Since moving out to our farm there seems to always be at least one or two projects that need completion. Now that spring is approaching that number is rising!!
Farmer Willie works in the city during the week so the only times we have to really work on things are the weekends, yet we are pretty strong believers in taking a day of rest. I have discovered that is hard on the farm.
Not only are there animal chores that must be done daily, but my desire to get things done and knowing that we have a day where we are both home is huge! It has become really hard for us to continue taking a day off.
Yesterday was one of those days. We worked on a couple of really neat projects on Saturday and I really, REALLY wanted to continue to work on them yesterday, but it was our day of rest.
So the day begins and there are a few things that had to be done such as taking care of the animals, we had previously scheduled a trip yesterday morning to look at some beehives we are purchasing, and there were some peach trees that had to be put into the ground, but other than that we rested.
I am so thankful that we did. What I noticed yesterday was all that we would have missed had we not taken the time to rest.
Children playing on the zip line.
Lizards hanging out in the tree house!
Puppy dogs playing.
Sweet girls playing with kitty cats!
Sitting and enjoying being outside.
And time to enjoy being with my sweet family!
So the lesson I learned is this...The Lord told us to take a day of rest for a reason. So that we can sit back, look at all He has given us and be able to say...It is good!
Take a look at the Homestead Barn Hop!
Life on our small farm is abundant. Especially as spring approaches, the anticipation for new life builds!
Chicks are being born, goats are preparing to give birth, green sprouts appear on trees, and we all wait in excitement for the front pastures to make their transformation into glorious fields full of wildflowers.
For me, as a fairly new farm gal, all of this new life also brings a bit of a worry about death. Will everything go okay when our goat Nancy gives birth? Will we be able to keep her kids protected from predators? Are the new chicks staying warm...or are they too warm? I still perk up at every noise I hear at night listening to make sure that nothing is getting into our chicken coop and hurting our chickens.
We had not been living here long when we experienced our first animal loss. A pack of dogs got into our chicken coop and killed every hen that was in that coop.
We were devastated. We felt guilty for not being able to protect them better and we felt sad for the loss of life. I hated farming at that point. I was ready to move back to the city.
Over the next year we lost several other animals and each time we mourned.
I kept thinking it would get easier for us but it never did.
I was afraid to get any more farm animals.
I started to wonder if maybe we were not cut out for farm life.
But as I prayed about it and as I learned from other homesteaders and farmers I began to see a new reality emerge.
It should not get easier.
You see, by working on a farm and learning to homestead we learn the value of life as well as death.
We work each and every day with animals that give their all to provide milk, honey, and eggs to nourish our families. We love on animals that eventually give their lives to bring us what we need to live.
Becoming a farmer does not mean that you should become hardened to death, it means that you become thankful for life.
I don't want to turn back into the girl that slapped some eggs on the table for breakfast never taking the time to think about the hens that worked so hard to lay them for me.
And I don't want to turn back into the girl that grilled dinner and served it up never giving a thought to the animals whose ultimate job it was to feed me.
No. I will continue to feel sad when we lose animals.
Because being a farmer is not just about what all I can take from the animals and the earth, it is also about what I can give.
We are super excited for the opportunity of participating in the Homestead Barn Hop #146!!
We have some chickens here on Bumpkin Farm and we really enjoy them! They were the first animal we brought onto the farm besides the dog, cat and fish that moved with us from the city.
To begin with we bought five Buff Orpingtons and they were so sweet!
(She totally showered after this picture and was lectured on the fact that chickens carry disease and having them on your head and this close to your face probably is NOT a good idea....but cute picture!!)
Unfortunately they were killed by some dogs that got into their coop early on. We were so, so sad.
We had a rooster that apparently had a stroke or something similar and slowly lost his ability to walk. We prayed for him and my daughter brought insects for him to eat and did "physical therapy" with him to keep his muscles moving. Unfortunately, he eventually died as well.
Early on we found out that there are not many vets that will help with chicken issues, plus that could get really expensive, so we began to learn on our own.
Recently we entered the henhouse to let the chickens out for the day and one of our chickens named Roadrunner (due to her resemblance of a roadrunner as well as her super-sonic speed!) was laying on her side completely unable to move. Her wings were spread in a weird way and she could not move anything except her head. I really thought that we would have to put her down when my husband came home that night. I was also super worried that she was in a lot of pain and I might have to put her down before he came home.
We did a little research and could not find any clear disease that this resembled but we went ahead and separated her from the other hens. This was not only for the safety of the other hens, but also for her own safety as they will tend to pick and peck on weaker, sickly chickens.
We gave her food and water and as long as we held it for her, she was able to eat and drink so we decided to wait until that evening.
Come that evening she was able to move her wings some, so we decided to wait until the next day. Then she was able to sit and keep herself upright, but still not stand. She could not move to go potty so we also had to keep her bum clean :) Poor girl even laid an egg.....though we tossed it since we did not know what was going on with her!
Three days she could not move. She just sat or laid and let us feed and water her.
Then my husband came upon a tip for giving sick chickens a little bit of Gatorade, so we started that and we began to see a big difference!
Three more days go by and she is hopping to come out of confinement so we stick her in with the other hens and they instantly began to harass her. We gave it a little bit to settle down, but they would not stop picking on her so we pulled her out. She was feeling a lot better, but still was not 100% and the other hens must have picked up on that.
So...a few more days alone and then we stuck her in the coop after bedtime and the next morning they all woke up, she was able to fly up to the roosting bar and everyone was friendly again!
I was very thankful that we ended up being able to keep her. She is back to laying eggs and picking on the younger chicks!! I am also thankful for the internet enabling us to become chicken doctors!!
So my chicken first aid advice is this:
1. First thing...separate the sick chicken. Like I said, this not only protects your flock, but also the sick one.
2. Make sure the sicky has food and water and is able to partake of both. You don't want one injury to end up leading to death by dehydration.
3. Use the internet!! There are so many good sites out there for chicken owners and a lot of been there, done that information.
4. Our two favorite chicken remedies are diatomaceous earth and Gatorade!!
5. When the sicky gets better, be careful of integrating her back into the flock.
6. Sometimes nothing you can do works and they die. We have lost a total of 8 hens over the last year. We feel sad each time we lose one, but we also try our best to give them a great life while they are with us and that helps us feel a bit better when it is time to let one go.
We figure that Roadrunner must have pulled a muscle and just needed time to heal. She did not like having to eat and drink with our help so her electrolytes became unbalanced and the Gatorade helped with that. In the end we probably will never know for sure, but I am so thankful for our happy ending this time!!
