Animals

 It was hatch weekend again. Not as successful this time around. We incubated 24 eggs and only got 9 chicks. Our first batch we got 50% hatch rate so this 38% was very disappointing. But nevertheless we have 9 cutie little babies and I learned more about being a chicken mom. 

First: we have a chick with splay legs. It took some YouTube videos but I found a super easy, successful trick. Take one hair elastic, thread it through a cut piece of drinking straw to create one loop at either end, slip one foot in each loop with the straw bit between her legs. Leave it on for 1-2 days until her tendons develop properly. Looks good so far!!

Second: the last chick to hatch was taking forever to hatch, so while I had read to never interfere with a

hatch...I interfered! The sac the chick was in had hardened and it could not break out. We wet it down, and slowly began to peel off the membrane. She seems very weak now but hopefully she will be recovered by morning. 

While I am loving on the babies, let’s not forget our now 1 month old first hatches! They have moved to the barn and were all lined up on their perch for the first time tonight.

And of course our growing piglets. They are getting much more used to us and tolerant with my loving  and scratching everyday. 

After all this good news the piece of stressful news...we lost the ends of our garden fence in a wind storm this weekend. I spent today disconnecting the ends and securing the sides so I don’t lose anymore before I can go back out on a warmer day and rebuild it.