Watch Those Live Traps!

We have two, "Have a Heart" trap.  My boys were playing with one yesterday and left it on the picnic bench.  They really thought that it was not set, but it was.  Sadly, one of our cats ventured into the trap sometime during the night and was caught.  It was really sad because it rained and the cat was caught in the rain.  And everyone knows that cats don't like the rain!

The good news is that the cat was discovered this morning, sad and wet...but safe.  The boys brought her back and put her in a warm spot with good food.  She was thankful to be out of that trap!  I was thankful she was okay.  The boys were thankful that we have 'kind' traps!

So if you have traps, make sure they are put away and that the children know how to make sure they are not set.

The Egg Layers are here!

My second oldest son started an egg business when he was ten.  He delivered about 50 dozen eggs every two weeks to customers for about three years.  Then we took about a two year break, but with college around the corner, he has decided to start his business up again.  This time he hopes to have 100 dozen eggs for customers every two weeks. 

To achieve this goal, he ordered from Stromberg Hatchery.  He ordered 50 white leg horns; 25 brown leg horns; 25 Americana and 25 Rhode Island Reds.  As usual, he was very pleased with his order.  Upon arrival, we had no dead birds.  This is normal for this hatchery.  We have lost three white leg horns at this point due to the cold the other night and the heat lamps going out, but that is all.  And we do have two others that arrived with leg issues.  We are not sure if they will survive or not, but time will tell.

100 hens for egg production

 

 

 With 125 hens, they came in two boxes.  One box held 100 and the other box held 25 birds.  Of course, we had to make sure they knew how to drink.

Teaching the birds how to drink

 These birds are smaller than the Cornish X rocks, but they feather out quicker.  Today they are already getting their flight feathers.  We love their 'peeps'.  It really is music on the farm!

125 hens...four varieties

The Well is FROZEN!

It happens each year...okay, it happens several times a year...the pipes from the well freeze leaving us with no water in the house. 

I did my very best to prevent that from happening!  Honest, I did!  I ran the dishwasher before I went to bed and then at 3:30 am, I put a couple of items in the dishwasher that I found and ran it from 4:30 to 6:30 am just to have the water going.  But by 8:00 am, we had no water.

Normally we wait and wait and wait for the solar power (sun) to thaw the pipes out but that can be as late as 10:30 am and today, well, I have to be at work by 1:00 pm.  So I looked at my husband and said, "I need water!"  Then I smiled. 

Amazingly, we had water in about five minutes!  Now that is a first!  We have only lived on the farm for 20 years and it normally is a LONG wait.  I really was not expecting water 'quickly'.  How did he solve the problem?  He hit the metal pipes with a blow torch.  He said he was 'gentle' with the pipes and slowly warmed them.  Now this idea I like!  Thanks honey!