Accidental Homesteader

So we got our new peeps this week. Of course on the busiest possible day. Our Honda is in desperate need of a brake job, and the parts aren’t in yet, so we’re down to one fully operational car. We both have 8:30s in town, so we are crunched for time. So of course the post office calls to say the chicks are in.

We may have another hatch coming. A few days ago one of our Easter Eggers started brooding. There are at least two eggs under her.

She’s in the goat shed under a board between two bales of straw. it’s as good of a place as any, so we are letting her be. Hopefully in two and a half weeks we will have some more chicks.

I also did a bit of looking at the new chicks to try to determine if they are hens or roosters. I use the wing method, which is reasonably good. It looks like we have two ladies and one gent.

The hatch was a bit of a letdown. Out of twelve eggs we got three chicks. A fourth died while trying to hatch.

On the other hand, my beloved Jayhawks won the National Championship. So I have that going for me, which is nice.

Hatch day is here! We started the day great! With two of the unsure ones pippin and zippin.

But, thus far, all we have are those two. We will keep them going through the weekend.

There’s a concept in hobby farming called “Chicken Math.” I have fallen prey to this concept.

It started out so simple…

My insomnia is resolving itself into the medieval practice of two sleeps. I sleep for a couple of hours, wake up and am productive for an hour or two, then I sleep the rest of the night.

My Fitbit watch sleep sensor is flummoxed.

In any case, the best thing to do at two in the morning is to candle eggs!