The big story around here is snow.
The snow started on Wednesday and although the heavy stuff was done on Thursday it didn't really stop until sometime on Saturday. The snow was very wet and heavy as temperatures were around 30 to 32 degrees. This was too much for many trees and power lines and outages began. The power went out at our place about 5:30 AM Thursday just as I was about to begin milking – chores proceeded by headlight. We were out of power for thirteen hours which was pretty crummy but we later found out that thousands of other people were out much longer than that so really we were pretty fortunate. If any employees of Mille Lacs Electric Cooperative are reading this - THANK YOU FOR ALL OF YOUR WORK!
The sun finally came out today after at least a week of grey skies.
The evergreen trees really have a load of snow on them. In many places around the area trees or parts of trees have come down. Some of ours are leaning under the heavy load and there may be some down in the woods but we haven't had any down right around the farmyard.
Rocky the hen came to live with us in 2017. She was about 2 years old then and would gift us with three or four blue eggs each week. She’s about 7 years old now and of course it’s been a long time since she has layed any eggs. During our time with us she has never been inclined to be broody and has paid no attention to the chicks that other hens raise each summer. Until now.
In my last post, I noted that she and Mamma Hen were friends as she was often with her and the chicks. Turns out, it’s the chicks she has been hanging out with. I even observed her clucking to them with that special mamma hen cluck and they come running to see what tasty treat she has to show them. Since the last post, she also abandoned the roosts in the coop and began cuddling up to the little family on the floor.
When the chicks had past their six week birthday I wondered what would happen when Mamma Hen would be done mothering them. I soon found out – she is done with them but Rocky is not! How long she will mother them remains to be seen. I have had chickens for many years but have not seen this happen before.
Also in the last post I reported on Belle getting her leg cut rather badly and her trip to the vet for stiches. Two weeks later we took her back for stitch removal and Dr. Deb chose to leave two stiches in that were in the most tense area. It turned out to be a good decision as the next day, half the wound opened up again. Not great but at least it was only half of it. Back to the vet we went (and did I remember to take a picture of her in the truck? No!) but the wound was too healed to re-stich so we just did medication and bandages and now it is looking pretty good. Belle has not been thrilled with any of this of course!
Since the last post we have been at five vending events. If you were one of the many customers who have purchased our products I would like to thank you for the support. We are working hard to make our farm business a success and every sale helps.
Thank you for taking a look at our blog. We sincerely wish you all a happy holiday how ever you choose to spend your time. We will be back with a new post in the new year; until then be well friends!