The Chicks are Here!

Well this winter was the first time I didn't hatch chicks.  It was tough to support my bird's feed bill this way. Usually the chicks bring in  some income to cover the food.  Anyway, it is the beginning of the year and I have started hatching again!  I have had 2 batches of chicks hatch already and the third is hatching as I type.  They are so cute and I forget how small!  Angew grocery, near my house has been selling my chicks for the last 2 weeks.  It is so cool!

Here are some chicks I have left over from the second hatch.  They are for sale. =}

 Here are a couple of partridge silkies from my flock.

And here are some big, fluffy buff brahmas.

Winter Sucks Sometimes!

Well winter was very mild this year until the end of January!  Then we got over a foot of snow, which is unusual for our area.  It ripped down all my bird's netting, which in turn ripped down some fencing and in one case, even pulled the siding away from one of my coops!  I had to pull the rest down and cut the guide wires holding them all up because we were just going to get more snow.

Here is my son, David and his snowman.  This was just the beginning of the snow. 

The unfortunate part was the timing.  February is eagle season!  They are trying to feed their offspring and that is when they are the worst predators to my birds.  So here all my netting was knocked down and the eagles were hunting!  I lost one hen before we were able to repair some and hang new netting.  We rushed and got them all repaired though.  Thank goodness that job is done! 

The snow was very pretty, but it makes caring for animals much more difficult.  We were carrying buckets of water to everybirdy because the hose was frozen and buried in snow.  We couldn't even use the wheelbarrow to carry the buckets because the snow would build up on the tires and stop it.  We did have some good snowball wars though!  I hope you all had fun in the snow this winter.