Life, Death, and growth on the farm

Well, all four eggs hatched. Unfortunately the first hatched and died overnight in the coop and I found the poor little thing in the morning. As the remaining three hatched (had to help the last two out of their shells) they were brought inside to a brooder for safekeeping. Sadly, Quill got into the brooder yesterday and one of the babies was killed. Our fault for not making it more secure- can't blame the dog for instinct. Luckily, we still have two cute, cheeping, happy, healthy little bundles of joy.
We seem to have aquired a new family member in the last few days as well. A very sweet, lovey young male cattledog showed up at our place. Dave drove all around but no luck in finding his home and as it was a cold rainy night he got to spend the night here in the bed with us and the rest of the dogs. The girls loved having a boytoy around. Dave was able to find the owner the next day who had only had Pete for two days. A very sweet old man who just can't handle the youngster. He was Pete's third home already and I'm guessing him to only be 8 mos. old or so. Dave has returned Pete home every night but we find him sitting outside our gate each morning. Charlie, the older gentleman told Dave to ask me if I want him and after discussing it we've decided to take him in as it seems he has chosen us as his family. Today he passed the "cat test" so it looks like he will be here to stay. The first night Dave dubbed him Chuckie which fits this comical little guy very well so that will be his new name. Dave was telling him this morning all about the drive they would get to take to Billings aka snip-snip as we don't need an amorous young male around the farmstead. ;)

Autumn has arrived

Amazing how the season seemed to change perfectly with the calendar. The air is crisp and cool with puffy white clouds rolling by. My garden got hit by a frost a few nights ago and the squash and melon plants seemed the only ones to take a hit luckily. I've resigned myself to the fact that I won't see a single tomato ripen from this years crop. I hope to take cuttings from all ten varieties and overwinter them indoors to have a better start next year. Next year's garden should be much better with all the chicken poop and straw to fertilize my poor soil.
We get daily visits from a group of over 40 wild turkeys that come in for seed and have gotten quite tame. It has been fun watching the babies grow. It's a funny sight seeing a herd of 40 turkeys running in when you call. We also have three mama deer with twins that are coming by as well. We recognize two of the mamas from last years visitors. The babies have now lost their spots but are still cute as can be.
The chickens are all fat and happy and the Buff Orpington peepers still love to climb in our laps for snuggles. They are blessing us with around nine eggs a day usually. We decided to let one of our 2 yr old Austrolorps fulfill her dream of being a mommy and gave her four eggs from three of our chickens that we'd like to have babies from which she happily tucked underneath her wings while clucking little thankyous. I candled the egglings a week ago and saw the embryos moving in all four so Brewster did his roosterly job of fertilizing the eggs well. He takes his job very seriously....Poor girls...
Today is day ninteen so begins "Egg Watch 2005" as they could hatch anytime in the next few days. Poor Miss Broody is going to get tired of me lifting her up to peer under her every hour.
I sectioned off a little area of the coop today to make a nursery of sorts until we see how the other chickens react to the new little peepers. Dave has been working on insulating the coop in preparation for winter which will be here sooner than we know.
I'm working at the local butcher shop 3-4 days a week in trade for meat so Dave and the dogs are very happy with the arrangement. The dogs enjoy sniffing me and licking little meat and sausage bits from me when I get home at night. It was fun to bring Dave home some summer sausage (one of his most favorite things) that I made myself. Not a job I would have imagined having ( a far cry from dentistry) but I'm enjoying the hard physical work.
Dave is putting our new (used) wood chipper to good work attacking the many brush piles we've accumulated from his wood cutting this past year. He's been very busy cutting down dead trees and splitting wood for the woodstove. We should be in really good shape for winter.