A Quiet Friday

 Thank you for all of your very kind comments lately. I don't know what's going on but I stayed up late Thursday night and replied back to all of them individually and then I had a long influx of emails telling me they were undeliverable. 😩

Technology and I do not compute. I was tired and frustrated. Many of your comments come through as anonymous so even if you sign your name at the bottom, I don't know if my replies get back to you. Anonymous comments are fine; I just feel badly about not being able to reciprocate - especially when questions are asked.

I apologize. I so appreciate that you take the time to pop in for a visit and I like to reply back.

 The shower I posted about yesterday didn't last long. It barely measured 0.10 here but we are grateful for every drop and the evening fire report mentioned that it helped subdue the flames in higher elevations where they received a little more.

Friday morning I was still out of sorts. They have cleared the fire perimeter and have begun to back-burn which means lots and lots of smoke. I feel for the people and critters having to be out in that and I felt guilty that I had the luxury of being indoors after tending to chores. The chickens started out their morning with a little hen session. Probably complaining that it was time for a good coop cleaning.

 My FIL sent this photo from his home. They are 40 miles from us although as the crow flies, they are maybe 30. We live on the other side of that mountain range.

They reported 19,088 acres Friday evening from 17, 116 that morning. There was a lot of air traffic throughout Thursday and into Friday. I took this from the deck. I counted 9 aircraft in 20 minutes. They dumped 150,000 gallons  of water on the fire on Thursday.

DH had left at 5 a.m. on Thursday to pick up cattle guards in east Texas. On the way, he stopped in Portales, NM to pick up 6 gates. We are building a new fence around the property and the gates will allow him easy access when he is horseback or if we need to take equipment or the can-am through. We had put this one in a few weeks ago

He then stopped in Texas and had lunch with his brother and his wife and then drove on to Oklahoma and spent the night with our girl. She was returning from a business trip that evening and DH left out early Friday morning so sadly, they were only able to spend about 45 minutes visiting.

Then DH moved on to pick up cattle guards and after another 3 hour drive, he picked up more bees. He pulled back in at 9:30 p.m. 1250 miles in 40 hours. I know he is tired, but he admits that it is self-inflicted. He has gone hard all his life and the transition after leaving ranch management has not changed that. We were up at 5 this morning to unload the trailer

With all the smoke on Friday, I cleaned my floors and then spent time in my sewing room. It's been a couple of weeks since I sat down to sew. I began to relax as soon as I walked in. I cut out a baby quilt and actually sewed all the blocks in one day. 

That never happens. And this seasoned fabric that has been in my stash for years was perfect for sashing. I had just enough.

Then I trimmed up 4 quilts I picked up from my longarmer. The 'to be bound' pile is getting unruly.

An entire day to sew. That's a rare treat!

Lord Love a Duck!

 DH has been banned from going to town unsupervised. 😉

He came home with 3 baby ducks on Wednesday. 🥰

We just moved the 7 baby Red Jungle Fowl into the coop on Monday, cleaned out the brooder and put the heat lamp away.

They're getting big

The first batch of chicks are enjoying their freedom

Just yesterday I heard the little rooster let out his first wobbly crow

Welcome to the funny farm, babies

Adding to the Flock

Yes, we have 6 laying hens. 

Yes, we have 4 guineas.

Yes, we just added 18 baby chicks.

Yes, we have more than we need.

 

Yes, I just picked up 7 more.

Yes, we may be in need of an intervention. 😂

Peep! Peep!

 Every 3 years I refresh my chicken flock, keeping the old hens and adding new ones. I've got 6 old ones and hoped to add 12 babies. They are in high demand, hard to come by and much more expensive this year. The Farm Store was selling 2500 on Friday and they were expecting to be sold out that day. We weren't sure if we'd go in so DH had picked up 6 chicks at Tractor Supply on Thursday when he went in to get some metal, but we ended up pulling poor E out of bed just after 5 and drove the 56 miles to town, thinking we'd have to wait in line. Surprisingly, there wasn't one. 

 It was fun to introduce her to the new babies

She's an eager egg collector 

At the Farm Store, you get 6 chicks if you buy a 50# bag of start and grow so I bought a dozen. 18 is more than we need, but I share eggs with my in-laws and my long arm quilter, and DH thinks there may be some attrition here in the mountains. These little fuzzballs are too cute.

This year we added 2 black Sex-links, 1 California White, 3 Chocolate Orpingtons, 3 Easter Eggers, 3 Production Reds, 3 Buff Orpingtons, and 3 Barred Rocks. 

An empty water trough makes a great brooder and they stay warm with a heat lamp in the shop

They won't begin to earn their keep for about 18-20 weeks, but it's fun to watch them grow and peek in on their antics. Their little feathers are already beginning to emerge.

We probably should have built a bigger coop. 😉 

Coop Complete!

 Earlier this week we finally finished the chicken compound.

We started working on it before Christmas. I don't even want to think how much time DH put into this

I helped DH make the nesting boxes out of plywood we had sitting around...which means he did 99% of the work

Then it was on to the roost.      

                                  

 Everything is perfectly level and square and the chickens and guineas had better appreciate the attention to detail. 😄 

                                         

And yes, that is my dough scraper shoveling out the sawdust after DH beveled the edges of the nesting boxes. 😂 We are 'think outside of the box' workers.

While DH was off for a few days checking our cows, I sealed everything in the coop with Linseed oil

After a few days, it dried and the chickens and guineas were introduced to their new home (the chickens were outside)

I think they like it though because the first morning I had eggs! 

DH has begun to demolish the old coop. 

Doc built it in one of the horse stalls which worked well for them, but we wanted to reclaim the stalls for horses.  The skid steer has been doing a lot of heavy lifting lately

When we talked about building a chicken coop /yard, we never dreamed it would be such a big project. DH did such a nice job. 

                            

It's perfect for our little flock and in a few weeks it will be time for new baby chicks!

Peep! Peep!

 This week we had our usual Monday sale on Tuesday so folks could enjoy Easter. If the sale's on Monday, the sale barn crew has to work on Sunday, receiving cattle. It was a short sale, as holiday sales generally are, and we were finished at noon. That gave me time to run a few errands and bring home a dozen of these

Every 3 years or so I replenish my flock as the older chickens move into retirement:

This year I brought home 3 Red Sex Links, 3 Black Sex Links, 3 Red Productions, and 3 Easter Eggers.

I hauled an empty water tub into the bunkhouse and set up a little brooder to welcome them home

Hard to believe these little fluffballs will devour a 50# sack of starter in a matter of weeks.

 but they eat nonstop:

You can't even see the feeder when they converge upon it

They are fun to watch - this little one looks like she's praying. LOL

I am easily entertained

I don't know why baby chicks bring me so much joy, but they do!