These babies are getting big, and need to be outside, but that RAIN...it just won't go away. March is a fical month where we live anyway, but we have been so saturated and now in for another cold spell down into the 20's at night this coming week.
The plan this week had been to move the meat chickens into their outdoor space, as they are getting really big for the brooder and have their feathers in really well, but the weather is just not on our side. We had a break for a couple days from the rain before it returned again this weekend, and the forecast up on the mountain is getting down as low as 16 this week, so Laura has had to hold off on us moving them outside till late next week, when it warms up again.
The chickens are so fun at this stage, they're inquisitive and all over you when you get in with them to try clean their mess up. Ive really been enjoying their growth, and they are so much more docile than the ducks, so are fun to pick up and hold for a bit.
This week I had to switch my days around because I had a surgery on Thursday, so I got to go up to the farm on delivery day, which was another aspect of the farm I hadn't partaken of yet, so was thankful for the opportunity. Laura delivers milk and eggs off the mountain, twice a week, as she is a little off the beaten path, and does this as a service to some of her elderly and further out customers. Car time is a great time to be talking to Laura and asking her about different aspects of farm life we maybe don't get to cover on our normal workday, so I got to see a lot of the care and love she has for her customers and the need for that personal face to face time, that is important to people.
I got to meet this really beautiful, yet feisty billygoat on our rounds, he was super friendly, but once he got over visiting started to try head butting me through through the chainlink, so I moved on. Laura has a very varied clientele, and this particular stop was an elderly man who has a herdshare and is no longer able to farm himself, yet still enjoys the pleasures of fresh farm produce, which Laura is happy to deliver as she builds her relationship with him and is able to learn from his days growing up as a young boy on a large farm.
After our deliveries we headed over to pick my daughter up from school, as we had been gone half the day and still had lots of chores to do up at the farm, she was more than happy to come up and work for a few hours, as it involved ducks and chickens and she has lots of love to give. I am thankful for farmers like Laura allowing me to come alongside them and include my children at times, so they become familiar with farm life and all it entails. We set about cleaning the ducks home, the egg layers and the meat layers brooders, we are fast running out of room for all these growing poultry and praying to have them all out (except for the new egg layers) by the weekend.
The egg layers had a decent growth spurt this week, but we haven't been weighing them, and they do not seem to grow as fast as the meat layers. These girls were an unexpected part of my internship, and the more time I spend around them - even all the poop cleaning, I realize I really enjoy them and want to study and raise them longer term.
One of the baby chicks had not been doing well the last week, as was getting trampled some by the other chicks and picked on a bit, so we removed him and put him in his own little box to recover some, and hopefully get him a little stronger before returning him to his brood.
Another exciting part of the farm this week was the birth of two baby goats - sadly one didn't make it, but the one that did is doing great, and it was a real treat to see the mom and baby relationship and watch Laura try nurture that as they got used to the loss and then to each other. The death part of farm life I think must always be hard, because I watch as Laura questions how maybe she could have done something different, or perhaps been there to have helped save the baby, but at the end of the day, it is part of the cycle of life and death will bring us all full circle one day. Laura has talked about other animals that have died on the farm and how she deals with it. She has enough acreage and has a spot, out in the woods where she puts her offerings to the cyotes for them to take care of the cycle, its sad but necessary and I am amazed at the resilience of being able to be tenderhearted enough to care and love on animals, but have that part of you that is able to deal with death, I think it is something to be learnt with experience and not in a book.
Abby was thrilled to be a part of making bottles for the babies and helping feed them, I know this is a lot of work for Laura on her own, but its such a sweet experience to be a part of nurturing in this way.
