barred rock x (like Shadow) and brownish or yellowish and one really dark brown one that came from a green egg.
Oh. And an Australorpe so far.

In Broody news, out of the 8 or 9 eggs they started off with, 3 hatched and there's another one under a 3rd broody in the Big Coop. I'll move her over today because it will hatch today - probably. I'll give her some incubator babies too. The two broodies also adopted my 2 week old Silkies and Blue Laced Red Wyandottes. #Surewhynot?

Once more time - pissed about losing some chickens to a fox/cat/skunk/whatever.

I don't like it one bit. Here's some pictures :

Co-parenting. There's 7 chicks in between the 2 of them. Might be more.
Not sure who might sneak in there. 

These are 2 of my cochins. They are looking really good.

Amelie's Fireheart - Gold Laced Crested Polish at 5 weeks old. So pretty

We have a pip!

Both broodies are in the chick coop. Sitting nicely. The 2nd once, let's call her Blanche because ONE of them at some point was named Blanche.

So. Blanche has 4 brown eggs under her (replacement brown egg layers) and one of them has a pip. The other chicken, let's call her … I don't know. I'll take suggestions or think of something later, she has 3 of Polly's eggs - or Pocket's. I'm not sure but they are bantam sized anyways. I'm not sure when the small eggs will hatch.

My incubator eggs are going on lock down on Wednesday, maybe Tuesday. The bantam eggs are looking kind of close already and the smaller eggs sometimes DO hatch a bit early.

So. Once I see what is hatching and when it's hatching then I can rearrange my coops properly and my eggs.

In order to make some 'quiet' in the coop I had to move some 9 week olds out. Hopefully they are big enough to defend themselves. I put out two the night before and then a few more today.

Blanche

External Pip

9 weeks old and in the Big Coop

Cookie - I'm thinking of changing her name. Honey? Hickory? Hmmm

Brownie and a black one with no name.
They finally left the Big Coop to explore outside. 

Sophie and my fave gray one. 

Moving Coops

I attempted to move the 2nd broody today. It resulted in a very panicky hen, very upset and not sitting. I let her out of the small coop. She ran immediately back to her 'spot' in the big barn. I couldn't give up because she can not have her babies in there. They will be eaten by the cats. Or dogs. I dragged out one of our cages and put it below the nesting boxes and then put some 'fresh eggs' and plopped her in there and shut the cage top. She wasn't thrilled but she DID sit down on those eggs. Tomorrow I will let her out to eat/drink etc … and once she's back in the cage I will cover it and in a bit after that, I will move her to the chick coop. 

I literally, have no idea when my chicks will hatch. I THINK sometime in the next 3-5 days (ish?). I do have a hen sitting on all the eggs in the small coop right now but I have some eggs that aren't in the 3-5 day window so I would prefer both hens to sit. I will be running the risk that once one hen hatches out three or four eggs she'll get up and be like 'k done' and then so will the other and I'll have eggs not ready for hatch sitting there. 

Ah. But don't worry because while I was sneaking some 9 week old chicks into the BIG COOP, I spotted another hen sitting in the nesting boxes. Another broody. Perfect timing haha. 

Speaking of my 9 week old chicks, I graduated 2 of them into the BIG COOP. I'm not worried about flock integration, I'm worried my cats will eat them. I chose my 2 biggest, fluffiest, bravest ones and snuck them in. They were sleeping just fine next to Polly and Pocket when I went in there so hopefully they are good to go and I can start moving some of my other ones over. I will need the room right away. I have 21 - 4 week olds. I have 7 eggs under 2 broodies (not a big deal actually) and then 40 in the incubator. I don't expect all 40 to hatch. AT ALL. But even if 20 hatch … I still need to squeeze them in there until they are big enough for outside. 

I really need a little coop with roosts attached to my chicken run Corey built me. Just somewhere they can be safe out of the rain kind of thing and out of the wind. Hmmm. I'll look around the yard tomorrow maybe I can get an idea. 

I'll also get some more pictures, especially since they are all growing out their feathers so nicely! Only have about 8-10 more weeks until it'll be time to cull my other hens. 

Except my broodies. I'm going to doctor them up a bit, even if they don't survive they deserve a spa. 

#raisingbabiesissuperhard, #lovemychickens, #thekidslovechickenstoo 

Moving the broody

It's getting about time for my broody's eggs to hatch. I'm not actually sure when they will hatch because I forgot to mark the date. Whoops.

I have 2 broodies and when I tried to move one early in the sitting she lost her marbles. This time I had a better plan.

I prepared the laying box in the chick coop, it's up high and the babies can't get up there. I put some fresh eggs in there and turned all the lights off. I went over to the big barn, gave her eggs to the other broody to 'babysit' then pulled her out and carried her to the smaller coop. I put her in the nesting box with the eggs, which she looked at, then looked down at the noisy coop. She wouldn't stay in her box. Gah.

I watched her for a while as she ate and drank and eyed up the other chicks in the coop. She was clucking like a mama hen and I thought she was debating adopting some 8 week old chicks or some 3 week old ones haha, but she didn't. I didn't give up. I decided to go switch some cages around and lock her up.

I was pretty confident she would sit in a cage,  but by the time I got back with the cage she was up in the nesting box sitting on her eggs. I just checked on her a little while ago and she was still sitting there.

I'll give her until tomorrow and then move over her eggs and possibly the other hens eggs.

This weekend the 8 week olds are moving outside to their small run. I want to get a better plan to move flocks around. They would be totally fine with my big hens now but it's my cats that have me annoyed and worried. Some of my chicks aren't big enough to be 'scary' but others are big enough to scare me lol. I for sure have two roosters and SOMEONE is crowing already! It's adorable. I haven't caught which little one is crowing yet but I have a pretty good idea.

I will be selling a few of these. They are Brahma crosses and I have what might be a gold laced Barnevelder rooster. Not sure. I really just need a few of these ones to make my flock interesting.

#whoisit, #bigfluffychicks, #needtomakeroom