Our two groups of incubator eggs hatched this weekend, and we now have 16 fluffballs running around the brooder. Some of the eggs were shipped, and the hatching results were mediocre at best. Here’s how it shook out:
11 Black Copper Marans eggs: of these eggs shipped from about 45 minutes away (seller wouldn’t allow pickup), 5 of the 6 that made it to lockdown ultimately hatched. All eggs were intact when picked up from the Post Office. There were a few clears, a couple of blood rings, and one late quitter. Hatching was around day 22. Continue reading “Get Your Freshly-Hatched Chick Pics Here!”
Our most recent litters of kits are 16 days old – time is flying by! Siobhán’s 4 kits are healthy and very well fed, and Oonagh’s 7 also look great.
Our two first-time moms, Siobhán and Oonagh, kindled 9 days ago. Each had 7 kits, and they all appeared healthy. Over the next few days, that changed. 3 of Siobhán’s kits died.
We strive to use as much of the natural bounty on the farm as possible. So far, we’ve made water kefir with the mulberries and blackberries that grew untended. We’ve also been keeping an eye on several black walnut trees that will drop nuts in the fall, with the idea that we’d like to have our pigs (yet to be acquired) take advantage of those.
It gladdens the heart and makes the stomach happy to have a delicious, hearty breakfast made from local ingredients. One breakfast we had this week was comprised of our own chicken eggs, Bluegrass Beef breakfast sausage, Daily Bread asiago cheese and garlic bread, and Happy Jack Pumpkin and Produce potatoes fried in lard we rendered from local pork fat. Sublime!
When you look at the photo of the potato, what do you see? A freak of nature or something unique and, in its own right, cool?