Farm Update

It’s been a busy few days here at Crafty Farm Girl headquarters. The construction on the new goat house is moving along. I’m beside myself with excitement.

Cloudy’s babies have officially left the nest. This was their last visit with mom.


Do you think birds suffer from “empty nest syndrome”?

The chickens have been enjoying some wonderful dirt baths and take their shade under this one particular tree.


and today I got my second shipment from mypetchicken.com. Unfortunately there were 3 dead chicks in the box when I opened it. I’ve only had one dead chick in a box one time. All the other shipments I’ve ever received were all alive and well. That was sad. The package took 2 days to get to me, which is a day longer than it should have. Some of the chicks were pretty dehydrated when I got them. There are a few that I’m still not too sure about tonight. But, as of right now I’ve added 9 new chicks to the 5 that hatched last weekend.

There is a combination of Black Jersey Giant, Silver Lakenvelder, Black Sumatra, Ameracauna, and Silver Cuckoo Maran. I couldn’t help but order the black sumatra rooster. Look at those amazing tailfeathers! Most of these breeds I’ve never had before, so it will be exciting to see what they grow up to be like.


I took the dead ones out before I took this photo.

After dipping their beaks in the water to show them where it is and give them a little drink, they all went in with the chicks hatched this weekend. At first they stood in their separate little groups.


But within 10 minutes they were all mingling together.


The first little brown chick was very stressed when he arrived. I really didn’t think he was going to make it but he looks pretty good tonight. He’s really fluffy and barely weighs anything at all.The second photo shows this funny looking little black and white chick. It kind of looks like a penguin but it has long legs. That may be the silver lakenvelder.


They instinctually know to spread their wings out to gather the heat from the lamp better. The tiny yellow Old English Bantam chick that hatched this weekend is smaller than the 2-day old chicks!


And look at the tiny wing feathers already on the chicks that hatched this weekend! They grow SO fast.


And whenever I’m in the basement Bullet is standing guard over his chicks.

Tomorrow I leave for the 5-hour drive down to Maryland to pick up my Tennessee Fainting goat doeling! She’ll be 10-1/2 weeks and I cannot wait to meet her. I’ll spend the night in Maryland, pick her up first thing in the morning and head back home. I’ll post pictures of her on Friday night or Saturday. Maybe even video of her fainting!