Homesteading Adventures

This isn't the first time our chickens set us off on a "wild goose chase" to find their eggs. We have many chickens just coming into laying age and our coop, for whatever reason, isn't satisfactory enough for them to lay their eggs there. I think they get a kick out of seeing us rummage through each corner of their run, poking under brush, and peeking behind out buildings just to catch a glimpse of a golden brown orb just waiting to be found, at least by one of us! Lately, no such luck, that is until the other day when Lee found the "mother load"!

Within the chicken run we have their coop (stocked with nesting boxes of varying sizes loaded with straw for their laying comfort) and a smaller coop that one of our broody hens used while she was laying earlier in the springtime. That coop was ostensibly out of commission, so we thought. This is where, after walking past it day after day, all the eggs lay. There were 3 1/2 dozen eggs just laying around, not being sat on, just.....there. Gwen, our broody Mama, was laying beneath the coop sitting on another cache of eggs. The cold eggs were gathered and Gwen's were left as she was protecting them fiercely. More chicks!!! 

Charlotte brought in all the eggs that she and her sister had collected. The initial thought was to just compost them all, believing that they had been in the coop far too long and were all rotten. After seeing how many eggs there were, I decided to just check and see how many were actually no good by sitting each egg in some water to see if it would float (if an egg floats it's too old for eating, if it stands on it's point it's old but still edible, if it sinks then it's fresh enough to eat). 3 1/2 dozen eggs was far too many in my eyes to simply just throw away.

After going through about 1/4 of the eggs I finally had a floater. I picked it up out of the water and as I set it aside I noticed a crack on the underside. Upon further investigation I realized it wasn't just a crack but a pip! There was a baby in there. A baby that was either dead from not having been sat on or was dying now that I just dunked him in a bowl full of water! So, I began to gently open the pip to see what exactly I was dealing with. As I broke open the pipped area, I saw the chick. My heart sank as I could see there was no movement or sound and the egg was stone cold. I opened the egg a bit further and then, shockingly, I saw the baby's beak open. I thought it was just my eyes playing tricks with me so I opened some more and again, the beak opened and closed. Then the chick moved. At that point, I called for Lee to go grab the incubator from the basement, I completely hatched the egg and out popped a little ice cube of a baby chick. I gently unfolded her, wrapped her in a soft cloth, handed her over to my two oldest girls so they could hold her under a heat lamp until the incubator was up to temperature. At this point, I called our neighbor over so she could assist me with candling the rest of the eggs for fear that there were more babies waiting inside those 3 1/2 dozen eggs. After checking, just one seems to have a chick in waiting. I'm not convinced it will hatch as it, too, was stone cold, but it's sitting in the incubator and we're hoping she'll pull through.

This is Milly, short for Mildred which means "gentle strength". She is a little warrior and is as determined to be alive as anything I've ever seen. Minutes after warming up she began to cheep and stretch. Her feathers began to fluff up and she opened her eyes. We kept her in the incubator overnight to keep her at a steady temperature and for her to get her barrings after such a jarring entrance into this world.

I have to admit, I was rather surprised when Lee woke me up this morning and announced that the little chick had been peeping and bouncing about the inside of the incubator. She isn't the strongest on her feet and she kept getting herself in precarious positions inside the incubator. I ran to the basement to get another container to use a brooder. Almost immediately after putting her in her new home she was able to find her balance and get her footing enough to start to walk around. Aside from being quite small and weak (er than I'm accustomed to seeing baby chicks who have a normal hatching experience) she is working hard to figure this whole thing out. She is very vocal, loves when little faces come to visit (in fact, she sits right by the glass and quiets down when she has visitors). Her eyes are bright and she's discovered her waterer. 

I think she's going to be OK!

A side note, here is a picture of some of our sheep that we currently tend to on the land. They are Oxford crosses and are used for meat, mostly. A project over the winter is to make felt sheets with all of their wool that has accumulated over the past few shearings. This weekend we will be introducing a small flock of Shetland sheep to the group. We are so excited! I am so eager and excited to further my crafting skills using wool and we look forward to having a few new ladies to care for and get to know. Shetlands have a warm place in our hearts as they are a direct line to our Scottish/Irish heritage.

To me, it's these moments that make this dream of homesteading so meaningful. Loving for and caring for our animals, seeing the successes and honoring the not so successful. We have a deep love and respect for farming and can't wait to get our hands......dirtier!