The Baby Chicks

I have 3 silkie babies, 2 white and 1 grey. I got 2 Marans to hatch, and all 6 of my Americauna eggs hatched - some look like reds and some look like Americaunas. It will be interesting to see if I get blue egg-layers out of them. They are SO cute, and they are just eating and pooping up a storm! CUTE! Here is a pic of what a baby silkie looks like.

They are EXTRA fuzzy! I'm enjoying this batch of chicks so much!

The watched egg . . .

Lots of action in the incubator!! 3 baby quail have hatched and dried and been moved to the brooder (a 10-gal aquarium lined with shop paper towels with a waterer and feed and a shop light to warm the babies). There are 2 more quail babies on their way out of the eggs - it takes them HOURS to peck their little perf pattern around the entire egg and push open the end to come out.

Several of the chicken eggs have little peck marks from the inside cracking the perfect shells. One of my Americauna blue eggs has two holes totally pecked out, and I can hear the baby chick PEEPING!

In this day and age, it is so wonderful to be awed by anything. I am amazed at the child-like excitement and wonder I feel when we have eggs in the incubator. I can only relate it to the feeling on Christmas Eve when you try to do all the right "time for bed" stuff, and you still can't possibly sleep with the anticipation of Santa's visit!! Then when you wake up, and you realize it's Christmas, and you know that when you walk into the living room you're going to have WONDERFUL surprises - you're just about to EXPLODE with excitement!

I think that I'll be so nervous and particular about these little babies tomorrow! It'll seem like forever before they've dried out enough to move to the brooder. It's going to be great! Any of these Americaunas that are female will be laying eggs in May! I'm so excited!

Anxiously watching the incubator . . . .

I ordered fertile hatching eggs from Ebay - YES - Ebay!

I have 6 French Black Copper Maran eggs,
6 Blue Cochin Bantam eggs,
6 Silkie Bantam eggs, and then I added
6 of my Americauna eggs that may be fertile.

They should begin to hatch tomorrow or Thursday, and we are SO excited about it!

I'll post pics of the babies when they hatch.

Getting the animals prepped for winter . . .

Yesterday, I went out with the children to feed the animals. I spent a good deal of time watching the bantams in the garden. During the hideous weather we had on Tuesday with strong wind and rain, the metal "roofs" had blown off two of the three cages. I felt so sorry for those tough little birds. I put the metal back on and replaced the brick to keep it in place. I gave them new ground to forage, and lots of feed to help them keep warm. I know they are doing well, though, because every morning I am awakened by the squeaky little crows of the roosters. I like when I can take some real time just to look at them. They are absolutely gorgeous, with many colors of feathers on each bird. The roosters have rich, firm, red combs, and all are curious about the people who feed them.

The laying hens are my most prized "pets" with their bountiful production of eggs. I have a wire basket full of beautiful, fresh, clean eggs - aqua and light brown - drying in the sink. I'm going to boil a batch for the girls to snack on after school, and I may bake a cake, too. Quiche - I need to make a quiche! I love watching how happily the hens scratch around when they are ranging in the shady woods of the large goat pen. The 3 roosters I traded for have made a wonderful addition to our flock. They have rich, deep crowing voices, and they are so majestic with their beautiful feathers and huge, bright red combs and waddles. I have a few (hopefully) fertile eggs in the incubator now just to see what little lovely babies I can get. I want a few more blue-green egg layers.

The goats are exactly what we wanted for our farm. We have Billy and Betty in one pen, and Nellie and Spencer in the other. All are pygmy goats; Billy and Nellie are cream-colored with a long, shaggy coat now that weather is getting cooler. Spencer and Betty are shorter-haired and black with some white markings. Betty has gorgeous ice-blue eyes! They all have very sweet, gentle dispositions, and I can let them out of the fence to forage, and they just come back in. These sweet, little, puppy-like babies are JUST right for our family.

Most surprising to me is my affection for the cats! Because of Mom's and my allergies, I never had a cat until this past summer. We got 2 kittens, 6-weeks old, tortoise-shell colored - both female, and sisters. They spent the first few weeks indoors to give them time to get big and fast enough to escape from predators. Then they went to the shed out front with high-stacked bales of hay. In the last 3 weeks, a new kitten showed up - another tortoise-shell female! She is smaller than our first cats - somewhat scrawny - and just as sweet as can be! The first two cats are starting to accept her into the group. They are all chasing chipmunks, and I've found a couple of dead rodents. That's why we got them - with all the animal feed in the garage, we knew we'd get mice. They are serving their purpose and much more! I spent about a half-hour yesterday just petting and scratching, and receiving nuzzles and purrs from Simba. Rosie is more of a hunter, and less of a snuggler. The new girl, Ginny, is very affectionate, but still too skiddish to be held for very long. She's coming along.

The garden is doing very well! I have arugula, buttercrunch lettuce, radishes, beets, carrots, brussels sprouts, and broccoli. I still have some rattlesnake beans coming in, and the superset squash have a surprising number of blossoms and baby squash. This is an experiment - if I can keep the frost off them, I may get some squash!

Sunshine!! It was WONDERFUL!!

Although it was outrageously chilly today, the sunshine was so gorgeous it was a great day!! I was out with the animals and enjoying the garden a bit today for the first time in a week or so.

The garden is fabulous with rattlesnake beans and yard long green beans still putting out good quantities, old purple hull peas dying off and new ones growing strong, broccoli and brussels sprouts plants doing well! I picked a nice 3 quarts of rattlesnake beans today, washed and snapped them, and fixed them for supper with potatoes and spicy Conecuh sausage, mmmmmmm!!!

A caller who'd seen our ad in the Bulletin Board came to buy chickens. He mentioned that he had 3 roosters (he was supposed to have all pullets) and I offered to trade him. He brought 3 GORGEOUS, humongous roosters, 2 Dominickers and 1 RIR - I traded him 3 yet-to-lay pullets for those, and he bought 5 golden buff orpingtons.

A new kitty showed up today! She's very scrawny, but SO sweet and lovey. She is a tortoise-shell colored cat like our other two, and the children named her Ginny (as in Weasley on Harry Potter). More later.

The monsoon makes my garden GROW!!!

Last weekend I took down my bamboo tepees with what was left of my summer tomato plants after having been ravaged by tomato hornworms (see earlier post with pic of Gozer, the destructor) and stinkbugs. I couldn't do any spraying because of the ducks and bantams in the garden.

In discussing our tomato plants, Jeff Moore (who bought his plants at the trade school nursery, too) and I decided that the variety of large tomato plants we bought didn't produce as much as we wanted and expected them to. The grape tomatoes did fine, but the others were smallish and none too plentiful. I think they were called "Amelia". The heirlooms I planted in August have made nice plants, but aren't fruiting as much as I expected. I need to fertilize.

I harvested tons of basil of different varieties and trimmed my rosemary plants saving those sticky, delicious-smelling cuttings, too. The basil plants are rebounding nicely from such a harsh cutting because of the rain, and the okra has gone NUTS with the tall tomato structures (which had been shading them) gone.

The rattlesnake beans I planted in August are producing like crazy! I'm getting a half pound to a pound a day! This is DEFINITELY the variety to plant! They grow from seed quickly, produce VOLUMES, and the purple striping on the beans make them easy to see and pick. Also, they don't have that "fuzz" on them, so they are easy to wash. Delicious and hearty, they'll be great for canning, too. I had planted more yardlong green beans, and they are coming along, too. They are even more delicious, but too delicate for canning. GREAT for stir frying. I've planted more of each for a great fall harvest (if the frost holds off.)

I've planted tons more purple hull cowpeas, too. I just LOVE these peas. I have put up quart after quart of them. I love the way they grow, but I just hadn't planted enough for our crew until now.

I planted some "superset" squash, too. I planted much earlier, but the ducks enjoyed eating the small plants and they were gone. Hubby bought broccoli and brussels sprouts plants - a whole flat each! We planted them beside the purple hull peas. I also planted beets, radishes, spinach, swiss chard, leeks, and carrots from seed. I'm so excited to see how this will do as time goes by.

I am going to spray now that the ducks and bantams are out of the garden, and add fertilizer to hedge my bets. I know some of these plantings don't match the "you should plant now" dates, but obviously, the rattlesnake beans don't know any better than to just grow and produce any way. I hope the other stuff is that way, too.

Things we've learned about farming and gardening this summer . . .

GARDENING
Next spring, summer, and fall my garden will be a money SAVER, but this past growing season, my garden was a money pit! I also had some other gardening issues that kept my garden from being as productive as possible.
HOSES: I spent over $120 on drip hoses that kept getting big holes in the first few inches and just not working like they should. They are warrantied, so I'm returning some of them to exchange for new ones (that will also leak???).
SEEDS: I have a little spending problem when it comes to seeds. I just like buying them. LOTS of them. Way more than I need of them. I also had a lack of familiarity with what varieties WORK in my own soil (in its current condition) and will not waste money on things I can't grow. (I will experiment, but not PACKETS worth.) I'm also saving seed from lots of varieties that aren't hybrids. I will have my own store of seeds for next year.
WATERING: I'm going to spend the winter months adding gobs of organic material from my compost pile and worm bins to the soil in the garden. By growing season, I hope to have amended my sandy soil with enough stuff to make it hold more moisture. Also, the well is working now and we will be using "free" water from it or from harvested rainwater.
LACK OF SUNLIGHT: This is our first full year on this property, and although I got a full 8 hours of sun (or more) during the winter months, I got 6 or less in some areas of the garden during the summer. We are going to remove 4 trees in different spots surrounding the garden, and that should increase my hours of sunlight. If not, we will take out more. The garden is priority #1.
SOIL QUALITY: I learned that the dark, rich look of soil means nothing. I think there are some spots in that garden that are as empty of nutrients as a sandbox. I'm going to PILE on the compost, mix it in, and plant a cover crop to really get that garden ready. In January, I'm going to take samples of soil and test them for PH and for nutrients and see what I need to add in time for growing season.
With all these changes, I think I'll see a much higher production in the garden next year. For all the crops that still won't grow, I know how to buy those at the cattle sale or at the U-pick farms around here at good prices.

FARMING
We learned that farming is not for the faint of heart or for the weak of body or for the low of cash. At least for now, all animals are a COST center. At some point, there may be some money made, but right now it's just a really expensive hobby.
GOATS: We're ABSOLUTELY sure we only want to raise pygmy goats. Bigger goats eat more food! Pens have to be bigger, they make more poo, take more medication, are harder to handle when you need to move them, etc. . . . .
CHICKENS: The first six plus months of having chickens is all about spending money. Build the pens, buy the feeders, buy the waterers, buy the feed, buy the medications, buy more feed, buy more feed, buy more feed. We ARE getting smarter about it, though. I have 40 some odd 12 week old pullets left from the almost 200 I had over the summer. I am letting them range freely every day after the morning feeding (of other animals) until the evening feeding. They are eating very little feed, and they are consuming tons of bugs!! Luckily, no predators have gotten after them in the daytime. When they are closer to laying age, I will have to figure out what to do about nesting boxes. Meanwhile, I'm still running an ad in the Mule Trader trying to sell them. The laying hens are completely cooped up until their laying habits are well established. Then I will let them range after laying time until evening feedings. Chickens will cost much less to feed then.
DUCKS: The jury is still out on raising ducks. Out of 7 ducks, I think 3 or 4 are male, and the others are female. I only want to keep one drake, and that will be "Spot." Then I want my ducks to lay eggs. They are so messy, and they are a hazard to starter plants in the garden, but they are supposed to be great layers, and I could raise a few more for layers if I like the eggs. They should start laying in November.
RABBITS: It takes lots of cages to "farm" rabbits for meat. (We still haven't slaughtered any.)
QUAILS: These birds are GREAT!! If all we did was sell their eggs, these birds would be worth the time, effort, and costs involved. Hatching the babies is really fun, too.