They're Here!

The post office called at 6:15 Friday morning. The chicks had arrived! Though we have done it nearly every year since coming to the farm, it still tickles me to pick up chicks from the post office. It tickled me a little less this time, though. We've never ordered chicks in mid-January and it was COLD!  Day-old chicks don't withstand cold very well and when we opened the boxes, there were at least 15 that appeared dead. I hate it when that happens, its not unusual to lose one in transit, but 15 was more than a little depressing.

We got them home, hand-dipped each little beak into the waterer so they would understand what that "stuff" was for and tucked them into their pre-warmed tanks in the sunroom. As they warmed up, some of the apparently lifeless birds began to stir a bit so we quickly got them under the heat lamps and hoped for the best. (lesson learned...when its this cold, always get even the limp ones warmed up, you just never know.)

We spent the next 24 hours, hand-watering all those weak little birds, hoping some would make it. So far, some have rallied and others were just too far gone. As of today, we've lost a total of 10 birds from the shipment...better than the original 15 we thought were dead, but still far more than we are used to.

The remaining 120+ birds are doing well, peeping, pooping, running about and sleeping. They are oh-so-entertaining at this stage. Tiny little, beady-eyed fluffballs on toothpick sized legs.

Sorry about the red tint, that is the light from the heat lamps, and using the flash to lighten it up scares the begeezus out of them.

Perspective

Last night as we were in town enjoying a movie, our winter chicken coop burned to the ground. The coop housed more than 100 two-month-old pullets (young chickens) that were to become our laying flock for next season. Thanks to the quick response and hard labor of my parents, the fire didn't spread to any other buildings, the closest of which is our house and the small high tunnel.  Blue and Luci are fine, and the current laying flock was unharmed.

So today we filed a claim with the insurance agent and then called the hatchery and ordered replacement chicks. The new babies will arrive around the 17th so we have 2 weeks to rebuild the coop, the plans for which are already on paper.

When something like this happens, it becomes all about perspective.

Its so sad to think of the loss of all those little birds, the waste of time and life, but it could have been so very much worse. My parents could have not seen it, it could have easily spread to the house or someone could have been injured in the fire. Had it happened today, instead of yesterday, the freezing temps would have made it so much harder to fight. In so many ways it could have been worse.

At the End of the Day...

Warm, dry spring days tend to be busy here on the farm. This shot was taken at the end of just such a day when The Tall Farmer was just plain worn out...

He was sacked out cold (I did check to make sure he was breathing before running for the camera) and slept soundly there for nearly an hour. Blue watched over him and protected him from any opportunistic vultures who might have flown over.

We have done a few things other than nap, new bees have been installed and most of the seedlings have been transplanted up to their pots and are ready to go out the the high tunnel for 'hardening off'. Half of the shelving is up in the smaller high tunnel, ready to receive the seedlings. Much weeding has been done in both tunnels, though there is still much to do. And so farm we are pretty much on schedule with our garden seed sowing. The peas started poking up through the soil in the past couple of days and the asparagus is now growing with purpose. Probably the most exciting new development this week was the nearly magical appearance of our first eggs! Right on schedule (at 26 weeks old) the first of our hens have started laying eggs. We're only getting around a half dozen right now (from 75 birds) but its a good sign that we should start seeing more in the near future.

I know that those of you who know us well probably read the phrase "nearly magical appearance" and thought we had found the first mushrooms of the season, but alas no...just hasn't been warm enough yet. The forcast for the upcoming week is looking good though, so I am predicting that the Morel season will start in southern Iowa within the next 7 days. You can look forward to a full "fungus" report coming soon.

The least exciting event of the past week was the untimely demise of our car (which had more than 150,000 miles on it). Now we are left with "le petite" cargo van for our weekly errands, or one of my parents' cars which they are very generous to lend us. So we find ourselves in the market for a new-to-us car, something with five doors (to facilitate CSA deliveries), good gas mileage and a reliable countanence. This was not a line item on the proposed 2009 Blue Gate Farm budget, so we will see what happens. Until then, if you see a large, white cargo van winding through the gravel roads of Marion County, its just us.

The Early Show

The early dawn today brought the return of a bi-annual tradition on the farm. The cycling of the chicken flock. Our current laying flock is now nearly two years old and well past their prime. We have 52 hens and were getting 4-8 eggs a day. Not a very good "feed-to-egg" conversion!

So this morning the alarm went off at 3:30am and we drug ourselves out of bed, suited up in our Carharts and went out into the early morning to crate up the flock. This sounds fairly simple, and it really should be, but somehow it tends to be more of a Keystone Cop episode.

Regardless, at 4:20am, Sean set off down the road, sharing the trip with 52 hens and one rooster. I hope its going well, because they will be in that van for more than 3 hours together. Its a ridiculously long trip, but there aren't many lockers that will process chickens at this time of year. Sean will return late this evening with 2 coolers full of farm-raised, stewing hens ready to go into the freezer and we will look forward to homemade chicken soup, chicken and noodles and our own chicken salad sandwiches for 2009. Such is the cycle of life on the farm.