Yea! I have laying hens again! It's been 3 years since an egg has been layed in our coop, and I've missed it! Very quickly, Dan built three hole nesting box, I found a family selling Rhode Island Reds in Granville and Saturday I went and picked up six layers. They probably think they won the lottery: now having so much space and so little competition and especially, no rooster to bother them (yet!). Dan found one egg layed on the floor of the coop this morning and when Abigail and I got home this evening, we found one in the nesting box. I anticipate 3-4 eggs a day, once they have adjusted to their new surroundings.
Lots of snow still piled up. Maybe two feet total? It's still pretty. I'd be OK with it if we just didn't get anymore...
Excited for spring. We've had a few mild days. Time to look at seed catalogues~
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Saturday, February 06, 2010
Snow
It began snowing here at 11:30 a.m. yesterday. It came down hard and fast. Seemed like we got 6" in 6 hours. Dan shoveled around 5 and then again at 7. This morning, we have no less than 6 more inches. Too bad for Abigail and me that Dan is at the station today. We are on shovel duty now! My neighbor measures precipitation for the weather bureau and she told me this morning we received 14" - and it is still coming down a bit. Last night, it was so beautiful.....heavy on the trees. I should have taken pics then. We have a good wind going so it's blown off the trees now, mostly. I still took some pics today.
Abby is getting all her trails made. When we have snow, she has a path from the garage to the barn and the barn to the pasture (up to her fair steer) and from there along the house to the garage. Once she gets the paths tread down, it's not so hard getting around.
My daughter's morning: starts with bundling up (this includes putting on her headphones for her MP3, carhart coveralls and her 'gator' - a face covering that looks JUST like the headgear they put on Hanibal Lector in that movie....yikes!), filling 3-4 gallon jugs with water and carrying them and grain up to her steer, (his name is Seifer) feed and water him, give him hay from a bale she keeps up there, hook up the hose for the 8 steers we have and fill their water tank (if the faucet or some of the hose is frozen, she has to pour hot water over it till it melts), climbs in their hay feeder to tear the center core of the bale apart for them and push it to the edges (they are still little and can't get to the center of the feeder), drain the hose, carry from the barn enough wood for the day (this will be several loads, she can use the wheel barrow, except not through 14" of snow!), and today....shovel.
Since I'm snowbound today, I'm hoping to get through all my paperwork and carve out enough time to make some seed decisions and order with a friend from Seed of Change........Spring's a comin'!
I forgot to post about that ornery steer that got into our neighbor's pasture. A couple of Sunday's ago, we were ready to go to church and Dan saw that steer was again in the neighbor's pasture! And, this time he took a friend! So, off with the church clothes, and on with the farm clothes. We loaded up cattle panels to make a small corral and the trailer and headed on over. Multiple thanks to the Lord: It wasn't snowing and freezing - only raining (much easier to get around and not as cold), they moved easier as a small 'herd', than when it was only one, and it only took half the time to get the job done than last time. We were so thankful!
When we got them back, we changed the pasture set up so they are insulated with our other pastures and that's where they will hopefully stay. So far, no other fence jumping episodes!
And, that ornery steer....it's a heifer. A she, not a he. Does that surprise me?? Abigail was watching the herd closely one day and two of the animals are girls. (they pee from under their tails...) we just never looked closely before.
Abby is getting all her trails made. When we have snow, she has a path from the garage to the barn and the barn to the pasture (up to her fair steer) and from there along the house to the garage. Once she gets the paths tread down, it's not so hard getting around.
My daughter's morning: starts with bundling up (this includes putting on her headphones for her MP3, carhart coveralls and her 'gator' - a face covering that looks JUST like the headgear they put on Hanibal Lector in that movie....yikes!), filling 3-4 gallon jugs with water and carrying them and grain up to her steer, (his name is Seifer) feed and water him, give him hay from a bale she keeps up there, hook up the hose for the 8 steers we have and fill their water tank (if the faucet or some of the hose is frozen, she has to pour hot water over it till it melts), climbs in their hay feeder to tear the center core of the bale apart for them and push it to the edges (they are still little and can't get to the center of the feeder), drain the hose, carry from the barn enough wood for the day (this will be several loads, she can use the wheel barrow, except not through 14" of snow!), and today....shovel.
Since I'm snowbound today, I'm hoping to get through all my paperwork and carve out enough time to make some seed decisions and order with a friend from Seed of Change........Spring's a comin'!
I forgot to post about that ornery steer that got into our neighbor's pasture. A couple of Sunday's ago, we were ready to go to church and Dan saw that steer was again in the neighbor's pasture! And, this time he took a friend! So, off with the church clothes, and on with the farm clothes. We loaded up cattle panels to make a small corral and the trailer and headed on over. Multiple thanks to the Lord: It wasn't snowing and freezing - only raining (much easier to get around and not as cold), they moved easier as a small 'herd', than when it was only one, and it only took half the time to get the job done than last time. We were so thankful!
When we got them back, we changed the pasture set up so they are insulated with our other pastures and that's where they will hopefully stay. So far, no other fence jumping episodes!
And, that ornery steer....it's a heifer. A she, not a he. Does that surprise me?? Abigail was watching the herd closely one day and two of the animals are girls. (they pee from under their tails...) we just never looked closely before.
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