wyodreamer - we're not in Wyo any more

[wyoDreamer]

DH bought me aSLR camera for Christmas. So here yougo…

Our new Barn cat - MissKitty

 

[wyoDreamer]

The temps were going to get pretty low last night, so i plugged in the heat plate for the chicks. I grabbed one of the EE and placed it on the heat plate and held it there for a moment. It stayed there, so I tried to herd the rest of the gang over to the heat plate. They were standing next to it, so I figured "close enough" and went back into the house for an hour to let them settle down again. DH went out and there was still only 1 on the heat plate and teh rest went back to the far corner where they had been sleeping. He moved 6 more over to the heat plate and got them settled on it. The last little EE wouldn't let him grab her so he figured she would eventually join the others. As soon as his giant arm left the brooder, she ran over to the others, climbed over them and laid down.
All up and peeping this morning looking for feed. They sure are active little girls. The little brats had scratched all the feed out of the feeder and into the wood shavings...

 

[milkmansdaughter]

Aw, so sorry to hear one passed away. Even when it is expected, it's always a sad moment, much more so when it is unexpected. I hope the others continue to do well for you.

I'm really glad you mentioned getting chicks. I had a hen sitting on a clutch of eggs for almost a month, without any eggs hatching. Your post came at just the right time. I ran up to TSC and picked up 8 CC Fryers, and exchanged those eggs for chicks and I now have a very happy momma hen. And I should have 8 more ready for the freezer right around the time I'd be culling anyway. Chicks have a natural source of heat, Momma has chicks, and I'll have a full freezer come winter. It's a good thing all the way around!

 

[wyoDreamer]

My Sapphire Gems have started laying! I went to give them water this morning and there were 2 little eggs laying right by their food dish. I know that I checked the nest box earlier this week and it was empty, but this morning there were 6 eggs in there. One had been stepped on, so I tossed that one out, but the other 5 are in the basket in the house.

One of the browns died on Tuesday. It looked like she had prolapsed at some point. I would guess on Saturday, but not sure. There was some blood smears in the coop but all the birds looked healthy and happy so I didn't worry about it too much. Since she passed though, there has not been any indication of egg eating going on. I wonder if she has been having reproductive problems for a while and was laying soft/shell-less eggs and that was what was triggering the egg eating.

If the egg eating has stopped, then I don't have to butcher any chickens until spring. Yay!

 

[baymule]

Today is warm and sunny. High of 50ish, low tonight 28*. Hibernate? I would go nuts. I can't be inactive, I MUST go outside! A couple days of rainstorms and I am climbing the walls. I spent most of the morning outside, had a new lamb last night and I hung out with the dogs and sheep. Then I had to come in to wrap Christmas presents for our grand daughters, going there tonight so they can open the presents.

 

[wyoDreamer]

I just got some chicks. A co-workers wife ordered 20 chicks - she wanted a dozen and a neighbor asked her to order some for him. However, he is now ill and doesn't think he can take care of them so she needed to find a home for the rest. Since I have not gotten any new layers this year, I said I would take them.

They are a week old, and the she had them under a heat lamp. I checked on them last evening and they were standing in a corner in a cluster. They were not peeping, but I could tell they were starting to get chilly as they were all puffed up. I did get the brooder cleaned up an the heater cave set up for them, but obviously they were not using it.

One by one, I put them under the cave on the heat mat and held them there for a few seconds so they could feel the warmth. They all ran back out to the corner peeping, trying to get under the other chicks to get warm.

Then I realized, they were looking for the heat LAMP, to them heat had to be light. I turned off the lights directly overhead the brooder so that it was a little darker in there. That really got them distress peeping. Then, one by one I put them under the cave on the heat mat. 2 minutes later, no distress peeping, no pig pile in the corner trying to get warm, and no light to keep them awake and active.

This morning, they were out and about. They had finished off the food that I left last night and were darting back under the cave to warm up, then popping out to scratch through the shavings looking for more to eat. Happy little peeps.

 

[wyoDreamer]

Well, Mr. Rooster made his first crow this morning. After I filled their feeder and as I was walking away, he crowed loud and clear! I think he was wanting me to toss in some BOSS for them, but I had to get going on my way to work and didn't bother to go get any from the other end of the barn. Obviously, he forgot how he made that cock-a-doodle-doo, because as I was driving out, I could hear him back to his teenage croaking, lol.

 

[wyoDreamer]

Now that the COLD, sub-zero temps are past the chickens are starting to lay again. It is not going to be long before we are over-run with eggs.
I brought in 8 eggs yesterday, 7 of them were the little pullet eggs. My new EE is laying the same green color egg that the Sapphire Gem EE lays, only smaller. I am sure those eggs will get to full size soon and I will not be able to tell the difference.

 

[wyoDreamer]

Well, it has been a heck of a ride job wise.

April 6th Interview with JOB#1 - i thought I interviewed well, I was excited about that, but the job may not be all it is cracked up to be. Close to the same awful work atmosphere as my last job, maybe a little better I would hope. Higher stress level than last job. Start at less pay, but bump in pay after certification.

April 12 contacted by JOB#2 - saw my resume on Indeed and wanted to talk.

April 13 - offer from JOB#1 - one dollar less per hour than last job and only 1 week vacation per year. Turns out this is a job through a temp agency and I won't be a JOB#1 employee for at least 6 months at minimum. At my last job, some of those temps didn't get hired for over a year. I said not interested unless they up the vacation time.

April 13 Interview with JOB#2 - went well, sounds like a much better job. They will email application.

April 14, 9 AM - JOB#2 application filled out and sent in.

April 14th, 2 pm - JOB#1 came back with same low pay ($1 less than I was making before) but now 2 weeks of vacation. Need answer that night or next morning...

April 15th 9 am - contact JOB#2 and let them know I got an offer from JOB#1 and was wondering if they were interested in me or not - I had to give JOB#1 an answer soon.

April 15th, 11 am - job offer from JOB#2 - 50 cent raise from last position and 3 weeks vacation per year, plus 3 sick days and 9 holidays. I took the job. Happy to let the headhunter know that I was not accepting JOB#1 offer.

I am writing a letter to the manager at JOB#1 that I interviewed with to thank her for her time and interest in me.

So yay ME! I start my new job in a week.

 

[wyoDreamer]

So yesterday morning, I got up early and took the dog outside. I decided to feed the barn cats right away and I took dog to do chores. Got about 3 steps out of the fenced yard and look over and see a doe and 2 fawns in the fenced orchard area. Can you really call it fenced if the gates don't have fencing panels on them? Anyway, it took a good 3 minutes to convince dog that he needed to go back into the fenced yard - meanwhile, doe is standing in garden watching me. I finally got dog put away so he won't chase the deer and I start walking toward the garden, explaining to mama deer that she shouldn't teach her babies to come into my garden for breakfast. Telling them it is really rude to walk through the closed gate frame and eat all the tender new leaves and twigs from the little apple trees. Doe finally decides to calmly walk out of the garden area, meanwhile the fawns keep running and jumping into the fence trying to get away.

DH finished the gates on Sunday. Nice to have that done after 4 years. I should have just done them before, but we kept disagreeing on how to do them. Done the way I wanted but with a DH twist. they look nice.