Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Baby Buzzards in the Barn

We have a Buzzard that has been living in the Old Barn(Pic) for a few years. Every year she shows up in the spring and lays two eggs in the loft of the barn. It is a nice dry place for her. I was brave enough to climb up in the loft to get some pictures this year. I must admit I had Wendy watching for the mother coming back. Last thing I want is to be trapped in the loft with a buzzard pecking my eyes out!

The babies are about the size of a grown chicken.

From Our Farm

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Baby chicks are born

Our broody buff has hatched her first eggs. The kids discovered the chicks had made small holes in the egg shell after church this morning. We checked again after church tonight and the first chick was completely out of the shell but still wet and cold.

It is truly amazing that an egg can turn into a chick in 21 days. We have been trying to hatch some eggs in an incubator and i am amazed at how much has to go right to get an egg to hatch. The eggs do not start hatching until all the eggs are laid and the hen starts to sit on them. They lay in a suspended state until somehow all of them knowing exactly when to start growing so they all hatch the same day. The temperature has to be exactly right. If the incubator is off just half a degree the chicks will not hatch yet the hen gets it just right. If the humidity is to high the chicks will drown in the egg or to low and they dry out. Again the hen knows exactly what humidity level the eggs should be at. The eggs also have to be rotated a few times each day. If they are not rotated the chick will stick to the egg shell.

Struggling with all these rules in the incubator leaves me amazed that God can create a hen that instinctively knows how to do it all without any training. The miracle of life is truly amazing!





From Our Farm

Saturday, May 8, 2010

New Fainting Goats

We got new fainting goats this week. Wendy and I have a morbid sense of humor because we have enjoyed watching these guys go stiff legged and belly up like they are dead.

The kids named the goats Billy and Blue Bell. Hope my mom is not upset our goats are name after her dad Billy Beal? He would find it funny:)

I spent two days building an electric fence for them and decided to put them in the new pen today. I read all the web sites on how to keep goats with an electric fence and was confident my design would hold them. I turned on the power and put the goats in the pen. As soon as their feet hit the ground they ran toward the fence and went right through it. They acted like it wasn't even there. They never slowed down as they crossed the fence and ran across the open field. Then they hit the road and kept going down it until it ended and then went into the woods. They just kept going and going... I just sat there with my mouth open. It was like they knew where they were going and planned to go as soon as I put them down. I went and got the golf cart and started riding around the woods and looking for them. After searching for an hour I started on my way back home and they were at the old house place eating grass. They had circled back on me somewhere. I knew my only chance to catch them was to floor it and blow the horn when I got right on them. It worked! Billy fainted and rolled over like he was dead. I jumped out of the golf cart like a rodeo cowboy and tied a rope around his neck before he regained his legs. I successfully got him on the cart and Bell followed as I carried him back. She wanted to be with him more than she wanted to be free.

I am starting over on the pen design. I took the electric fence charger back to Tractor supply today and got some real fence post for a traditional fence. We will see if this works.

From Our Farm