Long-time-no-post Farm Updates

Yes, it has been just this side of forever since I have posted, but the reality is that spring/summer is super busy on a farm, and computer time just hasn't been happening.

So, we are up to about 18-21 eggs/day now, which is lovely. The girls are doin' me proud!

We have also been busy with peeps. Remember that Prissy was setting on eggs? Well, 4 hatched out on Memorial Day, and she promptly lost interest in the whole mom thing, so we had to take the peeps away so she couldn't keep stepping on them! Then I let Rosaline (my hubby's favorite Americauna) have a pile of eggs to nurture, since she was also annoyingly broody. Unfortunately, she apparently does not pass "egg-rearing 101" because not a single one hatched, and I was left with a stinky pen to clean up.

Not to be deterred, I purchased a used incubator from a neighbor, and we hatched out 9 babies. Seven of these are pure Americauna and they are all adorable. I helped them all bust out of their shells, and they are quite sure I am their mommy. Just like the children's book, "Are You My Mommy?" these little ones hear my voice and start calling to me, and if they were loose I am positive they would be crowded around my feet all day. Several of them have taken to jumping into my hand anytime I reach my hand their way. So of course they get snuggled, and played with. My kids are thrilled about the constant flow of peeps these days and spend a fair amount of time with a chick or two in their laps. This farm life is a real hardship, I tell ya...

And in news related to a previous post... Sir Robin may need a new name. We may have to re-dub him Peter. My neighbor has a very large, very tidy vegetable garden, and Robin got caught eating ripe tomatoes off the vine! Which of course started me thinking of Mr. McGregor's vendetta against poor little Peter Rabbit. So, my neighbor, whose name I can never remember, is now being referred to here as Mr. McGregor, and Robin is in time-out in an apartment, lest he cause me further embarrassment.

We have a new batch of peeps ready to hatch in a little over a week. Hopefully we will have at least 50% of these hatch, I have hopes, since we have a better command of the temp control now that we've had some practice with this incubator.

Check out the cute fluffy cheeks! I will take some more updated pics of these little cuties later today, they're ready to graduate from my bathtub to the pen outside. They are a couple weeks old now, but this pic is from when they were just a day old.