Finally - Lucy Goosey is stuck to that nest like glue!
I was hoping she'd start brooding earlier because I've got her earlier eggs in the incubator and I know at least a couple of 'em are developing. I'd pulled some when she first started laying, and then after I candled those I put the 'duds' back in the nest and took more of the fresher eggs she'd laid in the interim. Good on more eggs - bad on having two different due dates. Ummm, well... I guess I'll have 3 different due dates if any of the last eggs she laid are fertile. Gee whiz... I have to figure out a way to get them all under her (if they actually hatch). I don't wanna be hand raising no goose babies - even though - Lucy is a hand raised gal who is so bonded to me that she'll let me mess with her while she's nesting. Maybe hand raised is not such a bad idea.
Couple days ago I candled a bunch of eggs that I had in the incubator. I must have had two dozen Silver Gray Dorking eggs and I musta pulled 20 of 'em for being infertile. Hmmmmm.... When I first got into the SGDorkings I bought a dozen eggs from a guy (he gave me three extra) and out of those 15 eggs only 3 were fertile and only 1 hatched. The one that hatched is a gorgeous roo - much better quality than the hatchery birds I have him with. But, I'm beginning to see a problem here... The eggs he came from were mostly infertile, and the eggs I'm trying to hatch from him are mostly infertile. I don't think I've ever known of a rooster shooting blanks, but kinda looks like Mr. Dorkster has an 'issue' with his swimmers...
I do have two extra hatchery roos that are in the kill pen...maybe one of 'em (or both) will get a pardon, lol. The problem with them is that they are just not the quality that I want and I feel like it'll set back my improvement plan to use them. But - there will be no improvement plan at all if I can't get any babies. :/
Probably wont' get a lot of farming done this weekend. DH is picking up our oldest grandson (11) Friday afternoon. He'll spend the night and then we have to get him back to NW Houston for his baseball game by 3 on Saturday afternoon. It'll be a short/sweet visit but it'll also keep me from getting much of anything else done. Ahhhh, who cares? He's a great kid and if a gramma can't give her grandson some undivided attention - what kind of gramma is she anyway? He's a blast and if it weren't so muddy he'd be out in the middle of the 'farm' with me as much as possible. I'll probably let him try his hand at milking Red, but that's about the extent of it.
Our weather is teasing us. We've had nothing but clouds and rain for a few days now. Today and for the next couple days it'll be clear and nice, but back to freezing by Sunday. What's up with that? It's so hard to remember that it's still February and not officially spring yet - no matter how much I wish it! I know lots of you have it LOTS worse - so I'm not gonna whine about what we've got.
Guess I better start earning my paycheck.
You gotta post pics too ya know 
