Denim Deb Hay, hay, hay. Thank the Lord!

[hqueen13]

Lovely photos!
Yay for pips! Glad you got the hay recovered. If it had been tied down better it could have made the cover rip instead. Sometimes with wind that bad you can't win.

 

[Denim Deb]

This morning I had breakfast w/my motorcycle group. From there I went straight to the Nature Center for the photo judging and judge reception. I'm going to admit to being a bit nervous. I have never entered anything like this B4. Nor I have had any type of art/photography instruction. I don't have a really good camera, and I was pretty sure that the others who have entered the contest have had some type of background in photography, but I've been told by several people that I take nice photos. And the one person that I could have asked for help I couldn't ask and that's RU. She's a retired art teacher, but was also one of the judges. There were 4 categories and 3 different age groups. There was only one from the child age group, so that child won by default. The spider web was in the zoological category. This is a favorite photo of mine, but I really wasn't sure of the best way to present it. Well, it didn't place. The judges felt that the spider web was kind of lost in the background. But, they also told me that if I had zoomed in on that, I would have won either first or 2nd place. The lake scene was in the general category. This came down to basically what the judges liked best. One judge liked my photo, the other 2 judges picked others.

After the contest I showed the judges a pic that I have in my camera. It's one I would have liked to have been able to enter, but the pics had to come from one of the county parks. And this was from the lake near my house. I was told that if I could have entered that photo, it would have won! Even though I didn't win anything, I feel validated. RU is going to work w/me some so I can learn how best to present my photos. If I'm ever able to write the nature books I want to write, I want to be able to have photos in it that I've taken.

Got home to no more chicks. So I got changed, grabbed the chicks and went to the farm. They are w/the mother and they're quite happy. I think the hen is starting to feel a bit puzzled. After all, she started w/3 eggs. She hatched out 2, then went to 4 and is now up to 6. (I did find out that KN wants to keep the 2. Since they were her eggs, I can't really say no. ) Of course we all wasted some time watching them. But they're all happy, so that's good. I finally got working on the house. I have just 4 more boards to cut. 2 will go on, and then I'll be painting it. Once it's dry, I'll be putting it in my broody pen. The last boards will go on then. 1 is the roof. I want to put a board on it so that I can hang a feeder off of it in a couple of places-1 inside, 1 outside. The roof will be hinged so I can open and close it. I figure that will make it easier to get bedding and feed in there. I have a section that's for a nesting box. The roof isn't as high, and is sloped. That board will go on once it's in place. I figure it will be easier to move that way. And 1 board is a hatch for the nesting box. This way, I can check a hen from the back, even add eggs if I need to. Plus, this way when I want to clean out the pen, all I have to do is open the hatch, use the kiddie hoe I have and pull all the bedding out the back.

I would have been finished but my DD called me. The egg that had pipped had hatched and there was another chick almost all the way out! So, of course I had to leave. They thought another egg had pipped, but it was just some stuff on the egg from the chicks. So, I may or may not get more. There's still 3 in the bator. I felt a bit bad about the one egg the hen was sitting on. She gave up on it. So of course by the time I got there, it was cold. I opened it up very carefully to see if it had developed. I found a fully developed chick w/it's beak in the air sack. So I don't know if moving it killed it, or if she just gave up too soon.

Out of the 4 chicks that I got, 1 looks to be from one of my eggs. It looks 100% Ameraucana, so that would be from one of my hens. 1 is from a white egg, so it's half leghorn. It's a tannish color, so I know which rooster is the father. I just don't know if it's a hen or a roo. One chick was from a green egg, the other from a brown. I wasn't sure if they were from my chickens or KNs. Well, the chicks look like a barred rock, so they're from one of her hens. So, I don't know if they're going to be hens or roos. But since I bought the 2 chicks, I know at least those are hens!

 

[Denim Deb]

It's Sunday, and I don't plan on doing much of anything. I'll be finishing my broody house, unloading and loading the dishwasher, cleaning my truck, taking care of animals and going to church. It has been so long since my truck has been completely cleaned that I hope it doesn't fall apart from the shock! I may even take the bed liner out so I can wash underneath of it.

 

[Denim Deb]

I will never use my LG incubator for anything again. I put the 2 chicks that hatched later yesterday in there so I could hear if any others were peeping in the new bator. The temp was fine. It was fine when I went to bed. It was a little warm this morning, so I turned it down. I seriously thought about taking the chicks w/me to church, but wasn't sure what to do w/them during church, so I left them at home and told hubby to check the temp. Well, the temp went up to 130*. Needless to say, the chicks did not survive. And I don't think anything else is going to hatch. I candled the last 3 eggs yesterday and didn't see any beaks in the airspace. I'll give them until tomorrow night for just in case, but I'm pretty certain this is it for now.

I am going to work on splitting up my broody area and making another house. I'm going to try to get one of my hens to go broody, or see if one of KN's will go broody. Then, I'd put 3 eggs under that hen, and try to hatch out 7 in the bator. Some times I just feel so discouraged.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Oh nooooo, so sorry!

 

[hqueen13]

Yikes! That's not good! :-(

 

[Britesea]

I really like your photos! Especially the lake- I just keep going and looking at it again and again, lol. So peaceful.

But... so sorry about the chicks! Honestly, I hear so much about incubating gone bad that I sometimes wonder how we have so many chicks available

 

[Denim Deb]

I've had nothing but problems w/the LG since I got it. It wasn't what I wanted, but it was what we could afford. I wish we had gone w/the Brinsea to begin with. I've already decided that if I don't get a broody by the 31st, I'm putting eggs in it anyway. I'll just need to set something up for a broody pen in the basement. And if I do get a broody, I'll need to find a place to put them until I can take them out. I can get them out of this incubator easily, and I prefer to do that rather than leaving them in. I figure I have the time to figure it all out.

Britesea, I'm glad you like my photos. I should repost the other the way the judges said I should have done it. It's really stunning then. Maybe I should start taking orders for it.

I'm back in the saddle! In other words, my motorcycle is fixed! For the first time in over 6 months, I was able to ride it. It felt good.

I didn't eat properly over the weekend and I could tell today. I felt tired all day long, but continued to work. So, I got the following done.

1. Laundry. I got a whole basket of shirts ironed. I also folded and put away a load of sheets. And, the clothes that I folded up but didn't get away last week, I got away.

2. Living room. I got some but not all of it cleaned. It's a mess again and will take me awhile.

3. I went to work for a few hours today. I took my lunch w/me so I could get more done. And, she had some large cupcakes that she wanted eaten up, so I tried to eat one. I can see the difference that not eating the sweets has made. I couldn't eat the whole thing. That's a first.

4. I worked in the garden for a bit. Didn't get as much done as I would have like to, but I got most of the fence up. I'm happy about that. I had to put one post back in. Hubby took 2 out last year. I honestly don't know why he had to, but he did.

I'm hoping I can get even more done tomorrow since I'm only working 1 day a week. That gives me just enough work to pay for my riding lessons. I'll be going to the hay auction. I put the last of my RB out today, and have only 7 sbs left. I thought I had enough hay to last until sometime in June if not July, but w/as cold as it was, I really went thru it.

 

[hqueen13]

I hear you on the hay :-(
The sweets is such a hard thing. Everyone offers sweets and thinks nothing of the volume of sugar they are feeding.

 

[Denim Deb]

Had a long day today and it feels good to sit down and relax for a few B4 I go to bed. I got the following done.

1. For some reason, I had 3 shirts in w/the mismatched socks. So, I ironed them, then went thru the socks. I also threw a load of clothes in the washer, but they didn't get done B4 I had to leave, so I ended up throwing them in the dryer.

2. Got my bathroom clean.

3. Got more of the bedroom clean. I'm really seeing progress in there! I'm hoping that in the not too distant future, it's completely clean!

4. Got my broody pen all finished! I even painted it and stuck it in w/the hen and chicks. I just hope they've gone into it to sleep. And since we could get some rain tomorrow, I'll be able to stick the feed in there.

5. Went to the hay auction. And, I got 25 bales for $3.25/a bale. One fell apart when I was stacking the bales, it just wasn't baled properly. I think I'm going to start taking some baling twine w/me since this wasn't the only bale like that. When I was unloading them, I had to cut the one string on one, and add onto it to keep it from falling apart.

6. Went out for ice cream w/my motorcycle group. It was so nice to actually be able to ride!

I had hoped to work on firewood, but just didn't have time. Depending on what the weather is like, I hope to do a bunch tomorrow. And, I hope to work some more in my garden.