Tuesday, June 16, 2009

I'm Back

I have finally caught up on most all of my rope halter orders. I currently only have two small orders to fill. This spring has been horribly busy for us and I hope things will slow down enough for us to catch our breath.

My fingers are really sore from working on the halters and the pinky on my left hand and the middle, ring and pinky on my right hand are all starting to curl under with arthritis. Keyboarding is getting difficult for me. I can't imagine not being able to blog anymore. Getting old just stinks and I would advise you younger folks out there not to try it.

Out of 18 eggs my hen managed to hatch nine chicks. All of the hatchlings were banties, most of them have feathered feet. When we broke open the unhatched eggs, the three other banty eggs had dead chicks in them but the six standard eggs were still yolks. None of the standards had been fertilized as I had suspected. I am going to have to get a different rooster if I ever hope to raise some standard chickens.

One of the chicks got smashed by its oversized Mother. The other eight are doing well. Mom steps on their little feet sometimes and they cry and pull but can't get away until she takes another step then the poor things go tumbling. They are great fun to watch, my DH says that in her exuberance to scratch up a meal that she inadvertently buries a few of them but they always manage to dig their way out.

I was tempted to take them away from their Mother, put them in a safe place and raise them myself. But after all of the work that she did and with her knowing how to take better care of chicks than I could ever know, I decided to let her do it herself. Even with these chicks being half the size of what her biological children would be, I still think she knows best.

I am going to do my best to get back to work and blog every day. This is the best way that I have found to keep a daily journal that I can refer back to when I fail to write important dates on my calendar.

3 comments:

Jiller said...

We are so glad you are back! We missed you! Sounds like you have had your hands full with all the halters.

Hugs,
Jiller

Jenny said...

I put a broody hen on 16 guinea eggs. and she managed to hatch out only two. None of the others even developed. It is my first time with a mama raising the babies, though, and it's so nice to not have to worry about setting up the brooder and all that. She's also doing great with them despite their diminutive size. I guess it's just natural instinct for them to mother. I can't help marveling at the process that takes the eggs from fresh-laid to darling babies in just a few weeks.
~Jenny~

ooglebloops said...

Is that your link on the sidebar - horse and goat halters? I might want to order one for my mini! She is hard to fit, so I will go out and measure her nose band size, and see if you have one!!!

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