Ducklings Everywhere

Finally, we had a duck successfully hatch her nest of eggs. Bluebell ,our "duck in the hole", has twelve little fuzzy ducklings tucked under her. The secret to her success is that she picked an almost impossible spot to get into for the location of her nest. One morning ,I was walking past the pig/goose/duck pen, in a wired off side shoot, there behind chicken wire, staring out at me was Bluebell. That smart lucky duck had gone to the back of the pen, found the blocked off entrance to the side area and dug under the board blocking it. Bluebell had been sneaking in and out for a month laying her eggs and fluffing her nest without us noticing. When the time was right, she settled in for her thirty five day incubation period. That’s the morning I found her staring out at me, in her fenced in fortress, the perfect spot for ducky nesting. I swear she knew she had outsmarted me and all the other ducks. The poor other ducks had chickens, and those darn Guinea hens were dropping eggs right and left under them. They were stressed, always having their nest invaded. We even had one chicken hen decide it was her nest, and took it over. Not smarty feathers Bluebell, she was neatly tucked away down a ten foot hole, on a pile of downy feathers, looking out me. She had it all to herself, not one bird had caught on to what she had done or how she had gotten there. Meanwhile another duck I call Big Mamma adopted 19 ducklings and 1 special needs gosling (Lucy Goosie). These babies were hatched in the brooder and put out in the back of the duck pen under a heat lamp. After two weeks I cut them loose so they could venture out into the yard to graze on grass. This can be a very nerve racking time for me; keeping them safe, making sure that they don't get to close to a big cranky goose or beaten up by a giant turkey. The second day I cut the babies loose, I noticed Big Mamma talking to all the little guys and they were listening to her. Muscovy's have a gentle whispery call that you can barely hear. Big Mamma was gathering up all the babies to watch over them. She started marching around, giving out whispering ducky commands and they all followed her, even poor little special needs Lucy Goosie. If any undesirable bird dares to get to close to her brood Mamma snaped at them with a loud hiss to chase off the dirty bird. Looking out in the backyard, I can see Big Mamma with all 20 of her brood piled around her sleeping, while under her watchful eye. For once I could breath a sigh of relief, this is one less group that I had to watch over endlessly. If you have never experienced a "duck pile" you haven't lived. When it is nap time, the ducklings make little fuzzy piles of yellow, black, brown ducklings, smashing together with little wings, bills and big webbed feet sticking out in every direction. Lucy Goosie is usually the center of the pile since she is the largest baby in the group. My little Lucy Goosie was hatched out from mystery goose eggs given to me from Martin and Hennelore. She is the only one out of eight eggs that hatched. The poor little thing had a horrible struggle the first 3 day of her life. Lucy's left webbed foot was curled when she hatched; all her toes were curled up in a ball instead of a normal flat webbed foot. I have experienced this problem before with ducklings but not to this degree of deformity. Out comes the medical tape, a plastic lid from a Chinese food container and the scissors, time to make a little brace for a tiny webbed foot,I like to call this MacGrubering, for those SNL fans. It took me two attempts to get the fit correct, Lucy peeped in protest the whole time. Do you know how hard it is to take a tiny foot, shaping all the little toes and taping the foot to a tiny piece of plastic the size of a penny? Did I mention the whole time the booth tiny feet are kicking in the air, with Lucy peeping wildly while I'm attempting to tape her little curled foot.Finally I finish Lucy's foot and put her back into the brooder with her little friends. Lucy immediately gets up and clumsily marches around the brooder on her new flat foot. It took her a few tries to get used to the tape and plastic that is holding her toes in a normal position. Now all I can do is wait and see if the foot heals properly. Geese are a very heavy bird, they need both feet to support their weight. After three days, Lucy had bounced back from the ordeal and started to act like a normal three day old gosling; running wild in the brooder, stomping around with her foot brace. On day four of Lucy's life, I decided it was time to check the progress of her little foot; while pealing off the medical tape she protested even louder then before and kicked much harder. She is a nice strong baby now. Honestly I did not expect poor little Lucy Goosie’s foot to turn out as good as it did. Her tiny webbed foot looked almost normal. I put the crazy peeping gosling back down in the brooder with her friends and she started running wild! Every day now when Lucy comes padding up to me with her big feet, one of which is a little deformed I think of how lucky she is. Picking her up and nuzzling the fuzzy gosling fuzz while I still can as she peeps contently, I realize how lucky I am.

Farm News

Okay, I know it has been a while since my last update but I finally got my third cast off my arm, hopefully for good. Typing is still a painful challenge. Yes once again I was my ever graceful self and broke my wrist while attempting to impersonate "Stupor Woman". Only half the company (my day job) watched me fly through the air in our café only to smack to the floor because of a wayward ice cube. My first cast lasted two weeks, second one made it five days, finally is was given the option of a water resistant material for the third cast. The third one only had to last for eight days, obviously gortex, fiberglass and farm work can really "ripen" a cast. There is so much going on at our farm I almost don't know where to begin. How about everyone has gone broody, that’s when a girl bird must sit on a nest of eggs. Whether it is a chicken on a clutch of duck eggs or a duck and a guinea on a bunch of chicken eggs or a chicken, duck and guinea trying to sit in one box on every egg they can steel. It is absolute mayhem. Not to mention the turkeys, oh those poor girls have a nest in our old dog house. It’s a free for all in there, every girl just hops in and drops an egg and leaves it for the poor turkeys to sit on. Luckily Clover and Whisky are very tame turkey girls, I can check under them every day, take out the extra eggs deposited. I'm not so lucky with the Guinea hens; they are determined to remove flesh if you try to take their eggs away. For a while I could block them with my casted arm and quickly pick eggs with my other hand. Now it's just bare flesh and their beaks. Those crazy things make a hissing noise, while jabbing their beaks to rip flesh at blinding speed. The hissing noise ads real drama to the whole deal; I keep thinking of the scene in Jurassic Park where that big bird spits in the guys eyes while hissing and then eats him. I'm sure eventually that would be my destiny if the guinea hens had it their way.Any minute all of those broody birds' eggs should be hatching out, that’s when the real fun begins. Oh I have been hatching eggs for two months using incubators and Elvira. There are chicks, ducklings, goslings, turkey poults and Elvira with her brood of chicks running wild all over the place. El is a Silky hen with a wild chicken feather do, who is a great mother hen. There is nothing like having the birds do what they love to do, hatch and raise their brood. It is amazing to watch the hens giving calls, clucks or whispers to their little guys, teaching them the ins and outs of the farm; stay away from that big goose, it will bite you, watch out for that little orange dog, she will sniff your butt or look that’s the person who gives out good treats, run to her. Pretty soon there will be babies swarming everywhere.Pumpkin, Pumpkin, Pumpkin, our darling orange, snorting, butt sniffing, face licking, bird poop eating, precious dog. She is always my faithful alert, assistant, as you can see in the attached picture. Pumpkin watches over her feathery domain, never missing an opportunity to butt check a bird. Bird butt checking is a very delicate process. First Pumpkin waits until the birds are very, very distracted by something, like say mating. Yes nothing is sacred in our yard; she scopes out who is mating with whom, the window of opportunity is always open. Pumpkin scores a butt check, the birds just score. Okey dokey, onto the next subject; Meat birds, Finally we have a small supply of frozen chicken in the freezer again. It was pretty rough for three or four weeks this spring without our chicken, now we are flying along smoothly. After this coming weekend we will have more fresh chicken if anyone has a hankering. The Quail are coming along slowly, very slowly. They should be ready in about 5 weeks for eggs and meat. Their eggs and the pickling of them will be the bane of my existence. Who knew pickled eggs would be such a hot item? Those tiny, little eggs that take for ever to peal have turned out to be one of our best selling items.

Porgi and Bess

When will I learn, nothing is every easy. Bruce and I had decided (mostly I decided) that we need to raise more of our own meat for our consumption. We have been getting a little fowl lately dining mostly on chicken, duck, quail, imaging the suffering. This year swine and cattle will be added to our menagerie. There is so much to look into before committing to going swine; the cost, how long to raise them, who will eventually "salon" them. After many discussions with a previously chosen farm, the pig arrangements needed to be made; the date of pick up, the ages, weights, breeds and to alter or not to alter the boy pig. Finally I agreed to have the boy pig castrated, they offered to do it for me 5 days ahead of his pick up and he would be all "healed up" by time I arrived. The other pig would be a girl. So off I go in our farm truck, it’s a beautiful Friday afternoon, the day before my birthday, who wouldn't be excited about getting pigs for their birthday? I agree to meet the woman selling me the pigs at an intersection in Ma, and then follow her to the farm. The drive went well, traveling through the Berkshires, viewing small houses/farms out in the middle of nowhere obviously barely surviving. It was sort of shocking to see either beautiful homes or destitute houses and not much in-between.Finally I arrive at our meeting point, so far so good. I then follow my pig raisers back 2 miles into the mountains to a farm that I would have never been able to locate or find on my own. We traveled about 1/2 mile down a mud road (the term road is used loosely) that slips into the creek at the base of the mountain. Eventually we came upon a shack and what should be a barn, the woman tells me to drive down to the next house so I can turn my car around. The next "house" was interesting, the road ended there but I had enough room to turn around. Cats started darting out from under and around the house which was a very old cabin. Then a chained up beagle darted under the house and a little old lady came out the back door to see who was in her front yard. Smiling I waved, hoping she did not produce a shot gun from around the corner of the house, luckily she waved back. The front porch was lined with old furniture and chairs with stuffing coming out from all sides, crates and boxes and a rope holding thread warn laundry, blowing in the breeze between the porch supports. It all looked very tidy with order yet very old. This was the best part of my pig experience. With my truck turned around, I drove back to the mud pit in front of the first shack and barn. There we all exchanged greetings, there is a woman and two men, and I felt somewhat secure that maybe everything here isn't as scary as it looks. When will I learn, go with your first gut instinct. I unload the crates for the pigs and the fun began. I'm slowly looking around, I should have taken pictures but that would have been a little obvious. The pig people disappear into the "barn", it is to dark for me to really see what is going on. Suddenly there is tremendous squealing, and one of them hollers how he's "got one", I'm hoping it’s a pig. One of the men drags out of the dark recesses of this barn a male pig. He proceeds to choke the pig with bailing twine until it passes out at my feet, and then loads it into the crate to be loaded into my truck. Mean while I'm trying to stay calm, I'm not squeamish but jeese, I start yelling at the guy "if that pig dies, it will be on your doorstep", on the doorstep of what, their shack? Then from the dark depths of the barn one of them catches another pig but they are slightly more "gentle" with this pig. The woman is hollering at the guy to loosen the twine, pigs trashing, in the darkness…. Yes I'm actually experiencing this alone in the middle of no where with the cousins from the original Chain Saw Massacre story. When will I learn, nothing is ever what it seems to be.They seemed so nice; the phone conversations, when I met them at the intersection to follow them to the farm, what the heck? Quickly I write up a check, toss a dozen eggs at the women, thank them and jump into my truck. Ruhhh ruhhh ruhhh, the starter is struggling, my heart stops, I feel the panic slowly creeping up my chest, finally it the truck turns over. Very carefully I put the truck in gear and slowly drive off as fast as possible, through the mud, hoping the truck does not stall, become stuck or slide into creek. When I reach the main roads, I breath one huge sigh of relief, I'm on my way home and those poor pigs will be living in sunlight on a clean farm full of love, care and the respect they deserve.Only it's not over yet, when I arrive home after my 1 1/2 hour drive, carefully I back the truck up for pig unloading. While turning the truck off, I realize I need to be a little farther back towards the yard; I try to start it up and realize it is dead. I was one click away from being stuck in Deliverance with a load of pigs and crazy people. Now the fun begins, we have pigs and the neighbors show up to help us unload them into their new pen. We did not choke, dangle or carry them by two legs; we lifted the crates and gently place them into their new home. That’s when we noticed the junk hanging out under the boy pig, extra parts that didn't belong. Frantically I call back the freaks from whence they came ranting that there is extra bloody junk hanging out of my boy pigs parts! The Deliverance woman explains that this is from his "castration" that they did on 1 1/2 days ago and it would fall off in a few days. Wait, they were going to castrate him and have him healed by time I picked up the pigs, which I pointed out to her. She continued to assure me this was normal, he would be fine and she would keep in touch with me to make sure the pig was okay. Well between slitting him open, 1 1/2 days later strangling him, then dangling him by two legs to "load him up", I'm not buying this "he's okay thing". The pig did not look anywhere near okay, he actually looked very sick at this point. The next morning, the pig we now call Porgy did not get up or move. We called our local veterinarian for advice and he prescribed antibiotics for Porgy, he had a very bad infection in his nether not there any more region. If I had known this would be so dramatic for the pig and how filthy the farm was, I would never have agreed to the castration in the first place. Unknowingly I was under the impression this was a clean, farm that followed humane practices. I can not stress enough that people need to go see first hand where their meat is coming from. There are many farms like this, who supply farmers markets with their organic farm raised meat. Yes it may be a tiny bit better then those factory farms but not really. If you are going to pay for organic farm market meat, check out the farm supplier first, then see if you still want to eat that meat. You will be surprised. I have been unlucky enough to have seen many of these supposed humane, organic farms and that is why we are raising all our own meat from now on.Okay back to Porgy. I spent two days slowly hand feeding Porgy, mashing healthy food into this poor boys mouth before he could get back on his feet; let me tell you pigs have big teeth and very strong jaws. He is about 100 pounds of pig and could have bitten my hand off at any time he felt like it. By day three he finally ate on his own and started to walk around looking interested in his surroundings. Bess his girlfriend pig was by his side the whole time, I'm amazed at how social and dedicated they are to each other.Now another adventure slowly begins, Porgy and Bess start to check out their yard, which is our yard, the bird's yard, the dog's yard. Let the excavations begin! I have new roto-pigtilled garden spots all ready to plant, almost. Porgy's junk is healing, he's eating like a pig and our yard looks like a bulldozer gone wild episode. But that’s okay, we can replant, rake, fix the yard??? Ugh so now we have a fence starting at the barns, splitting the way back yard/field from our back front yard. We need to replant the immediate back yard this spring with field grass for the birds anyway so what the heck? You try to explain this to Bess who has turned out to be the "I can push my way under or through the fence once I find the weakest spot" pig. She is a sneaky little devil; I think she shares her ideas with Pumpkin. We are going on week two and she still has found a way to sneak in the immediate back yard on a daily basis. Porgy is happy where he is and just fine with the back field, unless he is separated from Bess. We have pig nose prints running down the house, on the back door and once I have seen the shadow of a big pig's ass going out my kitchen door as I was walking in from the dinning room. Pumpkin alerted me to that deal. No more leaving the doors open on a warm sunny afternoon. Pumpkin works hard following them around barking at their butts, keeping them in piggy line. As for Porgy and Bess, they totally ignore her.Week three, Bess still sneaks in, Pumpkin still walks around behind them barking, not as much though and Porgy's junk has still not fallen off yet? It is time to get out the big guns, now I have to call a big animal veterinarian, which does house calls. I call the local farm vet, explain the situation, the vet yells at me "Take him back", I yell back "That is not an option, we believe in only humane animal practices on our farm" the vet then yells "its gonna cost ya, someone is going to have to examine the pig", I yell back "well stupid that’s why I'm calling you". Literally this is what's happening, if any one knows our local big animal vet, you know what I mean. This is just the way it is; we went around for a while yelling back and forth, finally he say's "I might be able to make it later this afternoon". That’s all I need, a "might be able" commitment is as good as done, Porgy will be getting his junk checked and properly taken care of. At this point I can not take one more day of this drama, hence where their names "Porgy and Bess" came from. Normally we do not name our eatables but this has been a special exception to the rules. The next ones will be called pork and chop, keeping it simple and to the point.The vet arrives a little after 5pm; we corral Porgy into his pig pen, Bess waited outside happily munching on a bowl of grains and treats. Porgy goes down for a little nap time, now the fun begins. Once again, luckily I'm not squeamish, as for Bruce I was waiting for him to pass out on top of Porgy. After assisting the vet with his surgery on (that’s all the detail I dare to give) we are now sure he will be fine, healthy and continue to thrive humanely on our farm. We still have keep watch over him and make sure continues to he heal properly. Our vet's comments in-between the yelling was; how filthy the farm had to be where the pig was kept and how they didn't know what they were doing when they "cut" him. Then while the vet drove away when all was done, he yelled at me where to get our pigs from now; sigh, yes I had already reserved pigs from this recommended farm.You would think I'd have a nervous tick by now….next the cows are coming.

We are Famous! No I was not arrested....again. Last Friday, March 4th, our farm was part of a Local Agriculture Career Day! Check out this link to the Albany Metroland paper: http://metroland.net/2011/03/09/farmers-of-the-future/
I have to say the children were incredible and this is a wonderful program to be a part of. If you know of any school that would like to have a Local Ag Career day, please give them this article. The children are the future for our planet, they need to be aware.ThanksSusie and Bruce

I'm back up on my soap/chicken box today.

I know, I should have more patients with people but I admit it gets to me when people do not seem to be proud of where they are living, not supportive of their local community, neighbors, and businesses or yes farms. This is honestly something that I do not come across very often but the curmudgeons are still out there, waiting to make it obvious we are not worthy of their reclusive fleeting moments in time. Like I said 99% of the people are wonderful but that one, which is always the same one (by coincidence?), just gets my feathers in a twist!
Thank you to all the happy supportive, caring friends, farmers, teachers, chefs, any one who has supported us, other local farms, neighbors and community. As for that one, some day maybe he will come around, step outside his fenced in box and realize what a beautiful expansive variety of friends and businesses that could be a rewarding resource to tap. Is it the need to push anything or one away for fear of being over shadowed; lack of interest, personality, sense of humor? This all stems from an email that was received this morning. YES, we are Famous! Ahem a different email. Only once have I been requested, via email, to remove a person from our mailing list; by now I'm sure you can guess it was Mr. 1%. Imagine, the nerve? It is done, Mr. 1% will no longer be included in our farmy excitement (yes farmy is a word, now), stories and fun updates, his loss. My secret will go with me to the mucky barn, (unless you ask me) I will never divulge Mr. 1%'s secret, sad identity, in are local area. Liza, you know who he is, just think about it.
There, I feel much better, now let's just hope no one mentions "soy" to me today.

Okay now onto less serious things like our Birdie Updates on the farm! We have lots of eggs; the girls are working like crazy. The chickens are laying blue, green, olive, tan, brown, terracotta and of course white eggs. I'm so darn proud of our hens! I swear those girls are working so hard that now and then (mostly all the time) a few fall asleep in their baskets laying an egg: all sprawled out, wings flopped over the edge of the basket, snoring away, spoiled little brats.Speaking of Spoiled, Freebird is on vacation. Freebi and 6 of his select hens are in a very large private suite in the barn. Can you here the music; chicka bow, chicka bow bow, gonna do a little dance make a little …… Freebi and his girls are Easter Eggers and Americana's, which lay those beautiful blue and green eggs. We have had requests for Americana/EE hatching eggs and chicks. When I told this to Free he was all over that. So in about 10 days those eggs will be available for sale and for those who requested chicks the incubators will be loaded!
Duck, Duck, Goose or I should say Gretel, has been faithfully laying her eggs for this springs gosling hatch. Hansel dutifully follows her around, standing guard, protecting her from any other bird that may wattle, zig zag or stumble to close to his Gretel. She has just two things on her mind, where to lay the next egg and what can she beg off of me at the back door. Gretel loves to munch greens, celery, tomatos from my hand while I gently stroke her with my other hand. She is such a sweet gentle sole. Hansel, so far has mangled a chicken (Gladys) and a duckling (one of my speckled twins) to death because they were in Gretel's nesting area… Yikes. Now we keep her nesting area closed off from the main barn to prevent future "accidents"; Gretel and Hansel have their own egress to the outdoor, hopefully no one wanders in through that doorway.
We have our own "Romancing the Egg", "Jewel of the Turkey", "Indiana Cecil and The Kingdom of the Crystal Turkey Egg"; every spring it’s the same old thing, when and where will a turkey egg turn up? Finally it happened this week, not just one new egg but two! Yes two new turkey eggs appeared in a pile of duck eggs, well hidden (or so she thought) in the main barn, what luck. Clarice our youngest hen finally started laying her first teeny tiny turkey eggs. She is such tame sweet girl; who was raised with ducklings, obviously thought she needed to store he tiny first eggs in the duck nest. Luckily for me the nest is in the main barn, easy to find (three foot pile of chips rearranged, neatly every day) and in an area that can be closed off while she broods her babies'. It don’t get no better then that with a Heritage Bourbon Red aka freaking wild turkey! Meanwhile, back home on the range; I'm still searching for Clover and Whisky's eggs or the spot where they could possibly pick to lay them, hide them, store them, darn wild girls, sigh.
Now for the ducks, we have tons of duck eggs, in the incubators, in the fridge, in the nests; be patient grasshoppers, your ducklings are ducklinging (developing). As for the extra fertile eggs, starting Monday, they will be for sale! If you feel the need to hatch your own and have not reserved your eggs yet, please give me a jingle in the jungle, they will be going fast.
Special update, our little special needs duckling we called Spn, has been placed in a home with a few of her sisters. Bruce and I have been so worried about her for months, watching over this poor little almost blind little duckling. Spn spent a lot of time in the barn unless I carried her outside for tub time in the duck pool. Then I would have to bring her back inside, placing her under a heat lamp to dry off. She is the best little girl who now is on a farm where we do not have to worry about her competing with 50 other ducks.
The Guinea's are coming, the guineas are coming, guinea keets that is. Our Guinea hens are laying eggs every day and yes they will be available for sale in about oh lets say 25 days! They are still the ugliest, craziest, birds that make the most ungodly noise and I LOVE Them. LOL
Well, this pretty much covers all the tips of the icebergs. Once again, Thanks for being supportive friends and customers, a little positive energy can go a long way!

p.s. don't forget we are selling at the Schenectady Farmers Market every other Sunday and yes once again at the infamous New Baltimore Summer Farmers Market. The NB Farmers Market is looking for guest appearances, such as Music during the market and Chef demonstrations. You all know who you are, come one and show us your stuff! (contact NBFM Mkt Mngr Hilary Schrauf 424-8701)

Coco
My little Coco is at it again. That black, frizzle bantam has more personality then most people I know. Crap, I'm sure that comment will irritate someone, I'm always in trouble. Well its true, that little hen has quite the attitude. As you know Coco has been spending the cold winter evenings on the sun porch for the over nights. When the days are to cold for her to tolerate it outside, she will then spend the day inside. Coco's feathers are Frizzled, which is very beautiful to look at but not practical to keep a girl warm. All her black luxurious feathers curl backwards giving her the appearance of a walking fluff ball chick with a feather boa. She is bred to perfection and knows it. After all Coco is a show girl, or she seems to think she is.

Lately Coco has decided that she too can live inside our house. Spending days sunbathing on the porch, beating up the other chicks with colds; but this has become mundane to her. It all started about two weeks ago. I arrived home from work and go to check on the sick chicks on the porch. Everyone is happy to see me, I'm the treat lady. I'm doing my check of every one, suddenly I notice Coco is missing. This puts me into a panic. Did a cat decide that tiny bantam would be tasty? Did Pumpkin get to playful and suck all the feathers off poor Coco? Frantically I start searching the porch, then my work kitchen, that’s when I notice a mini chicken poop and a black curly feather in my living room floor. OMG, I figured Pump took her out for a spin and lick in the yard. Calling for Coco, watching Pumpkins for signs of guilt, I'm frantically keep searching the room.

That’s when I hear this little burble answering me. I call out for Coco; again there is a tiny burble, bah bah br. There behind an antique wooden box sat Coco. The little bundle of feathers looks up at me, burbles, stands up, hopped onto the box, down the other side, marching back out to the sun porch, leaving behind two tiny eggs. That little stinker has been sneaking through the porch doorway and laying eggs in my living room! For two days!

That black crazy fuzz ball has been watching the dogs and cats squeezing through the doorway and decided try it. I'm just amazed no one chased her, ate her or her two tiny eggs. This is her second time over wintering in the porch but jeeze? Laying eggs in my living room? Doesn't every one have a chicken running around their living room?

Now when I arrive home from work, I just look for the tiny Coco poo poo trail to see if I need to pick eggs in the house along with the outdoor eggs. Coco has picked her spot and it's behind a box, in my living room, sigh. Even on the days she goes outside, who wants to lay an egg in a cold coop? Not Coco, after all, Chester uses the Chick Chalet as his play house. Everyone knows show girls do not like to share.

Eggs, eggs, eggs! We have lots of eggs available, chicken eggs (in many colors), Duck eggs (3 varieties, Cayuga, Khaki, Muscovy) and quail eggs, as usual, lots and lots of quail eggs. Also this weekend we will be harvesting chickens, again. If any one is interested in a fresh chicken give a call or stop over. I also have freshly frozen chicken, duckling, and quail.

Spring is in the air, it is almost time to collect eggs for hatching. Starting on February 28th, I will have fertilized duck eggs available for sale, weather permitting. Keep your fingers crossed that it isn't to cold to collect viable eggs. If any one is interested in hatching their own, give me a call. We will be setting up our own nesting boxes for the girls plus an incubator. Eggs keep popping up every where; in the yard on the snow or hay, the goose pen, duck pen, middle of the barn floor. The best is the one frozen so hard into the snow, we can't pick it! Hopefully in a week or two they will catch on and lay the eggs in their nesting boxes.

Hansel and Gretel seem very impatient to start their nesting season also. We have noticed goose foot prints on Gretel's wings; it will be time to collect her eggs for hatching soon. Meanwhile Gretel has learned to peek into the house through our plexi-glass dog door, begging for treats. If I do not notice her she then taps on the door, opening it until she has my attention. Gretel loves her greens and knows I'm a sucker for those blue goosy eyes. Any day now we expect to come home and find her in the kitchen, fridge open, noshing on greens.

Our turkeys have not a thought in their head about spring. This has me a little worried but I know it is still early in the year. Cecil and Dinner have been bickering so I know the boys are getting "frisky" but the girls are acting very calm. Clover, Whisky and Clarice rule the roost with those stupid boys following them everywhere, fluffing their feathers, thumping their chests; until I hold out a handful of sunflower seeds. Then its every turkey for them selves, last one to the hand is a rotten egg! I do try to wear gloves when hand feeding them, and then they just try to eat my fingers. So bare hands it is, you get used to the pain. They are gentle giants with very large, pointy beaks.

Clarice my youngest turkey hen was in the house for a few weeks this winter with a cold. If you have seen our house you know we have that sun porch just off my work kitchen. The sun porch is where our bird infirmary/spa is located. Clarice had a blast, eating treats, spoiled rotten, kept nice and warm. Now she is in top condition and back out with her flock. Clarice did have to share the infirmary/spa with a few other girls, one of which was Coco. That is as usual another Coco story all by itself. Anyway a few customers had a chance to see a very tame turkey, close up (understatement). Look into those big beautiful brown eyes, they are amazing creatures.

Coco, has been inside during the over nights for some time now. Most days if it is to cold outside, she will not even go out the door! Then the reign of terror begins. There are four other hens with colds, resting at the spa. Coco beats every one of them up on daily basis to the point where I have to lock her up some days. Luckily today it was warm enough for her fluffiness to go outside. I'm sure there is one heck of a hen party going on in the sun porch today.

All the other farm creatures are doing very well this winter. We have a bunch of new egg layers laying, the dogs are still stealing eggs and Chester has decided the barn is the best place ever to play/hunt.