Chicks Ahoy!

The sound of cheeping greeted me this morning as I walked downstairs to start chores. Grabbing the flashlight, I peeked inside the cabinet incubator sitting at the base of the stairs, and sure enough, five Black-Copper Maran chicks were waddling around inside.

The Black Copper Maran is a French breed, and very rare, so the hatch is exciting! The hens lay a dark brown, almost chocolate-colored egg. I bought these eggs from a breeder in another state, who shipped them to me to hatch. Many folks who visit here are amazed to learn that an egg can be sent through the mail and still grow a chick three weeks later.

These chicks are coal black with white chests, and feathered feet -- cute as buttons. I have six older Maran chicks already outside in the hen house, so these little guys will be joining them in a few weeks.

Four more eggs to go, and one is already pipping the shell, meaning its little beak has broken through. Now it must twist and turn all the way around the shell, continuing to break it open. As tempting as it becomes to want to help a struggling chick, being able to hatch by themselves seems to be an essential key to survival. If the chick isn't strong enough to hatch, there is something wrong, and helping it out of the shell makes for a miserable time watching it slowly die. Don't ask me how I know.

The chicks hatch soaking wet, and will remain in the incubator for the rest of the day, drying off.  Right before hatching, the chicks absorb the remainder of the egg yolk into their bellies. When a hen hatches chicks naturally in a nest, she often waits on the nest for several days waiting for all the eggs to hatch. The first ones to hatch must wait for the latecomers. This will provide them with all the nutrition they need for the next two days.

Tonight, we'll put the dry chicks under a heatlamp, with water and chick-starter food in dishes nearby. The heatlamp takes the place of the real mother, and the chicks' natural instinct to find food and water will take care of the rest!

In five short months these tiny chicks will be out in the barn laying eggs or crowing with the sunrise, and starting the cycle all over again. It never grows old watching it happen. Guess that's why I live on a farm!

A White Thanksgiving on Rainbow Gate Farm

This morning as I head out for chores, I'll don snow boots, hat, gloves and a thick coat! It's a crisp 17 degrees out there with the wind chill and only 27 degrees if you are lucky enough to be out of the wind. Here on Rainbow Gate Farm, we are celebrating Thanksgiving Day with a blanket of snow covering everything in sight. No dreaming neccessary!

The flurries began yesterday and quickly turned into a steady snowfall. My journey to see a movie last night, with my two children, turned into an ordeal worthy of a 'Survivor' episode. Okay, that's a slight exaggeration but the forty-five minute drive took two-and-a-half hours each way. The snow surprised us halfway there. In retrospect, I should have turned around, but the nice radio weatherman assured us only flurries would be falling. He forgot to mention there would be four inches of them.

I slowed to thirty-miles-per-hour and watched car after car speed around our vehicle and vanish into the white cloud of wind-driven snow surrounding us. Being a dutiful parent, I turned boredom into a "How-Not-To-Drive-In-A-Snowstorm" lesson for my seventeen-year-old son, Sam. If he doubted his mother's wisdom at first, it didn't take long before he became a believer. We started passing flashing lights, police cars, tow-trucks and at least ten cars, trucks and SUV's in the ditches along the road.

We enjoyed the movie, Enchanted, and made it home safe. Now, there's something to be thankful for.

Here on our farm, I transfered fifteen half-grown chicks from their grower-cage up to the main poultry barn yesterday afternoon. Until then, they'd been under a heat lamp so I hope they are doing okay. With over 100 other chickens, ducks and turkeys up in our poultry's wintering room, the temperature does stay a little warmer. Chicks are born with a downy, soft covering and it is crucial they stay in a warm environment until they grow their adult feathers, which protect them from cold temperatures.

Thirty Pekin Duck eggs are developing in the incubator. Those ducklings will be needing that heated growing cage a few days after they hatch. We keep them in a cardboard box inside for a few days to be sure everyone is eating and drinking. I "candle" the eggs in the incubator every week to check on the development stage of the embryo. Using a small, white light in a tube, I hold the wide end of the egg up to the light in a darkened room. Like magic, you can see the growing chick or duckling inside. Bad eggs are removed so they don't explode. Depending on the stage of development at the time of candling, you might see a beating heart, a beak, a head or a foot!

The last time I checked the duck eggs, one embryo plastered his tiny webbed foot against the side of the shell when I shone the light into his egg. The foot was the size of the nail on my pinky finger and I laughed at his protest against my intrusion into his private world.

We have over ten different varieties of rare-breed chickens, two breeds of ducks and Narragansett turkeys. Last year, I could not keep up with the demand for chicks and hatching eggs. I've increased our numbers of breeding stock this summer and fall. If you would like to see them on our website, just type in http://www.rainbowgatefarm.com/ on your browser and go to the Poultry page. We have chickens who lay blue, green, brown, white and tinted (off-white) eggs.

Well, I'm off to do chores in the snow. Brrr! The goats are waiting to be milked. We are milking less than 100 does now, as the others have dried-up in preparation for the pending birth of those five-hundred goat kids we are expecting in February and March. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!