A snowy, snowy day on the farm!

It is a snowy day here in Northern Virginia.  We don't get much snow so people get excited when we get an inch.  Everything shuts down.  Today, we have about three inches on the farm and it seems only the new batch of ducks is noticing.  They hatched this summer and this is their first snow experience.  They weren't real excited to step outside!

*** I know you'll ask about Gandolf, the Great Pyrenees.  We love this guy and he isn't always locked up.  However, he is an escape artist and a wandering Nelly so until we have fencing that he can't breech, he is locked up unless supervised.  Even then we have to be inside a fenced area of the farm- which is most anywhere- because he doesn't listen to commands.  In addition, he still thinks the chickens are play things.  Not a mean bone in his body but I don't think the birds like being tossed in the air like balls.  Love the guy, but he's an independent spirit.  Sometimes I feel bad for him but I would feel worse if we lost him or if he were run over by a car.  So know he is loved and that he has plenty of freedom.

The Ducklings

I know I'm biased but these ducklings have grown up to be quite handsome!

A week in farm pictures!

We had an icy start to the week but overall a great week with beautiful sunsets!!

A Week of Fall Farm Pictures!

Fall is so beautiful on the farm.  I feel like I can't take enough pictures!  Enjoy and have a great week!

Warm breakfast snacks with extra protein for the molting chickens.

Ducklings again! But so cute!

Check out our youtube video and channel to see our ducklings!
http://youtu.be/uzGNF8pWOb4

Ducklings!

In spite of my policy of 'no more mouths to feed', my turkey hens surprised me but incubating a collection of duck eggs.  The two turkey hens did a great job sitting on the eggs and helping the baby chicks inside develop.  Do you know how long a hen must sit on duck eggs before the ducklings are ready to hatch?

Twenty eight days.

That is a long time to sit if you ask me.  When the first egg hatched, they were not excited to find a duckling.  Our Narragansett turkeys lay eggs with light brown spots so when I investigated their cache of eggs and noticed all the smooth white ones, I knew more ducklings were bound to hatch and I confiscated all of them.  Here are the turkey hens.

I put the eggs into our incubator making certain the temperature was set at about 101F degrees and that there was enough humidity which should be around 65%.  The humidity makes the eggs a bit easier to crack for the duckling.   It didn't take long for the ducklings to start emerging!  The hens had done the hard work of sitting on them and keeping them warm for son long. In the first twelve hours, four hatched.

They aren't pretty when they are coming out.  The duckling will be wet when he or she comes out and very tired.  It will spend time in the heated incubator drying off and resting before being moved to another box with a heat lamp to keep it warm, food, water and other ducklings.

I still had one more egg that was going to hatch.  You can see the first cracks in the egg in the picture below.  This little guy took a long time to come out.  After about 24 hours I became worried and did some research to try to determine if he was OK inside the egg.  It can take up to 48 hours for a chick to hatch but there is a way to 'see' if the chick is OK.  Can you guess what it is?

You carefully pick up the egg and hold it to your ear.  If they chick is doing well and trying to hatch, you'll hear the tap, tap, tap of it's beak against the shell.  I tried it and it was true!  I could hear this little guy tapping away.

I decided to video tape the final hatching and set up my video camera to wait.  

But I made the mistake of leaving to do an errand.  When I came back thirty minutes later, this is what I saw!

Just out of the egg!

And so cute just twelve hours later!

The little family of FIVE!

Things I have learned living and working on a farm

You can’t sneak up on a goose.

When a turkey ‘bites’ you, it hurts.  And you get a bruise.

Pigs are really amazingly smart animals.

If you want to play with pigs, you’re going to stink.

Birds of a feather flock together.

Get your work done while the sun shines.

Never ever carry an egg in your pocket.

Do not put off things you see need to be done. 

Prepare for the worst.

If your water tank is half full, fill it up.

If it’s going to freeze overnight, fill up extra water buckets just in case.

You can’t keep a duck out of water.

Geese make great watch dogs.

The biggest dogs are often the gentlest.

Animals are smarter than we think.

A rooster takes care of his hens.

There is a hierarchy of being in any animal group.

Most farm animals aren’t real cuddly.

Animals recognize their families and you!

A change from your usual clothing makes you appear as an unknown intruder.

You can see alot more than you think in the dark.

Turkeys have a very large vocabulary.  

Any 'mother' has an intense attachment to her babies and innate mothering skills.

Pigs show emotions.

One of the pleasures of being a farm bird is the morning wing flapping ritual.

What is your morning stretch?

What do you do when you first get out of bed in the morning?  Many of us have routines we follow and some of us like a big stretch!  This short video shows the birds leaving one of our poultry houses first thing in the morning.  The ducks LOVE to stand on their toes, stretch their bodies towards the sky and frantically flap their wings.  It must feel great to them!  

If you're having trouble seeing the video, you can see it on  youtube here:
 http://youtu.be/msE2lsWs3jg

Cold Winter Mornings

It's a sunny, cold winter morning here so by my standards, it's really nice!  Even when the weather feels terrible to us, all of our animals need our care and attention.  There are no sick days on a farm!

Before you were even out of bed, I put on my snow boots (my Boggs were fine for today keeping my feet warm and dry), my overalls (gosh! These keep you so warm!) my coat, hat, gloves) and went to brave the cold to take care of everyone.
 

The ducks were quacking and happy to see me when I opened the door of their house to let them outside.  Ducks like to stand on their toes and pull their heads and bodies towards the sky as they quickly flap their wings many times as their morning stretch.
 

Cherokee, the turkey who you saw yesterday always comes out chirping as do the five chickens who live in the same house.
 

This morning I had to carry water from our house because all of the outside water is frozen.  Birds and animals should always have free access to fresh water.
 

Lastly, this group gets a scoop of 'scratch' which consists of a couple types of grain in small kernels.  I spread this around their pen so they'll actively search the ground looking for pieces.  This helps keep them warm.
 

After I've taken care of all our other farm friends, I'm headed back inside for a warm drink and some breakfast! 

And you would be surprised, but all the animals know when to expect me.  The horses expect their grain about 8am.  Today I went late and here they were waiting!