New Chicks!

Sunday we received our Murray McMurray shipment of chicks. Dark Cornish, Silver Spangled Hamburgs, and White Crested Black Polish chicks, plus a free exotic chick make up this recent shipment. The Dark Cornish I plan to raise as broilers like the flock I have on the pasture now. The other breeds I plan to keep as layers.

In our first flock, we received a white crested black polish chick as our free exotic chick. Unfortunately, it died. Nicholas thought it was cute, so when choosing birds to keep around, we decided to get a few of those.

Unlike the last order from Murray McMurray, this one arrived after only a day and a half of travel and I only lost two chicks within the first 48 hours. All and all a success.

Chicks in the brooder with Gimpy.

The Freedom Ranger chicks arrived this morning. They almost tower over the Dark Cornish chicks. All arrived in an energetic state after their two day travel through the postal system. I brought them home and let them drink and eat fruit before heading out to the brooder.

Half of the newly arrived Freedom Ranger flock.

My clever scheme also allowed me time to eat breakfast. The chicks seemed so energetic that I decided they could go straight out instead of spending the night with us. Nicholas helped me pack them back into their shipping box and off we went. Once in the brooder they quickly made themselves at home and began mingling with the other chicks. They also began darting around like pinballs.What a great way to start the day!

Give Me Land, Lots of Land...

Despite the PicknChickn Application's description of the Cornish as lazy, my dark Cornish seem quite willing and excited to explore for food. True, they do not tolerate mid-day heat very well and tend to find a shady spot to sit, but when they do forage about, they roam fairly far. Luckily the neighbor has not complained and having the fresh manure near the barn scratched through is good.

Regalo and Louis appreciate the chickens for a couple of reasons. Their favorite thing about the pastured chickens seems to be the corn/oat mix left behind the hoop house. Decreased flies are their other favorite aspect of sharing the pasture with chickens, though I cannot say the horses necessarily realize the correlation. Nonetheless, I no longer think Louis needs that $80 Baker fly sheet.

Yenti has a Kitten

A few weeks ago we brought Nike home. For reference, the owner of the mother studies Latin and gave them all Roman names, but I prefer the Greek pronunciation Nee-Kay.

Nike seemed like a possible snack to the hounds and pure trouble for Chorni. She spent her first week with us locked in the bathroom for her protection. Nicholas brought her out one afternoon and laid down on the bed with her to read. Yenti also climbed on the bed. While Nicholas read, Nike wandered over to the greyhound. Once Nicholas realized she'd gone around him, he sat up, but found Yenti playing with the kitten. Thus began a friendship.

Chorni still demonstrates that herding cats can be done, sort of. And Jatamer doesn't really care for Nike much, but he doesn't try to eat her. In fact, this whole time, he's been very perceptive that his pack leaders would punish him if he tried to eat the kitten. Nike's initial response to explore instead of run away also helps fight back Jatamer's strong "must eat small furry thing" instincts. If the small furry thing does not run, he cannot chase.

Nike acts a bit like a dog, which will prove good. For instance, she follows the humans around, she comes when called, and she helps Yenti eat her dog food. After all of this, I doubt Nike will spend much time as a barn cat until (because it probably will happen in her lifetime) we move to a farm.