Animals
- Who's Who.... Part 4
It seems that everyone that visits the farm is amazed by our turkeys,Tom and Chuck. These two handsome fellows are Bourbon Reds,a heritage breed of turkey.Originally we had ordered 4 just-hatched turkey poults. Only three lived...Tom, Chuck, and Edith....
- Edith
Two weeks ago, our beloved Edith (female Bourbon Red turkey)went missing.And for a week we searched for her.And during that week, you all sent your wishes and hopes that we find her safe. One week ago, we found Edith...sitting on a nest of eggs.You rejoiced...
- Turkey Trivia
Since Thanksgiving is right around the corner,I though I would share some trivia and observationsI have made raising turkeys. Oh, and by the way, we are NOT eating our turkeysfor Thanksgiving.They have gobbled their way into our hearts and we are...
- Rainy Day Projects
Warm weather arrived suddenly this week. Several days of warm, dry, sunny days made watering necessary. By the end of the week, our four rain barrels were completely empty. Finally, today it is raining....a good steady soft rain. The kind of rain that...
- Cleaning House
Well, it is the middle of February and soon time for the Eastern Bluebirds to return for nesting. We spent a part of this morning cleaning out all of our nesting boxes in preparation for their arrival. Old, dilapidated boxes were replaced with freshly...
Animals
Bad Breaks (Bad Brakes)
If you have ever had the opportunity to watch a baby bird hatching from its egg,
you will agree with me that it is rather miraculous that we have any birds on this earth
at all!
Peck, peck, peck...
they work so very hard with their little beaks...
which are equipped, by the way, with a little "egg tooth".
This sharp projection on the top of the beak helps to break through the tough egg shell,
and eventually wears away.
The hatching process takes several hours and is exhausting for the tiny bird.
For the past 28 days we have had 7 of Edith's eggs in our incubator.
Edith is our female bourbon red turkey.
Sadly, we had no luck hatching baby turkeys....
in fact, it was a rather tragic weekend.
Three babies broke through their eggs and all three died in the process.
We had read all we could find about hatching turkeys.
Some sources claimed that you must help the chick to break out of the shell.
Other sources claimed you did not need to help them.
We tried both methods...
both failed.
If anyone has any ideas for us....please share!
Sad!
On a happier note, however,
I added 12 chicks to my new flock of guinea keets....
4 Barred Rocks, 4 black sex links, and 4 Rhode Island Reds.
All are doing quite well.
The weekend's weather prediction included a bit of rain...
of which we received none!
Instead, it was fabulously beautiful....
With no rain, though, we were forced to hand-water our 100 blueberries and
20+ young orchard trees.
Hopefully we will get some rain this week!
Saturday, our gator (which was parked at the top of our driveway by the garage)...
decided to let loose of its parking break, make its way backwards down the driveway,
and wrap itself around a tree.
It could have been worse....
if the tree had not stopped it, it might have gone over the edge of a rather steep hill and
ended up in the "holler"!
On this week's To Do List:
1. fix gator
2. order turkey babies
3. do a rain dance... continue watering!
- Who's Who.... Part 4
It seems that everyone that visits the farm is amazed by our turkeys,Tom and Chuck. These two handsome fellows are Bourbon Reds,a heritage breed of turkey.Originally we had ordered 4 just-hatched turkey poults. Only three lived...Tom, Chuck, and Edith....
- Edith
Two weeks ago, our beloved Edith (female Bourbon Red turkey)went missing.And for a week we searched for her.And during that week, you all sent your wishes and hopes that we find her safe. One week ago, we found Edith...sitting on a nest of eggs.You rejoiced...
- Turkey Trivia
Since Thanksgiving is right around the corner,I though I would share some trivia and observationsI have made raising turkeys. Oh, and by the way, we are NOT eating our turkeysfor Thanksgiving.They have gobbled their way into our hearts and we are...
- Rainy Day Projects
Warm weather arrived suddenly this week. Several days of warm, dry, sunny days made watering necessary. By the end of the week, our four rain barrels were completely empty. Finally, today it is raining....a good steady soft rain. The kind of rain that...
- Cleaning House
Well, it is the middle of February and soon time for the Eastern Bluebirds to return for nesting. We spent a part of this morning cleaning out all of our nesting boxes in preparation for their arrival. Old, dilapidated boxes were replaced with freshly...