End of January delivered 9 new lambs to the farm. Happy to report all are doing well. The other high point was that 8 are ewe lambs and 1 ram lamb. Seeing what the months bring as they mature to decide who is going to the fair in August.
In 1946 my grandmother had an entry in the Tournament of Roses Parade. It was a covered wagon all decked out in flowers and pulled by 4 horses in heavy harness. We have enjoyed the inscribed silver tray it was awarded for the Presidents Trophy. As time would have it we had no pictures just the stories of those who helped do the work and rode on it. Well I am happy to say I have found actual footage from the parade and at about the 3 min mark you will see the quick snip of the wagon. Enjoy!
It has been so warm that I put away the miles of electrical cords & unplugged the horses water buckets. Well this morning it was well below freezing! Quickly plugged in chicken water heaters, sheep trough & horse buckets. Stocked up on extra buckets of water. It’s tough work hauling buckets from the house because the hose is frozen. I’m ready…it can now warm up again!
It will only get darker.. the time of year I really don’t care for. Dark out when I am up and feeding. Heck, my chickens are not even up when I go out to the barn. Just a few weeks ago they were up and waiting for me in the early morning daylight. I sure hope there is a time change that will set something to rights 
even if it only for a few more weeks.
It’s fair time again… State Fair to the South in Oregon. The Katahdins show on Monday. We were not able to work that much time off into the schedule so we are not there but many friends are. If you get the chance go to the fair and feed that inner child an elephant ear and corn on the cob!
Well this past week or so has finally been hot and sunny. Usually cooler in the mornings the clouds have been burning off for a very sunny and warm afternoon. Last Sat was I believe the hottest day so far. We ventured along the Columbia River to Skamokawa to take in their county fair. Very small and home spun, its always very enjoyable to take in the crafts, hobbies and the livestock. The lambs are now getting to that age where its time to wean them from their mamma and offer them to new homes.
Katahdin Lamb
It’s been a busy week! Two of the ewes have lambed so we have 3 adorable young kids running and playing. A joy to watch. The newest lamb was born on St. Patrick’s so she’s been named Guinness going into the weekend it was day 21 for he eggs in the incubator. Started hatching and we have 8 that hatched. The largest number from one group to hatch were my foreigners eggs shipped from San Diego. LF Lemon Blue Cochin’s. Next up will be Blue Laced Red Wyandottes from Idaho. They should arrive in time to set by the weekend.
The latest project is incubating shipped chicken eggs. This batch of 14 are Cochin from San Diego. Just set them in the Brinsea 20 ECO. Letting it come back up to temp. Along with the shipped eggs I added Cream Brabanter from the home flock as well as volunteer American X & Cuckoo Maran X (sexlink) eggs.
Brinsea 20 ECO warming up
Signed up to participate in the Wa State program that monitors chickens for avian influenza. Good to know there has not been a positive case in domestic chickens. It was very enlightening to see how you get a chicken to say aaaahhhh and get it’s mouth swabbed. The program is free. If your interested in signing up contact the State Avian Health office in Olympa, WA.
I was so surprised and delighted to see the bulbs peeking out of the ground! Spring is here! It has been so cold, wet & soggy for so long that just seeing these daffodils working hard to show that its the time of renewal and brighter days to come… and I do mean brighter, I am so tired of darkness morning and night.
