Spring, Spring, Beautiful Spring!

Can you tell I love spring? The grass is turning from brown to lush beautiful green. Flowers are blooming. Birds are singing. The sun is shining. What is not to love?!

Everyone here at SHH is loving spring. The chickens are happily clucking away as they forage on the fresh new grass that is peeking through the dead brown undergrowth. They are laying a dozen eggs a day as a result. Even Laverne has been spotted multiple times, foraging and dust bathing. Laverne is my Easter Egger that somehow injured one of her eyes last year, and is blind on one side as a result. She usually never leaves the chicken coop, but apparently the sunshine and warm weather lately has been too much for her to resist.

The chicks moved out of the indoor brooder and into the "Tank" a little over a week ago. Not only have they grown, but they have multiplied as well. I went to the feed store to get feed and left with 6 new chicks. In my defense, I went in with zero intention of getting more babies! As it turns out, talking myself out of buying more fluffy butts is much easier when Keegan isn't begging and giving me an amazing argument as to why I really need to bring them home. He really needs to be an attorney when he grows up... Well he now have 5 more baby Easter Eggers, 1 Barred Rock which I'm pretty sure is a rooster, and the 10 Speckled Sussex chicks that we started out with. While the days have been warm, the nights have been cold. The "Tank" has a brooder box that is closed up at night but we sealed the windows and put an extra light to make sure they stay extra warm. When I open the hatch in the morning the babies come hopping down the ramp. The way they hope around flapping their little wings and sparring with each other they remind me of the flying monkeys from the Wizard of Oz. They are eating like pigs and seem to be thriving.

A couple of weeks ago (3/21 for my records) I put my first batch of turkey and guinea eggs in the incubator. The turkeys have been laying for about 3 weeks and I couldn't wait any longer. It is an addiction. I am using an egg turner for the first time with the turkey eggs. I usually turn them by hand. Working and other new developments going on around the homestead (to be announced soon) have me preoccupied enough for me to think that perhaps it would be best not to trust myself with that job this time around. Brad perfected the thermostat on the incubator (bypassed the one provided and built his own) so that it only varies by a fraction of degrees so I am hoping for a wonderful  hatch this time. They should hatch sometime around April 18th if all goes well.