Happy Halloween!

We had pumpkin pancakes this morning and I couldn't resist carving jack-o-lantern faces in them.

Broilers at 6 weeks

So, this is what happens when your drop shipment of chicken feed doesn't arrive as expected and you've run out of food. I was hardly able to walk without tripping over them. When I stopped, they pecked at my feet and pant legs in search of something edible. I'm certain that if I had fallen, I would have been eaten alive. Just kidding, I think!

When I didn't fill their feeder as expected, they followed me right into the house. They will not be ignored!

Don't worry, no chickens were harmed! They were given plenty of treats and some of the hens' food. They just don't recognize food that's not in crumble form.

Busy week

We have done many fun/interesting things this past week. I considered doing a seperate blog post for each thing, but decided to just hit you with it all at once.

#1: Tori's first concert- I had the pleasure of taking Tori to her first concert this week. We were surprised with an email from the Aladdin Theater that offered free tickets to the Yael Naim show for members of their email list. What a treat during a financially difficult time! It was a great show, but Tori was especially taken with the opening act, Grey Anne. She wore angel wings and had a giant stuffed giraffe on stage with her. She was quite entertaining.

#2: Ruby's Spa- My mom and I have had gift certificates for Ruby's Spa at Edgefield for nearly a year. My stepdad, Keith got them for us when he completed the remodel for the opening of the spa. We finally found time that we could both get away for a night. My friend Tiffany joined us for dinner and a dip in the soaking pool Thursday night. Mom and I spent most of Friday in the spa. We started with massages (my first time!), then facials, finally pedicures. It was a good thing we'd enjoyed the soaking pool the night before because we didn't have time between the facials and pedicures like we had planned. After all the pampering and relaxation, we didn't even bat an eye when Mom locked her keys in the car when she ran out to get something before the pedicures. Not just the keys, but her cell phone, purse with money/debit card, and all of our luggage. Her husband wasn't answering his phone and mine had already made the drive out that morning to bring the gift card I'd left at home ( I know! It's hereditary) and refused to come out again. So, here we were, with no way to pay and no way to get home. No sweat, everything worked out. They had taken mom's credit card number to hold the appt and were able to charge that, Keith finally answered his phone and agreed to bring us a key, we found $14 in our clothes to get some lunch while we waited for him to bring the key. We really, really tested the effectiveness of the spa treatments and they were truly effective!

#3: PIL Hall of Fame Induction- NO, not me! My grandpa was inducted into the PIL Hall of Fame at a banquet last night. He received a Merit Award, which is pretty special because they've only given a total of five of them. This has been a good year for him. He was honored at a celebration at Montavilla community center in June with the gym being named after him. Yeah, he's pretty special. But we already knew that.

#4: Broilers at 5 weeks- We let them out of the pen for the first time this week. It is hysterical to watch them try to fly across the lawn! I wish I would have taken a video of it. The yard pays the price when we let them out. Anything they can reach is doomed to be eaten or flattened. As I type this, rain has started pouring from the sky. I hope they have enough sense to get under cover.

#5: Baby chicks- We moved Broody and her babies out to the tractor in the chicken yard where they can be with the other hens without being in danger. We ended up with just the five chicks. All but one of the remaining eggs had fully formed chicks that just didn't make it out of the eggs. It was very sad to open each one and find a dead chick. It sure wasn't Broody's fault. She stuck to that nest like glue and took great care of her eggs. She seems perfectly content with her little family. We enjoy watching them grow and learn.

The Pumpkin Patch

The boys and I joined the Johnsons at the pumpkin patch today. As you can see, it was a beautiful day.

We took a hayride out to the field to find the perfect pumpkin. Jack chose this one.
And Ty chose a large one that he found a very creative way to carry. It's zipped up in his sweatshirt and he's carrying it by the arms. That boy's gonna be an engineer!
Sadly, this was the best shot of the three of us. The pumpkin I sat on sunk into the mud a little and I panicked for a second, thinking I had sat on a rotten pumpkin.
Joel took Ty, Noah and Ollie through the corn maize while Tiff, Jack and I browsed the produce shop and waited in a long, long line to get a caramel apple.
It was definitely worth it, though.

Broilers at 4 weeks

With all the excitement of new babies this week, I forgot to take pics of the broilers. I was pleasantly surprised when I got home from work today to learn that John had taken a couple. They are almost fully feathered now, but still sleeping under the heat lamp. I'm starting to comprehend how different it is to raise fifty as opposed to sixteen. We are refilling their two gallon waterer twice a day. They are going through one hundred pounds of feed every week. And the tractor really needs to be moved more than once a week, which is no easy feat. Note to self: redesign tractor with wheels and automatic waterers.

No, she's not dead, just sunbathing.

Broody's Babies Part 2

We'd like to introduce to you the newest members of our flock. So far we've had four (whoops! make that five. I missed one this morning) hatch and six still pending.
The first is a Brahma (can you see the feathers on it's feet?)

This one I'm hoping is a Speckled Sussex, but could be a Rhode Island Red.

The third to hatch is a Barred Rock, which will look like Broody.

The fourth is a Black Star.

The fifth is another barred rock.

And the proud mama.

This morning I got to watch as she taught them to eat. It's about the cutest thing ever.

Broody's Babies

Broody's first egg hatched this morning!!! I am driving her crazy checking on her every 10 minutes to see if any more have hatched. She's a very patient mama though and doesn't get too upset with me. I should probably add Part 1 to the title because I'm sure there will be many more pictures to come.

Here's the first little chick still wet from the egg.

This is the egg it came out of. Pretty cool, huh?

Apple Picking

I went apple picking this weekend with Mom, Tiffany and Oliver. We found a lovely organic farm in McMinville with many different varieties of apples.

Here's mom offering a taste of an apple. We were free to sample as much as we liked. I don't think any of us will eat another apple for at least a week.

Oliver was a great help in making sure the apples were tasty.

This picture wouldn't turn for me, but I love it so I'm posting it anyway. The left (top)basket is full of Macintoshes for applesauce. The right (lower) basket is full of Jonathons and Winesaps for storing.

I just thought this scale was cool. It may be small, but it can weigh up to 300 lbs.

As if that wasn't enough fun already, we got to feed the farm animals apples too. There were these two horses (yes, that one is missing an eye), two little piggies and some chickens in a really cool henhouse.

Broilers at 3 weeks

Look at how big those legs are getting!

This little guy in the middle has me a bit worried. He doesn't seem to be growing at the same rate as the other chicks. So far, he's not being picked on or excluded from eating, so hopefully he'll catch up.

Caught this guy sunbathing under the lamp while taking some nighttime pics.

Another night pic. It didn't show up as well on here, but it was spooky with all those little eyeballs glowing in the flash.

Didn't get a picture, but had quite a scare this week. I looked out the back door to see a hawk perched on the chicken tractor! I don't know how long he'd been there, but the babies were sure scared. Two of them got themselves stuck trying to escape. I guess they didn't know they were already safe thanks to the netting covering the top.