What was paved with good intentions??

I am disgusted. At the senseless waste we were forced to witness. This morning, we got the call that the ducklings were here. When the chicks got here, the only baby chick food we found was medicated, not that big of a deal for the chicks (not what we wanted, but that was our fault.) but you can't medicate the ducks, unless you want them dead. Well, I 'found' BB&P Feed Store. I have passed it many, many times, but never even considered it... :) They have Flock Starter that is unmedicated, so we had to go to Winterset first.


Well, short story long, when we got to the post office, there were 7 dead ducklings in the box. Not from that morning, no, there was one that was less than 12 hours dead (looked very similar to the one I found dead in our kennel this morning--that was fine at 8 last night!) but the others? They looked like they drowned. And, the really weird thing is that there was a styrofoam bowl in there. I have no doubt that the post office where they overnighted put it in there, with the purest of intentions, but come on! 1) STYROFOAM??? 2) you can't give them open water. I would like to think this would be common sense, but I guess not. *slowly shake head*


So, we brought the 4 live ones home, got them into the warmth, fed and watered (properly), and still lost one. It's one thing to find them already dead. To have them die in your hands is not my favorite thing. Now, if you do the math, they did send us and extra one. The Pekins are doing really well--there is one that just freaks out every once in a while. I wonder if they had imprinted on a bigger one that died on the way... I feel really bad for it, but I can't do anything, unless I want to make it a pet, which I don't. :( Well, you know, this kind of comes with the territory, but it's not the pleasant part.


As long as I'm being honest, I should tell you that we lost 4 chickens. We have no idea what happened to them, they just disappeared. Also, as the RIRs have the single comb, both of our roosters had frostbite on their combs and wattles. The Aracuna rooster is really a weenie, and he has a rose comb, and so far has no frostbite. It happens, and they are fine. Speaking of, we get from 5-8 eggs everyday. We also opt to leave them in their coop, 'cooped up', to help conserve heat. The other day, it started out really nice so we opened the small door. It turned cold rather quickly, so we ran out to close it up, and in peeking in at the chickens, they were fine, fluffed up, but fine. :) So, we still have our feather-footed cochin, 1 Aracuna rooster, 7 hens, 1 RIR rooster, and 7 hens. We have lost 2 chicks due to piling... so we have 25 broiler chicks, 3 crested breed, and 3 silkies, and the rare breed they put in is another feather-footed cochin. And, we are expecting our whole order of ducks again next week... to go with our existing (and week older!) Khaki Campbell and 2 Pekins. The brown one is the Khaki.

For you curious ones, we burn them. We burn our trash, anyway (the burnables!) so we put them in a cardboard box in the middle, and it usually does a good job. Not to be gross, but if it doesn't burn all the way down, something will get it and finish it off. Circle of life and all that.

Gorgeous!

For such little things, they sure poo a lot! We have the chicks here in the 'office', in one of our large dog kennels. I've put a wrap around the top in addition to the cardboard around the bottom. I didn't remember how darned cute they were, either! Ben is so gentle with them, and I just couldn't be prouder of him. We have 3 silkies, to hatch out our own eggs next year (RR), and Ben calls them the "Mommies" :) we had a really good talk today about the circle of life. It's hard to comprehend these cute little bundles being big, and talk of butchering seems heartless. I sometimes have a hard time wrapping my head around it, which makes it just that much better that Ben is around all this now; that we can give him this learning opportunity.

I know I spoke of this on my personal blog, but this is kind of part of farm-life, too. We have been having troubles with our dryer, and had been advised to hang things outside! Crazy! Naw, just smart, and not the norm. I recommend getting a pair of really good, waterproof gloves. I have some gauntlets (they are 2 inches longer--up my wrist! :) from Duluth trading company. They work really well. Yes, the clothes stiffen up before you can get them all up, and I haven't been brave enough to hang my socks outside, but a good pair of gloves stops your hands from cracking!!! So far I've tried pants and towels. Today, obviously, was pants. :)

There was snow in the chicken coop, but they were doing just fine! The goats were very happy for some fresh hay, and alfalfa. Oh, and the corn was alright. :) Corn is like goat chocolate. They'll go and do just about anything for it.

The drifts were amazing, and humbling. :) And hard to get through!!! Some came up mid-thigh, and I'm 5'10"! We'll go let Ben get lost in them later today--although he'll probably be able to stay on top...

Well, that was a little unexpected.

Today, after being in DM yesterday, and having a friend come from DM to here this morning, we got a call from Amanda at USPS. Our chicks were in, and had been there since 2:30 yesterday, and if we would like, we can come get them! :) So, since Tory was already here, Eric and Ben ran up to get them. While I frantically got things together for them. We were, as usual, not quite ready for them. Luckily, these are our second batch of 'guinea pigs', so we had a good idea of what needed to be done. I don't remember them ever being this small!!! (or this LOUD! :) We have a very vocal Silkie, now named Chirpy-Chirpy-Chirps-Alot (Chirpy for short). The crested ones look like they have mullets to me. The Silkies are tiny!!! The sent us an extra 2 of the broilers, and our rare bird is a feather-footed!!! My guess is it's a black cochin, but it may be a partridge--it looks like a little penguin, so, that's why I'm guessing the black... and I am boring you. (I wore two magazines out, flipping through them!!!) The ducklings will be arriving later this week!!!

We have three of the crested breed, and Tory suggested that we should call them Travis--since the people that seem to hold onto the mullet also seem to be all named Travis. :) ((No offense to anyone named Travis, with or without a mullet ;) ))

Hey.

Well, I have been rather bad at blogging (der) so here is an update--

The weather has been horrid the past few days the lowest temperature -11, and with wind-chill, -24. We put a heater in the chicken coop, at the lowest setting (32). That was two days ago. Yesterday we had 4 eggs, and some rather clucky girls, and today? Seven.

A while ago we poured over the Murray McMurray Hatchery magazine, and decided to get some ducks. Ben would like to eat one, so we have 2 Peking ducks coming. I picked out the Khaki Campbells (4) and Eric chose the Cayuga ones, as they were made here in America (Cayuga, New York, actually). (4) We also have 25 broilers that we'll hopefully have big enough to butcher before The Wine Party, and 3 Silkies (for hatching out our own broods in the upcoming years) and, just for fun, 3 Golden Polish Crested chickens. :) They are just to help us smile everyday--the crested breeds look like they have a huge puffball on their necks. :) I am grinning, just thinking about them!!! All girls this round! Although, if we hope to hatch some duck eggs, we may need to get a drake. Alright, we definitely will have to get a drake :) (I know how it works!!!) We tried to talk Eric into some geese as well, but he would have none of it! Maybe we'll get some turkeys for next year! (Eric is quite petrified of turkeys, but I'll let him tell that story!)

We all made it through this weather just fine. We ended up bringing the dogs in for a few nights. They were quite happy to be inside!!!

Tonight, while Eric is out, I'm hoping to have things ready for the babies, and then we'll have this whole weekend off!!! Whoo!! Then just wait for the post office to call!!!!!!!

Life is grand!

Well, here we have Eric helping Ben into our new swing :) and the blur is Ben, swinging!

Also, there is Ben and our girls. I can't believe how big they have gotten!!! The one right next to Ben is Gabby, Deer is the one looking right at me, and then Slash, double checking to make sure everything is alright! It's amazing.