Mama mia that's a lotta chickens!

A few months ago, I decided that I was going to need more laying hens since some of my 'old girls' are getting...well...old, and like many of us, they aren't quite what they used to be.  I am also planning on parting with my Mille Fleur Leghorn hens (they are INSANE) so that is going to leave me a few chickens short of a full coop-which, coincidentally, is how many people would describe me. I placed an order for chicks with Sand Hill Preservation (my very favorite hatchery) very early this year because they often sell out of some of the rarer breeds early in the season.  I ordered 20 chicks all together, comprised of four different breeds: Blue-Laced-Red Wyandottes, Golden  Laced Wyandottes, Welsummers, and Blue Orpingtons, 5 chicks of each breed. I only need about 10 replacements, but Sand Hill doesn't sex any of their chicks, so going by the assumption that approximately half will be male and will not stay here, 20 seemed like a reasonable number.

Glen and Linda at Sand Hill are nice enough to accommodate small orders for those of us that are able to pick the little peepers up at their hatchery-it is only about 10 miles from my house. Small orders require some patience though. The hatchery does their best to fill small orders in between their regular shipping orders, and all breeds are not necessarily available at the same time, so you need to be flexible. This morning Linda called me to let me know that some of my chicks were ready. My Blue-Laced-Red and Golden Laced Wyandottes were there waiting for me!

I filled up the 'baby pool' -no water, just bedding...I'm not THAT crazy! I filled the feeder with chick starter and mixed up some sugar water to get the babies off to a good start once they got home. Then off I went to retrieve my new charges.

When I got to the hatchery, Linda greeted my with my peeping box of friends. She handed me my invoice and let me know that my 5 Blue-Laced-Reds were in the box and that Glen hatched some extra Golden-Laced so he gave me 7 instead of the 5 that I ordered........really, I only ordered 5 of each, I promise, but OK great, I can use 7. It's called Chicken Math. I have gotten accustomed to Glen adding a couple of extra chicks to the order; Sand Hill doesn't kill any of their extra chicks like most hatcheries do, they would rather send them home with someone.... someone that has s.u.c.k.e.r. tattooed on her forehead. As I was walking away with the box-o-chicks, Linda said, "Oh, he added a few 'filler' chicks too to help them stay warm on your way home." OK,  I am pretty sure that Glen is aware of the aforementioned fact that I live 10 miles away since I get chicks from them a couple times a year, and that I do have heat in the truck...I believe I've been Chicken Mathed.
I asked Linda what breeds the 'extras' were. Linda replied, "Could be anything, maybe some egg-layers... maybe something for the stew-pot." Stew-pot? Have you MET me? Clearly nothing raised on my farm is destined for the stew-pot! I thanked her and happily drove away with my little box-o-chicks.
As I drove down the road, the box was peeping quite loudly. I opened the lid and put my hand inside so that the chicks could gather under the warmth of my hand. Boy, I thought to myself, that looks like a lot of chicks....hmmm. I glanced at the chicks and then down at the invoice-5 Blue-Laced-Red, 7 Golden -Laced....I flipped the invoice over-12 filler chicks........12 filler chicks...12...wait, what? OMG. That can't be right. Well, long story short...I looked at the invoice when I got home, I counted each chick as I dipped their beaks in the sugar water, and it was right, there were a total of 24 chicks. 24. Twenty-four. Chicken Math.

That's alotta chicks!

After the shock wore off it occurred to me that only half of my order has been filled. Stay with me here, it's going to be a bumpy ride. Let's review. I ordered twenty chicks and I received half of that order-which turned out to be the first ten that I ordered, plus 2 extras, plus 12 filler chicks, so half of my original order of 20 is 24...makes perfect sense. I still have, in theory, 5 Blue Orpingtons and 5 Welsummers coming....5 of each.....5(ish). Chicken Math is so confusing. Maybe I better build a bigger coop.

I hope some of my chicken addicted friends will be interested in some roosters in a few weeks!

"This Chicken Math made me really tired. Good night!"

Extreme makeover-nekked sheep edition.

 I left a message with my shearer last week and was waiting anxiously to hear back from him as to when he would be available to makeover my sheep...the girls were getting pretty shaggy and with only one month left until lambing I really needed to get them sheared and vaccinated. Plus they just take up so much room in the barn when they are all wooly!

Since there is only one shearer in the area, I am always at the mercy of his schedule and I was a bit nervous when I didn't hear back right away-I had visions of trying to hand-shear all of my sheep and was remembering the "Ande haircut debacle" of last year. Well, the stars must have been properly aligned because it worked out that he was free this afternoon. The weather has been a bit warmer too which sure made me feel better about getting the girls all nekked in the cold.

Just look at how much space they take up fully dressed.

See how many more sheep fit in the barn nekked??

Willow will demonstrate the shearing process.

Fully clothed Willow.

Willow in the hands of her stylist.

Nekked Willow. Incidentally, I was worried about what condition my pregnant girls would be in under all that fleece-it is very difficult to feel their structure through their thick wool.....but it doesn't look like any of them are in danger of starving anytime soon.

Some of the girls were much more nervous about getting a makeover.  Marie was in charge of dragging gently guiding the ewes to their hair appointment. Some of the girls were less excited about the process than others.

Cassie needed a bit more encouragement.

Marie reminded me at that point that I really need to work on halter training this spring...whatever.

I never get tired of watching the outer fleece peel away from the clippers, revealing clean, beautiful fleece underneath.

More before and after shots.

Edrea.

Edrea post-makeover.

And some of her shorn fleece.

Edrea's micron count from last fall was a bit higher than I would like to see (27.6) but her CV was 22.0 and her other numbers were decent....her fleece sure spins up beautifully.

Here is Luna before.

...and after.

Halley pre-makeover.

.....and after.

Yes, the "baby bumps" are much easier to see now that the girls are going 'el fresco'.

Here is a big "baby bump".......oh no, wait, that is my wether, Rocky...apparently he has been enjoying spending the winter in the ewes barn....and eating more than his share of grain! He would normally be out in the ram pasture, but I didn't keep any rams over the winter so he got to bunk with the girls.

Here are some more fleecy photos for my fiber addict friends. Enjoy!

Now to get all of this fiber down to my processor for spinning!

Frosty photos

Things are pretty quiet here on the East coast of Iowa. Blog fodder has been in short supply and I find myself devoid of inspiration and motivation lately....it has been a rough winter. I am so very much looking forward to spring. I have been seeing small indications around the farm that the change of seasons is not far off...really. Not. Far. Off.

Since I can't do anything to banish winter just yet, I guess I should make the best of it. I took a few photos last week after we had heavy fog that resulted in a beautiful coating of Hoar frost on virtually everything. I thought that I might share some of the photos with you.

Even eyelashes couldn't escape the frost.

Some of the ewes are looking a bit large, I know. Lambs will be here in about a month and a half! I will post more about the girls later.

Slip slidin' away.

Where does the time go? I suppose, since it has been over a month since my last post, it is about time to let the world know that I am still here.

I know it is only January, but this winter already seems as though it has been eternal. We have had to endure bitter cold, innumerable ice storms and just downright miserable conditions. I know, it's Iowa, get over it. It just really starts to wear on even the heartiest of souls after a while and has put me in a mid-winter funk.

This was our view out the living room window for most of last week.....not that there was anything to see since we have had no visible sun for 10 days!

When our last ice storm hit Wednesday night, it left everything coated with a thick layer of ice,which, at our house translates into a power outage. We normally lose power maybe twice a year for an hour or two....except three years ago when we were without for 9 days...after which we did end up buying a generator, which, I begrudgingly admit, was quite a prudent decision on Gary's part (I am cheap  frugal and didn't want to spend the money), I digress. Wednesday the freezing rain just kept coming, building up on the powerlines until they could take no more and we finally lost our electricity, but because of my husband's forethought with the aforementioned generator, we did have a back-up plan for this situation. The power limped along, flickering overnight Wednesday and went completely out at 4:30 am on Thursday. Gary was going to hook up the generator before he left for work that morning, but I said, "No, it will be back on in two hours...that's what the automated-voice lady at the power company told me, I'll be fine until then".
 By 11 o'clock it was 57 degrees in the house, I called the power company and was told (once again) by the automated voice lady....after going through a litany of, "did you say...? If you would like this call in English..." that the power would be back on in two hours....hmmmm. After watching the thermostat continue it's steady decline it was then that I realized that I would never make it as an Amish person. Everything that I hoped to accomplish that day required electicity. I was cold. I wanted hot chocolate. I wanted a shower. For those of you that don't live with well water- wells need electricity to pump water into the house so you even have to stratigically plan your water usage i.e. toilet flushing, teeth brushing, etc.

Since my hands were frozen, rendering me unable to work on my clay figurines, there was only one thing to do-grab a nice, warm blanket and round up some kitties to cover myself with.

I was ruthless, disregarding the fact that they were already all cozy in their napping places...Mama was cold!

Once we were all settled in, I remembered the stack of catalogs that had been safely tucked away, unread,  in a basket in the livingroom. THAT'S WHAT I NEED- GARDEN PORN!

...and chicken porn! I lusted over the colorful pages of heritage seeds and plants, rare breed and heritage chickens-all just sitting there waiting to be ordered....if only my internet was working! I drooled over the brightly colored vegetables and fancy-feathered chickens. I was looking at pages that I had never even considered peeking at before.......do I need geese??? Luckily, before I succumbed to these temptations, Gary came home on his lunch break and fired up the generator, saving me from my wicked ways.

As nice as it was to have an excuse to do nothing but sit on the couch with some kitties, it was wonderful feel the heat flowing freely from the registers once again and to have circulation return to my fingers. Incidentally, the two hours that it was supposed to take for the power to come back on ended up being 17, whatever.

The animals outside were having their share of problems too, the grass became a sheet of ice and the sheep and horses barely came out of the barn for two days-not because it was cold, it was just too slippery.

The sun is supposed to come out on Tuesday........we'll see. Spring has got to come soon!

I think Ande has been watching too many of those Twilight vampire movies this winter.

Footnote: I was initially going to title this post, "Garden Porn" but last time I posted something about my ewes and titled it, "Good Girls Gone Bad" I received dozens of comments written in Japanese that I couldn't read, so I clicked on the links hoping that it would take me to some new friend's lovely blog on the other side of the world, but instead, it took me to some really disgusting websites.......hence the reason for my changing the comment section so that it is now necessary to do the "word verification" in order to leave me a comment....sigh...the pitfalls of technology.