What a gorgeous day! We still have a fair amount of snow in places but most of it is gone. What remains is quickly vanishing...and good riddance! The creek is running through the back pasture and I see green things growing that were under the snow! 

The hens have been laying very faithfully the past two weeks and there are about 7 dozen sitting in the refrigerator now. It's nice to have them back in production. Several customers have expressed withdrawals from our eggs so it feels great to be able to start meeting their needs again. We have many eager for our vegetables too!

The chicks are getting their big girl feathers now and soon we should be able to see which breeds were sent with our brown egg layer bunch and the rainbow layers bunch. I think we might have some laced Wyandottes, but it's hard to tell. The Turkens sure are funny-looking little girls. I think we will give them red-neck names like Bobby-Jo and Peggy-Sue.

Tomorrow is THE day. I am going to get my seeds started for the vegetable garden! I have someone who completed their Master Gardener certification who is volunteering 40 hours on the farm! I am so excited! There are so many things I am doing differently this year...I need all the expertise I can get!

They have arrived and not a moment too soon as we have just been issued a Blizzard warning! I am SO GLAD they arrived a day early!

I received the call from the post office at 7 a.m. and rushed to get the chicks home. I quickly realized that one brooder was not going to be enough for 75 chicks (we actually received 80). So, we ran to town to get supplies to set up two more brooders, each for about 25 chicks. 

We used plastic 5-foot diameter wading pools. We constructed a guard out of hardware cloth and covered it with sheets to protect the chicks from drafts. We suspended brooder lamps from the ceiling using hooks and chains. Each lamp had a 250 watt red heat bulb. Each brooder has 1 gallon water and 1 24-inch feeder tray. We used pine shavings as bedding. We were going to use newspaper but the paper was so slippery and we worried about leg injuries.

It took several trips to town and about 6 hours to get everything settled before we felt we could take a break. There were 3 chicks in the bunch that are rather lethargic and probably won't survive, but since we received extra chicks, hopefully it will balance out.

My son was especially excited to see two Turkens in the brown-egg-layer assortment we ordered. I almost ordered them separately for him. They are true "red necks" according to my son. They have no neck feathers and look like turkeys but they are 100% chicken! We are trying to come up with "red neck" names for girls since both are females.

I am wiped out but the day is not over yet. The younger twins have hunter education classes all week for 3 hours each night. SO, no rest for the mama, yet!

We are finally seeing temperatures above freezing and have moved the rabbits back outside, including the babies! Everyone seems very happy to be in the fresh air and sunshine after being cooped up in my mud room for the past few months. I am very happy to say that all have survived this awful winter we've had and I HOPE we don't see another winter like it for MANY years!

I've so excited that our baby chicks will be arriving early next week! The cats were removed from the mud room as well and returned to their rightful place in the horse barn. One one cat is protesting the move but his complaints are falling of deaf ears as he managed to kill two baby mini lops while in the mud room. If I had my way, the cat would no longer be alive. BUT, you ca't kill them for doing what comes naturally to them...I just wish he would focus those awesome hunting skills on the mice instead!

The chickens are doing awesome! I've been able to leave the hen house door open for about the past two weeks. I can't keep leaving it open at night as eventually the coyotes will get wind of them but the chickens, ducks and the goose all have enjoyed their early morning frolicks in the dirt. I am toying with the idea of filling up the pool for the ducks to take a swim in...but I need it as a brooder for the baby chicks coming next week. Maybe I'll pick them up another pool today.

Spring is fast approaching and I am LOVING the sight and sounds of the bird coming out of their long winter sleep. I even saw my first skunk (dead on the road) so Spring isn't too far off! Maybe that groundhog wasn't wrong after all...The wild cotton tales are also showing themselves and soon we will have wild rabbits invading the farm. I still need to come up with a way to protect our gardens this year from becoming the inevitable feast for them! 

We were mentioned on another blog which is pretty awesome! I am just grinning! We've had this rather covert operation going on with a local mom who has reserved three of our mini lops to surprise her munchkins with this coming Easter! She has posted pics of the ones they chose on her blog Slow Mo Mama with another mention here.