All posts by ruthsoaper

New Arrivals

Chicks, Reflections

This morning my husband received a call from the farm store – the shipment of black Jersey giant chicks was in. He was soon on his way to pick up our six chicks.

When we put the new ones in the brooder, the chicks we brought home on Friday no longer looked so tiny.

Though only a few days older the white Jersey giants are about double the size of the black ones.

It was interesting to watch them get acquainted.

The bigger birds kept pecking the beaks of the smaller ones.

I’m not sure what they were saying, just establishing the pecking order perhaps.

Ranger also wanted to get acquainted. I am sure he has no idea that these little things will someday become part of the flock he has become so friendly with at the farm.

I dipped all the beaks in their water and these little ones were eating and drinking within an hour of being in their new home. We now have this year’s dirty dozen.

Six Chicks (Something to Make You Say Aww)

Chicks, Reflections

We decided we would like to add more Jersey giant hens to our flock this year. Our second choice was buff orpingtons. We like both breeds but have found the Jersey giants to be a bit more cold-tolerant than the buffs.

When my husband went to the farm store Friday to see what breed of chicks they had in stock he did not find the black Jersey giants like we already have. They also did not have any buff orpingtons. They did have some white Jersey giants and told him they would be getting some black Jersey giants sometime this coming week. We decided we would get 6 white Jersey giants and he would return this week to get 6 of the black.

I would guess they were only 1 or 2 days old when he brought them home. Other than peeping, all they wanted to do was huddle under the heat lamp to stay warm.

Even though I dipped their beaks in the water, they ignored their water and food and pretty much stayed in their huddle.

The following morning, after I again dipped their beaks in the water and showed them their food, they began eating and drinking.

We discovered the smallest of the group had pasty butt (dried feces stuck to its butt). We had to soak it a few of times in warm water in order to remove all of the feces. If not taken care of that condition can quickly become deadly for the chick. Thankfully this little fluff ball seems to be doing well.

Thanks for visiting.

Winter Update

Bees, Chickens, Chicks, Reflections, Sewing, yoga

Now that you know my, um, excuses for not blogging much this year (the dog ate my blog – Blame It on the Dog) let me catch you up on some of the things that I’ve been up to in 2022.

Daily Yoga – The day after Christmas I began doing yoga. I have never done yoga before but have been told about its benefits and encouraged to try it by two of my sisters and one of my daughters. Since I was no longer experiencing as much pain form the pinched nerve, I decided that it was time to start trying to heal this condition. In order to do so I figured some type of exercise is necessary. I decided to start this 30-day yoga journey entitled breath because for the past two years I have been practicing deep breathing and encouraging others to “breathe deep” as well.

https://yogawithadriene.com/breath-a-30-day-yoga-journey/

Now don’t get the wrong idea. I am nowhere near good at this. I am not graceful. I am awkward at best. I am getting better but it’s not pretty. (That is why I only do it when I am home alone.)

I have been feeling and seeing some of the benefits. I can tell that I am getting stronger and increasing my balance. I also feel good physically and I seem to have more focus after doing it. Once I finished the first 30-day program I started over again and I’m about to finish it a second time. I plan on repeating it again in March.

If you’ve ever considered learning yoga I would encourage you to do it. I would also recommend this program as a starting point.

Sewing Projects– I have completed two sewing projects. The first was this sweatshirt dress made with plush fleece. I did adjust the pattern to make it a turtleneck. This top is so comfortable and warm; I wear it quite often.

(I’m no model so this is what I do when my husband tells me to pose. LOL)

The second is this sweater. I’m not sure what the fabric would be called, but it is a soft knit with silvery threads intertwined to give it the shimmery look.

I have a third project started but it’s way different from anything I have done before. I am learning to work with interfacing and make buttonholes, so this is taking a while.

Garden Planning – We are really looking forward to spring. We have ordered and received all of our seeds for this year’s garden. I found it interesting that we did not receive tons of seed catalogues in the mail this year. (I think we received one.) I wonder if we have been removed from the mailing lists because we hadn’t ordered for several years, or are companies no longer using catalogues as a means of marketing? Maybe some of both?

After last year’s gardening disaster (too much rain) we decided we need to do something different this year. We will be adding some raised beds. We are in the planning stage, and I’ll write more about it once we begin working on them.

Bees – We lost both hives again this year and just can’t explain why. There were just a few dead bees in the bottom of both hives. The rest were just gone. This is an unexplained phenomenon referred to as colony collapse disorder. We did harvest about 30 lbs. of honey that was left in the hives so at least it wasn’t a total loss.

We have ordered three bee packages for this year. They are scheduled to arrive on April 15. The bees we are getting this year are a different breed than the ones we have had in the past, so that gives us a little more hope for their survival.

Chicks and Chickens – Sunday as I looked at the weather forecast, I realized that the weather this week would be right for tapping maple trees. With above freezing daytime temps and below freezing nighttime temps that sap should begin to flow. We are not tapping trees this year, but I reminded my husband that in past years it seemed like at the same time we tapped maple trees the chickens began to lay more eggs. Monday my husband collected 6 eggs and Tuesday five. For about the past two months we had been averaging only between two and three eggs a day. An interesting correlation between sap season and egg laying.

We are going to add about 12 chicks to our flock this year. I will share chick pictures when we get them. 🙂

New Chair – Last week we finally went shopping for a new desk chair. this is the one I selected.

While it doesn’t actually have bells and whistles, it does have lumbar support, height adjustment, arm rests that adjust up and down and forward and backward, and the seat back reclines. This makes sitting at my desk much more comfortable. It is called a gaming chair so as I like to say, “game on!”

Thanks for visiting.

Have you ever done yoga?

Will you be planting a garden this year?

Did you receive any seed catalogues in the mail?