Baby Chick Camp

Last Saturday we went to Mt. Healthy Hatcheries in Cincinnati, OH, to pick up some day old chicks.  As we are down to just those three crazy bantam hens, The Crowing Hen and her "sisters", we decided it was time to bring in some laying hens.  I've never raised baby chicks before.  It's been fun so far :-).  

They are currently living in an old sheep water trough in the wash room of the Wool House and that's working out well.  Next week the plan is to move them to a larger cattle tank inside the old coop in the barn.  It's all cleaned out and I bet it's excited to be back in use after sitting idle for quite a few years now.

Today they got to do a short visit to the great outdoors.  They were a bit wary at first, but they built up confidence quickly.  The bars are too wide to hold them in so we need to do a little pen modification, but they stayed together and were easier to catch to go back inside than I feared they might be.

No chickens were harmed by Comby, who I think was mostly just curious.  We would NEVER let Bad Betsy get this close to anything with feathers :-o.

Good Morning!

Everyone's in their spot.  Rocky at the gate, waiting for breakfast, Jared standing at the ready, Maisie and Cheeto, relaxing in the warm sun.  Cheeto is watching me carefully to see if it's time to get up for breakfast, though.  The chickens are scratching around in the straw, but mostly happy for the sunshine.  Three cold mornings.  We are all happy here :-).

Girls...Girls

I thought about titling this "Three French Hens"...but it's not even Thanksgiving yet, fer cryin' out loud!

"Girls, girls" is what I call to tell them I've put food out for them.  And to get them to look at the camera ;-).

Don't Wake The Baba

Everyone enjoyed the sun today.  Even Blossom aka Baba even if she didn't enjoy the chickens bothering her ;-).

Aw, Come On...

Still [Chicking]

I'd love to say Gladys is all better and back to running the farm, but she's not.  She's somewhat better though and still with us and that is, sadly, an accomplishment with chickens much of the time.  She hung out in the wash room a little yesterday afternoon and it was nice to have her company.  She's a funny chicken.

This Bed Is Just Right

I'm surprised it took Gladys this long to give Biscuit's baby bed a try.  

The perfect spot for a morning nap :-).

"Hey, I'm trying to sleep here!"

"Seriously..."

How About A Farm Pond And A Chicken?

When Kate Davies released her Carbeth sweater pattern a couple months ago, she posted it to her blog with pictures taken posed alongside a snowy loch...complete with a swan gliding past.  When Mason-Dixon Knitting posted the Bang Out A Carbeth Knitalong, they specifically commented on the swan as well.  It really was a stunning picture!

As Carbeth sweaters were banged out around the world and pictures started appearing on Instagram they soon became known as the Carbeth Swan Dance.  Well, I don't have a frozen loch...or a swan...but I do have a cool sheep (who also happened to provide the yarn for my Carbeth), a farm pond...and an Adventure Chicken.  Let's do it!

Baaxter walked out there pretty darn willingly considering it had been at least two years, maybe three, since he'd had a collar and leash on.  This is the Frog Pond, not the Ice Skating Pond.  It's the small pond/group of trees/native plants you see in front of the bigger pond at the back of the farm.

Tim took a bunch of pictures in various locations and positions and...

...like most pictures of me, the less of me showing, the better ;-).

These are my favorites, even though they don't really show much of the sweater.

"You're doing a good job, Baaxter.  And your sweater is very nice.  Cozy and comfy."

While the sweater was designed to be a stylish crop top, since mostly where I wear my sweaters is to work out in the barn in the winter, I decided to add a few extra inches to the body length.  

Can you believe this is that cute little brat who terrorized 20 and Auntie Reg (yikes!) four years ago?

I'm not sure if B. Willard is noticing the new hand knit sweater (being a Sheep of Impeccable Character, this would not be...out of character) or is just amazed that I was wearing something relatively clean for a change ;-).

"Yep, that's not a swan."

Nope, that's the Sheep Chicken.  She was ready to go to bed so she was easy to catch ;-).

I give the Carbeth two thumbs up.  I think it's going to be perfect warm winter barn sweater.  The Bang Out A Carbeth knitalong was great fun and the Iknitarod (the re-knit) continues to be my all time favorite winter event.  As always, I was in great company and that makes it all worth it.

Warm Winter Sun

It can be way down in the teens, even single digits, and as long as it's not windy and the sun is shining, it feels warm to me. Some more pictures from the Del Boca Vista Distraction Party the other day.

Maisie

Heidi - who's foot is all better now since I popped a big mud ball from between her toes after the Boxing Day cookie party :-).

That is Muffin (!) standing just to the right of Levi in the foreground.

Renny

Bullwinkle, Levi and Spud

Biscuit

The Sheep Chicken and Woolliam

A little slice of heaven...and two new puzzles :-).  

Enjoy!

Nailed It!

In case you aren't following on Instagram, Twitter or, sigh, Facebook, I finally caught a perfect video of the sheep working together to help the Sheep Chicken get to her perch last night!

Got it! Irrefutable evidence of the sheep deliberately working together, moving around to help the Sheep Chicken get to her nighttime perch. She starts on Daniel. Spud comes over and picks her up. He doesn’t get close enough so Petunia moves him over while Clover Belly watches or maybe is directing traffic and then she moves around to the far side. Wool is wellness...and also kindness 😊. I’m going to include this for Wovember because if we are sharing all the great attributes of sheep and wool, it would be hard to find better sheep representatives🐑🐑🐓🐑🐑. #wovember2017 #wovemberinstachallenge #wearwoolforwovember #wearwooleveryday #woolprovidestraction

A post shared by Sara Dunham (@thecrazysheeplady) on Nov 6, 2017 at 3:14pm PST

:-D

Not A Saint But Close

Here is a video from this evening.  The Sheep Chicken was already on Clover Belly's back and Clover Belly was already positioned over by the ledge when I saw them and started the camera.  Petunia comes over to help and then Ewen McTeagle.  Petunia leaves for a few seconds to go yell at June, who you can see calmly walking through not deserving anyone stamping their foot at them, Petunia!

The chicken knows Clover Belly is too short, which is why she moved to Ewen, but Ewen wouldn't move over to the ledge so she finally gave up and used Petunia, who'd come back to help, to get back to Clover Belly and she makes the jump...which was an "epic fail".  She then jumped back up on Rebecca Boone, who is only marginally taller, and I picked her up and set her on the ledge.

The black and white hen, most famous for sitting in the Wool House with me and Tilly this summer has also decided she wants to sleep on the ledge, but she's an ungrateful guest and picks on The Sheep Chicken if you try to set them both up there.  That's not fair so we built her her own private shelf.

Speaking of sheep yelling at June for no reason, that's why Clover Belly is Not Quite A Saint.  I have no idea why she hates her so much, but she's given June some charges that are very ungrateful.  I'm not sure what to do about that.  I keep hoping they'll work out a truce, but Clover Belly has her buffaloed and June doesn't have Kate's "I give you permission to punch that bad sheep back" button.

Sheep... 

Chickens...

I could also add a story about the stupid corgi, but it's late...

Aren't you looking forward to spending the afternoon with everyone this Saturday?  ;-).

She's Baaa-aack

After the sheep were shorn back in the spring, the Sheep Chicken had to stop sleeping on her ledge.  She couldn't get enough traction on the slick sheep backs to make her jumps.  About the time their wool started growing back to an acceptable length, the days got long and hot and the sheep stayed out grazing in the evenings, well past the time when she wanted to go to bed.  

She slept in the coop all long summer.  A week or so ago I noticed she was back on her platform perch.  I caught an occasional picture of her on various sheep's backs, jumping for her ledge, but hadn't had time to post them and then forgot. 

Two nights (or I should say late afternoons - chickens go to bed early!) ago short little Clover Belly followed a couple of the older sheep in hoping for an evening snack.  She didn't get one, but poked around the stalls for a bit looking for anything that might have dropped.

She was standing at the doorway between the inside and outside stalls (the right side of the picture) when the chicken hopped aboard.  She stood there for a couple seconds and then walked straight over to the ledge and the chicken jumped on up.  If you look closely you can see her next to the fan on the back wall. 

Sometimes I just "live in the moment" and watch what goes on without recording it.  Sunrises and sunsets are always better in real life and should sometimes just be enjoyed.  Bees working flowers...well, they are good either way.  A chicken and sheep so deliberately working together, especially one I've never seen helping the chicken?  I wish I'd turned on the video camera.

*     *     *   In other news  *     *     *

Hank and June are now best friends.  Other than taking a walk yesterday where she shouldn't have, June is doing really, really well.  I'm putting up some more fencing today to hopefully stop her from future exploration missions.  If the Adventure Chickens figure out they could ride her to town... :-o

Cecil Aguilar's been back and made something extra special for us.  I'm telling you, drystone work is like tattoos.  Once you start you can't stop.  I of course took lots of pictures including a very cool one with Eli, who is trying really hard to make the calendar next year.  I'd say things are looking good for him ;-).

Tonight is the big neighborhood Pumpkin Carving Party.  I had planned to try to do a special felted pumpkin to carve, but...I'm now spending my day putting up fence :-/.  At least I can think about my real pumpkin design while I work.  I'm guessing it will be a Biscuit and Muffin design.  Stay tuned!

I don't know how it could possibly be almost the end of October, but it is and next Saturday is National Hug a Sheep Day :-D.  We are once again hosting a farm party to celebrate and would love if everyone could come!  Needless to say if I can't find time to post blog pictures, I probably haven't had time to work on the teleporter either, but June is all about some cookies as are Biscuit and Muffin and Mrs. Pepperpot and everyone else.  It will be a fun afternoon :-D.\

*     *     *   One more thing   *     *     *

When I was looking for a link for the words "Sheep Chicken" above, I found the post about Baby Belly and Spud helping last year.  I'd forgotten that had been Baby Belly.  Clover Belly is Baby Belly's daughter.  While Muffin may have ditched me and Mrs. Pepperpot, Clover Belly stayed very close to her momma her whole life.  We lost Baby Belly last week. 

I am quite sure we don't have even an ounce of understanding about what goes on between animals, especially animals in a close family.  I was amazed that a sheep who I had thought had no previous experience with the chicken routine was helping out.  Now I'm extra amazed.  Remember Tilly stepping up after Iris died?  Something else to ponder while I'm stringing fence today.

SO, as I did with the long post about Tilly, let's see who made it to the end of this epistle.  Leave me a comment on the main blog saying which sheep you'd love to hug most and I'll have 20 draw for a winner at the end of the weekend.  There's a 2018 Farm Calendar in it for the winner :-).

Walking Up To Let The Chickens Out

I usually just take my iPhone with me when I walk up to the barn at dawn to let the chickens out.  It died though just after I snapped my "letting the dogs out view from the porch" picture and the sunrise was looking spectacular so I grabbed the big camera.

When you hear "up with the chickens", that's the truth.  The chickens go to bed before it gets dark and are complaining mightily if I get out there after the sun has crested Stella's hill.  I could have set the camera exposure so the pictures appeared "brighter", but I decided I wanted to record what it actually looked like.  

This is my morning walk.  It's not always this colorful and foggy, but it's always beautiful.  The first group of sheep like to get up with the chickens as well and I usually can just hear them (Andy's bell), not see them.  Want to walk with me?

"Y'all stay here.  I'll be back in a minute."

You can just barely see Hank (look at the top fence plank).  Everyone stood at the gate and waited.

This is pretty close to the right amount of light.

This is too light.  It makes a difference if you are metering off a white sheep or a black one.  Your camera wants to take the best picture possible so if you aren't watching, it will brighten things up for you.  The easiest thing to do before coffee is adjust your exposure compensation.  

Hank's made it all the way out and is headed back to the sheep.

Double checking something.  The sheep are all still waiting for his "all clear".

The not quite as early riser group.  Again, a little too bright.

"All clear."  And a little bit too dark.

This exposure is just right.

Part of the Nistock contingency.  Not the earliest of risers haha ;-).

But when you do get up early, it's always a good trade.  That's a bit of an inside joke...although, since she put it on her blog I guess it's actually more outside :-). 

Good morning!