August 29th 2014

Farm happenings

We lost the chicken last night. We carried her over to the calf barn in a cat carrier and left her there with some water for the night. This morning trey went out to see if she had died and she did. He handled the responsibility of burying her at the far end of the property. I have no idea what kinds of breeds we had gotten from the hatchery that supplied these eggs. Well, I know of the leghorns, but there are a dual purpose brown and then the two that died.... We won't be getting new chickens from that hatchery next year. 

 The nesting boxes have stayed full of pine shavings so I may have to stick with those. I'll be honest...even though the first egg is still 3-4 weeks away, I've been peeking my head in all day "just in case". Can't wait!!!

I've determined that my red itchy eyes are from the ragweed that is growing rampant EVERYWHERE. I've been dosing myself with Claritin, ice compresses and yelling because they itch so bad. I did find some honey today at Reitvelds farm stand. It's from Frankfort which is 24 miles from here, (they say to be effective it should be within 20) but I'm going to give it a shot.

Bethel got doused in fly spray today and I'll tell you, that chemical laden stuff is a miracle worker. Once we start milking, I'll go back to the natural route, but the poor darling was suffering! I get a fly near my face and start waving like a mad woman. At one point, she had what looked like 80 on her nose!

Peace the calf got another new antibiotic today- round 4. The wounds arent draining as bad and are almost all healed up. She only puts a little weight on it but can get around really well on her other 3 legs.

School has been fantastic!! The kids are loving the curriculum. Trey is on switched on schoolhouse and will be starting computer programming on Khan Academy next week. Tori and Evan have been doing a Reflex Math, Khan Academy math and Easy Peasy homeschool. The woman who created this did such an amazing job. The kids are enthusiastic about the school year.