Farm News 04-23-06
Sunday morning, after chores, 60°
Monday Morning, After Chores
Suzette had more bunnies. I felt three in the box and decided to leave them alone for a few more days. Shotgun has three kittens: one black, one orange, and one calico. The duckies are still working on their shells. Three have hatched and four more are trying. Drusilla, a Golden Sebright bantam hen, started setting on her eggs yesterday. Chickens take three weeks to hatch.
What a nice Easter Sunday. Duckies hatching, baby bunnies, and kittens all on the same day. Back in the dust bowl days my uncle woke up on an Easter Sunday to find a hen with chicks, a cat with kittens, a sow with thirteen piglets, and a cow with twin heifer calves. Then it rained briefly that afternoon.
Incubation
Nine ducklings hatched from the fourteen eggs in the incubator, a hatch ratio that I can live with. If I had been more careful I might have hatched ten or twelve but no more; one egg was definitely infertile and another was damaged. Nine extra ducks will keep the grasshopper population under control. If I had left it up to the ducks to hatch and raise them there probably wouldn't be more than two or three.
None of the goose eggs have hatched and they are past due. Bebe goose is setting on two, and they have not yet hatched, either. Later this week I will take the eggs out of the incubator and empty Bebe's nest. Bebe and Beth will probably start laying again in a month or so and we can then try again.
Also on Saturday, I received a very excited telephone call from Starra announcing the hatch of a bantam chick. Natalia and Starra, with some help from their parents, are using the transparent top incubator with a dozen bantam eggs in it. Six or more of the eggs are pipped, so it looks like they will have some birds. That classroom incubator is just right for bantam eggs.
Saturday, 4/22, 26 turkey eggs went into the incubator in my office, alongside the goose eggs. The turkey nests now have five eggs left in each of them, enough to keep Blanche and Blue from realizing that their nests have been robbed. They will probably continue to lay until they have ten to fourteen eggs in the nest and then go broody.
Famous Dance Team Leaps Poop in Barnyard
Bree and Caitlyn, two of my favorite girlfriends, came to inspect the baby ducks, bunnies, and kittens. After their inspection they spent quite a bit of time testing the new barn swing, an accidental invention.
The new barn swing is a 1¼”, rope about 15' long, tossed over a 4x4 beam above the ramp to the hayloft in the barn. The barn has 14' high walls, topped with trusses that then hold up the roof. The trusses are oriented north-south. Running east-west, atop the bottom, horizontal, portion of the trusses, is a 18' long 4”x4” timber. The rope is tossed over this timber, leaving about 7' of rope hanging down on each side of the timber. Both ends of the rope terminate in loops about 6” in diameter. Boards or sticks can be slipped between the loops, or feet can be inserted. When the rope is hanging at the westernmost practical position from the beam, the ends of the rope are about 1½” above the ramp. In the easternmost position the ends are about 4' above the ramp.
The girls can, with some difficulty, move the position on the beam from which the rope hangs, thus determining how far it hangs above the ramp. One of the fun games is to bounce down the ramp to the rope and then bounce up and grab it with hands and legs. The rope is simply tossed over the supporting beam, so if you grab only one end you land on your butt. It would leave me limping for a week but eight year olds find it hilarious.
Bree and Caitlyn are both members of a local prize-winning dance troupe. I figure that if either of them should break a leg falling off the swing, their parents would save money and be grateful. Broken bones are covered by health insurance but dance lessons are not, nor do broken bones require as many weekly trips to the city as do dance lessons.
Monday Morning, After Chores
Suzette had more bunnies. I felt three in the box and decided to leave them alone for a few more days. Shotgun has three kittens: one black, one orange, and one calico. The duckies are still working on their shells. Three have hatched and four more are trying. Drusilla, a Golden Sebright bantam hen, started setting on her eggs yesterday. Chickens take three weeks to hatch.
What a nice Easter Sunday. Duckies hatching, baby bunnies, and kittens all on the same day. Back in the dust bowl days my uncle woke up on an Easter Sunday to find a hen with chicks, a cat with kittens, a sow with thirteen piglets, and a cow with twin heifer calves. Then it rained briefly that afternoon.
Incubation
Nine ducklings hatched from the fourteen eggs in the incubator, a hatch ratio that I can live with. If I had been more careful I might have hatched ten or twelve but no more; one egg was definitely infertile and another was damaged. Nine extra ducks will keep the grasshopper population under control. If I had left it up to the ducks to hatch and raise them there probably wouldn't be more than two or three.
None of the goose eggs have hatched and they are past due. Bebe goose is setting on two, and they have not yet hatched, either. Later this week I will take the eggs out of the incubator and empty Bebe's nest. Bebe and Beth will probably start laying again in a month or so and we can then try again.
Also on Saturday, I received a very excited telephone call from Starra announcing the hatch of a bantam chick. Natalia and Starra, with some help from their parents, are using the transparent top incubator with a dozen bantam eggs in it. Six or more of the eggs are pipped, so it looks like they will have some birds. That classroom incubator is just right for bantam eggs.
Saturday, 4/22, 26 turkey eggs went into the incubator in my office, alongside the goose eggs. The turkey nests now have five eggs left in each of them, enough to keep Blanche and Blue from realizing that their nests have been robbed. They will probably continue to lay until they have ten to fourteen eggs in the nest and then go broody.
Famous Dance Team Leaps Poop in Barnyard
[Have you used Wikipedia? In the first two paragraphs several words are underlined or in a different color. They are links to entries in Wikipedia.]
Bree and Caitlyn, two of my favorite girlfriends, came to inspect the baby ducks, bunnies, and kittens. After their inspection they spent quite a bit of time testing the new barn swing, an accidental invention.
The new barn swing is a 1¼”, rope about 15' long, tossed over a 4x4 beam above the ramp to the hayloft in the barn. The barn has 14' high walls, topped with trusses that then hold up the roof. The trusses are oriented north-south. Running east-west, atop the bottom, horizontal, portion of the trusses, is a 18' long 4”x4” timber. The rope is tossed over this timber, leaving about 7' of rope hanging down on each side of the timber. Both ends of the rope terminate in loops about 6” in diameter. Boards or sticks can be slipped between the loops, or feet can be inserted. When the rope is hanging at the westernmost practical position from the beam, the ends of the rope are about 1½” above the ramp. In the easternmost position the ends are about 4' above the ramp.
The girls can, with some difficulty, move the position on the beam from which the rope hangs, thus determining how far it hangs above the ramp. One of the fun games is to bounce down the ramp to the rope and then bounce up and grab it with hands and legs. The rope is simply tossed over the supporting beam, so if you grab only one end you land on your butt. It would leave me limping for a week but eight year olds find it hilarious.
Bree and Caitlyn are both members of a local prize-winning dance troupe. I figure that if either of them should break a leg falling off the swing, their parents would save money and be grateful. Broken bones are covered by health insurance but dance lessons are not, nor do broken bones require as many weekly trips to the city as do dance lessons.
posted by The Geezer at 8:12 AM
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