More Chicken Tales....

5.30.13

It seems that two and a half hens went "broody". "Half??" You ask ?  Yes, Widget, our teeny bantam hen is the 'half'.  Going broody is when they think it's time to sit on eggs so they can have a family of chicks to care for and love. Some hens will even sit on their Feet, thinking in 21 days, chicks will appear......hmmmm....

I let two hens set on eggs- hoping they were fertile and actually would become peeps. Many days passed and still these two determined hens sat- only coming off their nests for a good poop, some food , water, and grass/ bugs. I kept count of about when we'd have peeps hatching, but one was early !  The Buff Orpington hen was SO protective of what she thought was HER nest, that she pecked the little peepy and it didn't make it. I took her eggs away from her, and added them to HotWheels' nest which was already pretty full of eggs. HotWheels is a Barred Plymouth Rock hen, and was named by a boarders' little boy. She was not so protective and allowed me to shove yet more eggs under her. Talk about a Mother Superior- that's HotWheels !

One morning when I suspected we'd begin having peeps hatch, I put my hand under HotWheels and lo' and behold, there was a dear small peepy !  Just one, and it is black w/ a cream 'chest'. HotWheels was SO proud of herself- oh you should have heard her clucking at her new baby. She remained setting the other eggs for a few more days. I had hopes that some more would hatch, so she'd have a nice sized little family to love. Finally, when all hope of more hatchings passed, I gathered up the "rotten" eggs and carried them to the barn. I let them slide into the garbage can and when they hit the bottom- omg !!!!  Peeping !!!!!!  I could hardly believe my ears- one of those eggs had a chick in it and I had almost thrown it away. Whew- talk about dumping guilt on myself... I picked up the peeping egg, which had cracked open, and sure enough- a little round ball of chicken. Very gently I peeled the egg off and put the little one in the still warm incubator.  Guess what ? It's alive and healthy as can be, four days later ! It had a weak right leg, but that got stronger and now, it 'runs' all over the floor, pecking at what ever chickens enjoy pecking at. It's eating and drinking fine too.
We have named it Devon- after the Devon Horse Show which is going on this week, and it's the sort of name that can be female or male. ( I can't tell sexes on little babies !)

 So, meet Devon at 4 days old:

It should have been named 'Speedy' !

Happy Summer !

5.30.13

The weather here has been oh so strange for Springtime. First, it was cold, then HOT for a few days, then back to cold and rainy, and now ? HOT- like July HOT. I'll be the first to say " I Hate Humidity !" and am not looking forward to summer time if this is how it's going to be. This morning, the humidity was 89% and 79 degrees.... ugh. Luckily Mother Nature smiled on us and gave us plenty of rain to help the grass grow ( also weeds) and then sunshine too. A nice balance.

Many things have been going on here since I last blogged ! We had a great time with our " Barn Cleaning" day- and that was the week right before our Open House. Luckily, the barn Still looked super on that day. Unluckily, it rained for our Open House and while a few people did brave the weather, we would have had a lot more, had the sun come out.....  At any rate, we had a good time meeting new folks, and showing them our farm.

See ? The interior looked Wonderful !

        Below is only some of the help we had on our Barn Cleaning Day.

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Our Open House went well - here's some photos of it :

These two gals, Cheyenne & Patience, were a Huge help ~!

Tack for sale- and Lou Bello minding the bake sale table:

Peg Olson- food booth professional ! 

Tami Bello baked SO many delicious items for the bake sale :

THANK YOU TO ALL

 WHO CAME AND HELPED !!!!

I know I had fun, and hope those who came to meet us & see our farm, enjoyed their visit too.

Happy Mother's Day !!!

5.12.13

Wishing all of the Mom's out there a very happy day of celebrating .

This has been a hectic few weeks here at the farm. We have all been working to neaten up the place after a tough winter and it shows. Last Saturday was our Clean Up day here, and a ton of help showed up. We had people washing the stall fronts, raking up left over hay outside, and neatening up all over. 

BIG thanks to :

Joan Smith, Meghan Dau, Tami & her husband, Lou Bello, Patience Stump, Cheyenne Takita, Taylor Stone, Bill & Julia Suter, my husband, Glenn, Hannah Olson, and her mom, Peg, and whomever I have managed to forget ! 

You were such a big help and thanks to you All,

 the farm looked stunning.

Spring 'happened' a little late this year and last week it was still just a little chilly. Then as the week progressed, it got more cloudy, and subsequently rainy. We really needed this rain too, but the timing wasn't so good as our Open House was yesterday. ( 5.11) It rained/ showered ALL day long . We held it any ways, and though our turn out was smaller than expected, we met some great new folks !

 AND made some money for the 'hay fund' for next winter too. :)

 For our open house, we had a bake sale table ( Thanks to our official baker, Tami ) a food / snack table ( thanks Peg Olson ) a used tack sale ( me, who cleaned tack like a mad woman all week long) and a used tack seller ( thanks for coming, Lisa & Dwayne !!).    

All in all, a fun day - here are some of the photos I took :

Tami's delicious baked goods 

Cheyenne & Patience...

  Evie & Breeze- largest and smallest equines at WoodFinn.

this little fella LOVED seeing the horses !

  

Some of our visitors...

  Yep- another horse person in the making 

Joan chatting with some of our visitors- 

The used tack sale !

 Thanks to Peg, we had yummy food to sell !

The information table :

All in all it was a rainy but wonderful day. Thank goodness we have a huge aisle way for everyone to be comfy in.

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Then, today is Mothers' Day. Normally I get nothing from Glenn- because he tells me I'm not a mom.  That's okay, but I think I am. Simply because I didn't give birth to any baby, I have still been loved by plenty of animals, and human kids as well in my life. But alas no thanks from the husband on this. He did get a wonderful roast to cook for this evening, so that's something cool. ;)

There are two 13 yr old gals who I want to personally thank though. They have been working students here for a few months. They come to help out as much as they can, and both of them have become very dear to me. They're funny, can laugh at themselves, and are smart as can be. Plus they both adore the horses here.  

Last night, I was contacted by them, and was told that this morning, thanks to them, I was not to come to the barn at all. (well I did eventually to see how things went) THEY were coming early, and doing ALL of the barn chores !

Now, if that isn't a superb gift for a horsewoman, I don't know what is.

When I went up to see how things were going, they presented me with a wonderful hand made card, a flower ( that will never die) , a super soaker squirt gun that I'd been wanting to have, a yummy chocolate bar, and a hand painted picture of Breeze ( the newest equine here).  I was floored- as I'd not expected such generosity !

Here's the card they created for me- inside it has some quotes, a very sweet note or two and I love it.

Over the years I've gotten some cards, hand made paintings, sketches, thank you's of many different types and have all of them, but this one is special to me.

Thanks you two !